JaiGieEse Loc: Foxworth, MS

I have a few rolls of KodaChrome that I neglected to have processed. I'd really like to find out what's on these rolls of film, but so far, I have found only one or two places that process KodaChrome in B/W, and I did run across one fellow who claimed to be able to process the film in color.

Sent this person an email query, and got no response.

Has anyone heard of new options for processing KodaChrome in color?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

No one has the extremely complex and huge processor, or the proprietary chemistry to do it. It was unlike any other color process.

JaiGieEse Loc: Foxworth, MS

I understand that. But a few years back, this one guy - I forget his name - was able to get the necessary chemistry, and he offered KodaChrome processing until he'd exhausted his supply of chemicals. Unfortunately, I didn't hear of his service until after he'd shut it down.

I wouldn't need the slides to be mounted - just returned in strips, so I can then scan them.

I have a hard time understanding why Kodak will not either temporarily resume the processing or else make the chemistry available. When that one guy did his bit, he was, so I heard, flooded with work until his supply of chemicals ran out.

Kodak has recently made some noise about resurrecting EktaChrome, biut so far, they've made no mention of KodaChrome. I'd suspect that there are quite a few rolls of KodaChrome out there that need processing. Otherwise why would a few labs offer B/W processing? Labs don't offer such services unless there is a sufficient market for same.

rcarol

With Kodachrome, it is not just a matter of chemistry. Much of the processing involved abrading the film and adding the dyes to the emulsion after the fact. So, a rather complex processing line was required. Ektachrome has the dyes embedded in the emulsion and does not require all of the mechanical manipulation required by Kodachrome.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

There may be enough undeveloped rolls out there to justify offering B&W processing, which is easy to do, but not enough to make it cost effective for Kodak to resume color processing. There was a big announcement that Kodak was ending Kodachrome processing, and the last lab doing it had a rush of business before they closed. I don't have much sympathy for people who have waited this long to get it processed.

jackinkc Loc: Kansas City

You may be thinking of Dwayne,s, in Kansas.He was the last Kodachrome processor Andy he exhusted his entire chemical stock. No more Kodachrome anywhere.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Nope, at this point in time, no one processes it. I'm sure to set up a lab that would process a film that is no longer manufactured would be terribly costly, and have an inordinate issue getting past environmental scrutiny. That in itself would be exceptionally expensive.
--Bob

Bill P

Dwayne's got the end of Kodachrome because they were willing to take on the sysiphian task. Kodak had developed a "Kodachrome mini-lab" but it was way way too late. So they put one at Dwayne's and ran out their supply of nasty chemistry. Ironically, Dwayne's used to be a supplier of processing and printing services for small town drug stores, starting in the B&W days. They've ridden more than one down escalator. It's not like there was some guy rat-holing chemicals in his garage. It was a group of highly experienced guys getting help from Kodak employees.

Fact is the chemicals are extremely hazardous. It's like developing your own home nuclear reactor, but not as safe. And the chemicals are not universally useful, so just getting production up is a big job. And any of the labs that processed Kodachrome needed to have a full time staff of chemists at all times. This subject keeps coming up, but we need to take it out behind the barn and shoot it.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

I was going to suggest Dwayne's as well, and had no idea they could no longer develop it. Sad.

JaiGieEse Loc: Foxworth, MS

Gee, thanks. FYI, a couple years ago, I was rummaging through a box of old odds and ends I'd cubby-holed away years ago when I discovered the rolls of KodaChrome. It's not like I diligently or stupidly delayed processing. It was a simple oversight.

Fact is, I never knew of of the complexity of KodaChrome processing, and never expected Kodak to discontinue the stuff, which is rightfully considered to be a class stock.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Maybe some plant in China will decide to start making pirated Kodachrome and the chemicals etc to process it. With their wage scale they operate on a smaller scale than Kodak and still make money. In fact if Kodak has no real plans to resurrect Kodachrome they could make a few bucks by giving a license to some Chinese company to do so with them getting a small royalty and doing the US marketing.

Any one know someone who works for Kodak?

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

In general it looks like for the foreseeable future your only real route is B&W processing and then scan and computer colorizing.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

The number of people who remember and loved Kodachrome are decreasing, so even a pirate operation might not be profitable.

wrangler5 Loc: Missouri

As Bill P noted, Kodachrome chemistry was very nasty stuff. Some years ago I read that one of the factors in Kodak's decison to discontinue the product was the ever-increasing screeching from the eco-warriors, especially in the US, to banish all chemicals that you couldn't drink. (I think that is only a slight exaggeration.)

Given that the ecology fanatics are always on the lookout for businesses that, in their view, are intending to destroy the planet, I think anybody who tried to set up a Kodachrome processor in the US would be sued within days of the word getting out. Add that to the usual startup costs of a complex chemical business and I think there is virtually no chance of an independent Kodachrome processor showing up in the US (or Europe, for that matter) in the foreseeable future. Particularly since it would only be patronized by people (1) with film that they already owned but (2) had not been processed and (3) that they were willing to pay to have processed - an insignificant base for what would have to be set up as an ongoing business.

China doesn't have the ecological limitations on business that we have in the US, but factors 1, 2 and 3 above make it unlikely that it makes business sense for ANYbody to try to restart a processing line.

I think the only way you'd see Kodachrome processing come back is if, somehow, KODAK reviewed their numbers and decided it would be worth bringing back the FILM, for which they would have to reestablish one or more processing labs. Apparently the product wasn't worth keeping going at the time and in the eyes of the people who made the decision to shut it down. Is anything likely to have changed for the better in the years since, especially given Kodak's diminished circumstances?

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

If you just want to see the images in B&W, here’s a link to the process. No way to currently process in color as others have said: https://www.lomography.com/magazine/255669-processing-a-kodachrome-64-in-b-and-w