This story isn't specifically related to our journey, but it is very disappointing. Yesterday I travelled out to the far stretches of Tokyo is search of a place that will transfer the first two rolls of super 8 that I have just got back from Switzerland where it was processed, onto Mini DV so that I might be able to view them on the computer, do a little editing and put them onto the internet for your viewing pleasure. The shop looked more like a junk heap than a shop, there were old super 8 and 16mm cameras all over the store with strange TV viewers and hollowed out TV sets. The gentleman there was quite nice and got a young worker over who spoke English to serve me. He was asking if I shot Kodachrome much and I told him that I loved it. No other film on the market has the same look as Kodachrome. Technically speaking, the way it's build is very different from most colour films and it results in a saturated image that looks almost surreal. If you've seen Kodachrome you will realise that it stands out and has a certain aesthetic and beauty that NO other film has.
Then he let the bomb drop. “I suggest you by a few rolls from wherever you can, because of last week, Kodak has taken it of the market.”
I am still gobsmacked. Kodachrome has been at the very essence of super 8 film for decades. So much history has been caught over the years on Kodachrome. The assassination of JFK was caught on Kodachrome super 8. My parents weeding was caught on Super 8. It was the flagfall film for super 8 and if you don't care, tell your parents, because I'm sure there is something that they have on Kodachrome super 8 that is near and dear to them. It's just unbelievable.
I have a few suspicions as to why this might have happened. They pulled Kodachrome 25 ISO still film from the market about a year ago and in Australia have made the film harder to get. Basically Kodak don't want to keep the stock running and they are putting up with Kodachrome loyalists, so they have been making it harder and harder to get. Kodak is coming under pressure from Environmental groups and also Government legalisation that it making it harder and harder to keep this process (which isn't the most environmentally friendly process) running. It requires special processing which is very different to any other colour processing, it requires the film to be sent to Switzerland for development, the only lab in the world that still processes it. Kodachrome (stills and super 8) have been on the decline steadily over the last couple of years with the introduction of digital cameras and home movie cameras. On top of this, there is very little profit in it for Kodak so after all of this, it's just not worth it for them.
Ektachrome was pulled from the super 8 line a few months ago and now Kodachrome has been pulled which leaves no colour positive films in the super 8 line. They are introducing new negative colour films, but it's super 8, it's meant for direct projection and you can't do that with negative. You need to get negative transferred to video or to make a positive print, and that's not really for the amateur home movie man. They still have their b&w positive though. But for how long?
At least I bought enough film to see me through the year over here. I might need to buy some more, but it's uncertain for how long they will be processing the stuff. Sad days people, sad days.
|  | 
|
