This afternoon I took apart a Double 8mm magazine of Kodachrome II film. It was simpler than I expected.
I took the darkest blanket I have in the house and spread out on my bed. I placed the magazine underneath the blanket so that sunlight would not strike and expose the film. I don't know if this was enough; some light may have gotten under when I reached under the blanket but you win some and you lose some--and the film only cost a $1 in a thrift shop.
I opened up the magazine easily. It was secured by only two strips of tape. I then got an empty Double 8mm spool and its case and then carefully slipped the spool under the cover. I then removed the 25 feet of film, being mindful to make sure it remained wound around its spindle. Then came the tricky part--slipping the 8mm leader into the notch on the spool. It took me ten minutes to do this. After that, I wound the film onto the spool and then placed the spool into the case and closed the case up--all under the blanket.
We're putting the tree up tonight and I'm going to test the film by filming the tree. One question--two actually:
1. Is Kodachrome II daylight or tungsten-balanced? The box doesn't say.
2. I'm thinking of sending this to Film Rescue rather than Rocky Mountain Film Lab. RMFL transfers KII in B&W to a videotape; I've heard people rave up and down about the quality of color of KII and I want to experience the color projected. Does Film Transfer practice the same procedure with KII film?
The box advises to process the film before May 1969. We'll see what happens...
Tom
Kodachrome II magazine disassembly
Moderator: Andreas Wideroe
The old films
Well, don't forget that the film's sensibility has changed, since it is so old, so try to compensate with the diafragm. But it's almost impossible to know how much you need to compensate, it depends, where the film was stored in wich conditions etc. etc. But good luck, i'm going to do something like that with a agfachrome from 1981.
Re: Kodachrome II magazine disassembly
You might want to read the link below before bothering to use KII film.tfunch24 being lazy wrote:
1. Is Kodachrome II daylight or tungsten-balanced? The box doesn't say.
2. I'm thinking of sending this to Film Rescue rather than Rocky Mountain Film Lab. RMFL transfers KII in B&W to a videotape; I've heard people rave up and down about the quality of color of KII and I want to experience the color projected. Does Film Transfer practice the same procedure with KII film?
The box advises to process the film before May 1969. We'll see what happens...
Tom
http://members.aol.com/Super8mm/ServicesPage10.html