Kodachrome Processing
The End of Color Kodachrome Processing
Where can you get Kodachrome processing these days? The short answer is nowhere. Not if you want to have your film processed in color, that is. The last place to offer color Kodachrome processing stopped offering the service in December 2010. Kodak stopped manufacturing the necessary chemicals a year earlier, and the only remaining processor at that time was Dwayne's Photo, a small family-run business in Parsons, Kansas. Now no one in the world can develop color Kodachrome images.
Books About Kodachrome
The Legenday Kodachrome Film
For decades, Kodachrome was the choice of film for many professional and amateur photographers. It was invented in the 1930s and first sold in 1935 as an 16mm movie film. Kodak later made available in many formats, including 8 mm, and 16mm for movies, and popular formats such as 120, 110, 35mm and large format for still photos.
Kodachrome was favored by many people because the way it was manufactured, the film was able to record an image with more sharpness than other types of film, and it could be stored for a long time and still be useable. Wikipedia reports that "images on Kodachrome slides over fifty years old retain accurate color and density."
The film was so popular it was even memorialized in song. Paul Simon famously sang, "Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away" in the aptly titled song "Kodachrome," and Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah was named for the film.
But, alas, Kodachrome film has gone the way of dinosaurs and 8-track tapes as digital cameras have made film almost obsolete.
There is nowhere in the world these days to get Kodachrome processing in color. It is possible, however, to have old rolls of Kodachrome processed in B&W. The way the film was manufactured, it's possible to develop the film and remove the backing, revealing a black and white image. Places such as Film Rescue International will do this work for a hefty fee, or it's possible to do it yourself using a solution to soften the backing, as described in the photo.net forums.