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Posted by Mike Roetter on December 29, 1999 at 23:24:08:
In Reply to: differences between Ektachrome and Kodachrome posted by Doug Clifford on December 29, 1999 at 14:01:38:
: : Could someone please explain to me what the differance is
between Ektachrome and Kodachrome Professional slide film and in
what instances you would use either.
: : Thanks,
: Hello Mike,
: There are many differences between Ektachrome and Kodachrome and since the focus of your question is not quite clear to me, I'll try to cover all bases.
: 1. Color saturation and color palettes. Ektachrome produces less saturated and more pastel colors while Kodachrome has always been praised and criticized for deep color saturation, its ability to render brilliant reds, bright yellows and deep blues. For many years, Kodachrome was the industry standard against which all other slide films were compared - At one time there were many ad agencies which refused to use slides shot on anything but Kodachrome. (Remember the Paul Simon lyrics? "Kodachrome, it has such nice fine colors...") This, of course has changed. In recent years many more E-6 Ektachrome-style emulsions have been introduced by Kodak and other manufacturers. You can now pick and choose from many different slide films, some offering enhanced flesh tones, others offering deep color saturation. Fujichrome, Agfachrome and Scotchchrome are all Ektachrome-style emulsions.
: 2. Processing. All Ektachrome-style films are processed in E-6 chemistry, a color reversal process which is available from most photo labs. Many custom labs offer two-hour turnaround on E-6 film. Kodachrome developing is a proprietary process, offered by very few labs, hence the reason that your film is almost always shipped somewhere else and the processing takes several days. Kodachrome is actually a black and white film and the color dyes are introduced during the film development.
: 3. "Professional" emulsions versus consumer
emulsions. Unexposed color film undergoes subtle changes in the
color palette and speed while waiting to be used. Consumer grade
color films are manufactured, shipped to the warehouse and retail
stores, and sold to consumers while these very subtle changes
continue. "Professional" labeled color films are aged
in the warehouse until the color palette, speed and other
characteristics are judged to be optimum, then the
"professional" stock is refrigerated, shipped under
refrigeration to warehouses and then retail stores where it
remains under refrigeration until sold. Refrigeration stops or
greatly retards further changes to the color characteristics.
Some professional photographers swear by "professional"
labeled film because of the consistency between different rolls
and different batch numbers. The reality is, for most
photographers, the differences are not discernible unless two
identical shots shot on different rolls of film are placed side
by side and compared.
: Professional labeled films cost more because of the
refrigeration and additional testing the film undergoes.
Thank you. This is all good information for me. I have one further question. I have many slides that are 30-40 years old. The ones that are Kodachrome look nearly as good as they were new (by comparison with the color saturation of new Kodachrome slides). The ones that are Ektachrome are washed out and all the colors seem to have a brown tint to them. I know which ones are Ektachome and which ones are Kodachrome because the slide mounts used by kodak are labeled. Could someone please explain to me what happened to the Ektachrome slides? If I use todays Ektachrome film, will the same thing eventually happen with age?
Thanks again,
Mike Roetter
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