Kodachrome fades away
Kodachrome was the world’s first commercially successful color film, hitting the market in 1935. Kodak announced today that it will stop making Kodachrome this year.
The Los Angeles Times says:
Revenue from Kodachrome represents “a fraction of one percent” of Kodak’s total sales of still-picture films, the company said today in a statement. … The Rochester, New York-based company has seen its profitable film business “evaporate” as digital cameras gained dominance, Chief Executive Officer Antonio Perez said earlier this year. The company lost $4.53 billion in market value in 2008 as it struggled to show investors it had a place in the new technology.
Digital age claims another technological victim
Besides the minuscule profits Kodachrome now brings in, the product also has become obsolete to the point that many film labs don’t even process Kodachrome anymore.
Digital photography has taken over as the preferred from of producing still pictures, and Kodachrome just isn’t a relevant or useful product anymore. Just as online payday loans will likely take over as the preferred way of getting a short-term loan, digital photography has proven to be preferred over film.
“The majority of today’s photographers have voiced their preference to capture images with newer technology — both film and digital,” said Mary Jane Hellyar, Kodak’s outgoing president of the film, photofinishing and entertainment group. Kodak derives 70 percent of its revenue from commercial and consumer digital businesses, the company said in the statement, says the L.A. Times.
Place in pop culture
Many people, including me, might never have even heard of Kodachrome if it hadn’t been for Paul Simon. His 1973 hit “Kodachrome” reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts.
Interestingly, Kodachrome film, which started out as movie film before being adapted to still camera film, was invented by two musicians. The film brand also has a state park in Utah named after it: Kodachrome Basin State Park. It is the only park named after a brand of film.
Changing times
Hellyar says that photographers’ modern preferred methods of capturing still pictures include new types of film technology. However, it’s no secret that changing technology has had a big impact on how people do business and participate in hobbies.
Digital photography is highly preferred to film, especially for newer photographers who have started taking pictures any time during the last decade. Some photographers still prefer film, but most of those started out using film and want to stick with the technology they are used to.
Environmental aspect
Digital photography prevents shutterbugs from having to purchase film, take it to a lab in order to view and print it and allows photographers to take practically an unlimited number of pictures in the quest for getting that perfect shot.
Furthermore, digital photography eliminates the waste created by film. Not only does it keep film canisters and other packaging from ending up in landfills, it eliminates all those copies of photos that never get used because they didn’t turn out right,
Still, today is no doubt a sad day for longtime users of Kodachrome. When Paul Simon crooned “Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away,” I wonder if he knew he’d live to see the day that it would happen.
Kodachrome is retiring? That is unfortunate. It still has the longest color retention of any other kind of film, although since the digital age began, the end of all film has been coming for some time. Theaters are going all digital, there are fewer film cameras to be had that are of as high of quality as the digital cameras. It’s a shame. It gave us the night’s bright colors, and the greens of summers, and now Kodachrome is going to go away.