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NewYears eve of 1999, Kodachrome and a Steeo Realist

Gentlepersons:

 

The Kodachrome Pictures:

 

These recently uploaded Kodachrome pictures have no artistic value. They were just uploaded to be representative of consumer Kodachrome picture recording during about 70 of the 75 years that Kodachrome was commercially available to the public. Unlike in today’s digital world it took time, money and effort to make a Kodachrome slide. We took fewer pictures, trying to stretch resources, but some are still frivolous.

 

I'm 95 (2014). I'm about at the end of my ability to continue posting.. The ratio of today’s digital pictures that are kept for any length of time and/or printed is much less than the film photos taken in days past. History will be lost. Meanwhile you get to be bored by some old Kodachromes, Anscochromes, a Dufaycolor and perhaps an old black&white or so.

 

 

The Camera...

 

This shot was taken with an old but rebuilt Stereo Realist. This type of camera took two 23mmx23mm exposures on 35mm film, made with two side-by-side lenses separated about the same dimensions as the human eyes. They were mounted into special mounts about twice as wide as a standard 2”x2” mount with space in between the film pieces.

 

The Film...

 

Kodachrome was my favorite film. My first roll in the late 30s was such a marvel to a young man. I had tried Dufaycolor which did pretty good, but if it had to be projected you had to ignore the lines of color which made up the image. Kodachrome was so much more colorful to boot. It was extremely sharp and almost grainless compared to other color and B&W processes.

 

Kodachrome was unique in American film history. Except for a licensee who used Kodachrome’s older process for a few years, nobody made anything like it. Most color films had all the color in the film. Kodachrome picked up color from the processing baths. Also unlike modern slide films which use chemical energy to reverse the negative image, Kodachrome used filtered lights to re-expose within the processing machine. Kodachrome evolved over the years, and was usually the clearest, sharpest grain free color film one could buy. That is until Kodak made a decision to reduce the budget to improve the product in favor of other products and offerings. Fuji Velvia soon eclipsed it in resolution and could be processed locally in regular E-6 mini-machines.

 

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Uploaded on February 7, 2014
Taken on November 30, 2003