Kodak has shared a few test photos of its soon-to-be revived Ektachrome film. The iconic photography company discontinued Ektachrome more than five years ago in the face of plunging sales and the rise of digital photography. Its other beloved color reversal film, Kodachrome, was discontinued in 2010.
The resurgence in popularity gave Kodak a reason to bring it back. The film, which launched in the 1940s, is known for its “extremely fine grain, clean colors, great tones and contrasts.” Kodak says it became a vital part of photographers’ toolkits in part due to the “extensive use of slide film by the National Geographic magazine over several decades.”
“Sales of professional photographic films have been steadily rising over the last few years,” said Kodak Alaris in a news release. “Professionals and enthusiasts rediscovering the artistic control offered by manual processes and the creative satisfaction of a physical end product.”
In an Instagram post, Kodak says it used “pilot-scale equipment” to shoot these photos.
Https://www.instagram.com/p/BjlZqjUnNPG/?taken-by=kodakprofessional
Kodak announced in January last year that it would bring back Ektachrome 100 film in 2018.
So far, Kodak hasn’t given a specific date for the market release. “Our development team is still working hard on an update,” Kodak said in the Instagram post.
Kodak explains that the process is very complex. “Color reversal film is quite complicated as its recipe is concerned,” says Diane Carroll-Yacoby, Kodak’s worldwide portfolio manager for motion picture films.
The process has “over 80 ingredients,” and many of the ingredients are no longer able to be purchased.
“It’s very unique and quite different than a black-and-white film or a color negative film,” Carroll-Yacoby says. “We’re in the process right now of procuring the components that are needed for this special film and in addition to that we are setting up a color reversal processing capability again, which we have to have in order to test the film as we manufacture it.”
She adds: “It is a complicated project for us to bring it back but because our customers are telling us that they want it, we’re very excited to do this again. It’s kind of a really special time for us.”
Ektachrome is produced at its film factory in Rochester, N.Y., and will be available in the 35-millimeter format. A production-scale test will take place in a couple of weeks.
See Coins2Day’s history with Kodachrome here.