Could Kodak be getting ready to bring back an iconic film? That speculation may have some photo enthusiasts salivating.
Kodachrome was so beloved by some picture-takers it was immortalized by Paul Simon in a song many years ago. But Kodak stopped production in 2009, as part of its overall move away from film and toward digital.
But what’s old is new again, and in the last year or so, Kodak has brought back some names from the past, including a new Super 8 camera, and at the recent CES trade show in Las Vegas, Kodak and the spinoff company Kodak Alaris announced they are bringing back another popular film among some amateurs and professionals, Ektachrome.
During a podcast, ‘ Kodakery,’ that Kodak puts out, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, Steve Overman didn’t rule out the possibility Kodachrome could return.
“I get asked all the time by filmmakers and photographers alike, are you going to bring back some of these iconic stocks, the film stocks like Kodachrome, Ektachrome…I will say, we are investigating Kodachrome, looking at what it would take to bring that back.”
At RIT, Professor and Chair of Fine Art Photography, Willie Osterman says that among Kodachrome’s charms are its rich colors and its archival qualities.
“I have Kodachrome slides that my father took when I was a kid, and I pull them out and I look at them and they’re rich, and the vibrancy of the color is like no other film.”
Osterman says he and other photographers are glad that Kodak is not abandoning film altogether.
