Who Will Keep Shooting Kodachrome?

[FilmIs4Ever]

Who is going to continue to shoot Kodachrome even if it means writing letters, buying it in bulk, cutting it down and loading Kasseta cartridges, and sending it to Kansas or Switzerland? Anyone that is still devoted to one of Kodak's premiere color films ever, please say so here, and I'll keep everyone informed of the progress I've made. I'm in the process of contacting people right now with regard to the situation.

Regards.
~Karl Borowski

[mohican]

In addition to S8 operators, Kodak should be reminded there are also many R8 users out there. They may have forgotten about that audience since they first introduced S8 carts. In fact, R8 might be of extra interest to them now for a number of technical as well as financial reasons.

[FilmIs4Ever]

Mohican, I am among your ranks. I helped John Schwind get in touch with the proper channels in Kodak last year. I don't even shoot that much S8, but I feel as devastated by the loss of Kodahrome in S8 as I was by the loss of K25 in DR8. Also, I am worried that Kodak is going to next get rid of K40A in DR8, 16mm, and then K200 and K64 in 35mm. I'm glad that you are in my camp.

~Karl.

[Splee]

In addition to S8 operators, Kodak should be reminded there are also many R8 users out there. They may have forgotten about that audience since they first introduced S8 carts. In fact, R8 might be of extra interest to them now for a number of technical as well as financial reasons.

Well, given that R8 can be easily re-perfed from 16mm, which is staying in production, it's surely an easy enough prospect for anyone with the resources to put K40 on R8 reels. If this happens, then I'll blow the dust off my Brownie, and get shooting.

[companyofquail]

i am keepng my fingers crossed that david(supermaginventor) will be able to cut a deal with kodak france and keep k40 alive for the supermag users. so ill keep using it if i can get it that way, but at this moment i do not have a slitter, perf machine or a darkroom. so until then i have to depnd on others.

[FilmIs4Ever]

Splee, are you aware that John Schwind now has K40A in DR8? I'd be happy to illegally export some for you, calling it test film or something to get it across the border. Kodachrome is around in DR8, which is why I'm so confused at Kodachrome's discontinuation in S8 now, it's like a total paradigm from the situation last year, where K40A was around in S8 but not DR8. I will try to get equipment and materials for loading up K40A and then try to load it in cine cartridges if Kodak totally abandons the stuff. I'm also going to talk to Schwind, David of Supermag 400 fame, and some of the people I know at Kodak to see what's up.

Regards.
~Karl Borowski

[supermag400_inventor]

Well, for anyone who is interested. I'm working with the Kodak factory in France that makes super 8 film from 35mm stock. They sent me an e-mail the other day and they have the sample of the daylight loading disk for the Supermag 400. They will be back to me soon with their plan to provide film to me for use in the mag.

They will be able to provide any film that Kodak makes. That will then include the K-40, because it's still going to be made for 16 mm.
In addition to that, there is also 160 D reversal stock. Actually a better film than K-40. They could perf and cut that for use in the mag. So, K-40 may not anylonger be available in a 50 foot cartridge but it may be available in the larger 400 foot rolls for use in the Supermag.

Atleast not all is lost. Hopefully, the cost will not be too outrageous. I promise to make it as affordable as I can. I'd love to see all the film stocks being used in the Supermag.

[Uppsala BildTeknik]

I´d say this is the giant leap for Supermags benefit.
You just made the Supermag Superinteresting for a lot of people I think!
(Or rather it was Kodak who did, you just had "luck" that K40 is discontinued in the small carts).

[Splee]

Cool, I'll have to check out John's site. How does his R8 K40 get processed? It can't be cost-effective if I'd have to ship it out to Dwayne's for processing, if Lausanne stop handling it. By the way, I've dealt with John before, having bought some Cine-X off him a while back, and I found him to be a very helpful chap indeed, whose prices are very reasonable.

Lee

[supermag400_inventor]

Actually, at first I was pissed. But then I thought about it. If I can get film from the factory at a decent price, then it makes the format just that much more appealing to those film makers who have thought about super 8 but have not wanted to try it because there were limits to the films available.

If Kodak give me the go ahead, then I'm going to place orders for the three most popular film stocks first. Then follow up with some of the rest as time goes on. Depending on how much I sell of them and what people want to use the most.

Overall, the Supermag will help to save super 8 as a viable medium. It's shown up at just the right time, don't you think?

[escubria]

Well, maybe we should start to forget about K40 in super 8, I mean since Kodak is the only lab that has the machines to develop it in Europe, they will only continue to supply this service in super 8 for a year or two then the machines, equiment etc. will be sold or junked, so keeping it alive may not be such a good prospect.

The reason why Kodak are discontinuing it is because they don't want the costly burden of development.

Dave, I think you should concentrate on the other, more modern stocks.

[mattias]

why do you guys want k40 if it's not the cheapest and most hassle free format anymore? you can't *seriously* say that it's the best film stock, right?

/matt

[escubria]

Dave, will you be able to supply film on 200ft spools, you could include the Beaulieu SD8 customer base too?

[supermag400_inventor]

YES! If the film comes in 400 foot spools or larger I can always cut them down to 200 or even less for customers. I plan on building a cutter to do just that.

[escubria]

why do you guys want k40 if it's not the cheapest and most hassle free format anymore? you can't *seriously* say that it's the best film stock, right?

/matt

I agree Mattias, I'm sick of seeing K40, I've shot enough of it in my life. A change really is needed; maybe we can shake of this whole nostalgia "look" that super 8 is lumbered with because of K40 beautiful, but dated, textures.