Re: Re: Slide film tests

[fred@csgi.com (Fred N. Ward)]

There has been a great deal of testing done by researchers, Kodak, the other
film companies, magazines, etc. and the general conclusions as far as I know
are:

Kodachrome is the most archival of all films..... and both Kodachrome 25 and
64 are made the same way and are really black and white films with dye added
at the lab... and those dyes are almost permanent. Mine from the 50s forward
and my fathers from the 30s forward are perfect. 

All the other films are less archival.... with Anscochrome being the worst I
ever saw. But even though they are getting better with more and more
permanent dyes, the fact is that all the E-6 materials fade, as does almost
everything else in life.  

Cibachrome continues to be the most archival print material. 

All color negative materials are more likely to fade faster than slide films.
This has brought Hollywood to many threatened and actual lawsuits against
Kodak. It seems when everyhone switched in the late 50s from Technicolor (the
original form, which was 3 black and white films running through 3
cameras.... and the result was an original with the archival qualities of b/w
negatives) to color negative stock for movies, they believed their
million-dollar investments would last. As we see with the recently redone $20
million or so renovation of My Fair Lady, film on negative materials last
just a little longer than video tape, which is measured in 5-15 years and is
not considered archival. 

Fred Ward
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