Monday saw a press release from Kodak announcing that the iconic Kodachrome film is to be discontinued.
Ok, it's a sad announcement (some people swear by its colour reproduction and its archival qualities), but I take umbrage at the way in which it has been reported!
If you watch the TV reports or read the news articles, the death of Kodachrome has almost universally been attributed to 'the increase of digital photography'. This is not so.
There are still film products available - heck, even Kodak are introducing new stocks - and film photography seems to be making something of a resurgence in recent times. The reason that Kodachrome is being discontinued must surely be because of its archaic processing requirements.
Since the introduction of Kodachrome, other colour processes have come along (and in some cases disappeared again), which offer simpler processing - E6 processing (the standard slide-film process) can even be done at home. With only one plant in the world still processing Kodachrome (Dwaynes in the US), it was surely only a matter of time before this announcement took place.
So:
- Digital did not kill Kodachrome;
- Other film is still available - colour and B&W;
- Film cameras are still being made;
This is not the end of film photography...
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