Kodachrome K40 chemistry question

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Arislan
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Kodachrome K40 chemistry question

Post by Arislan »

Is the formula for Kodachrome 40 openly known? Would a small company be able to produce Kodachrome Super 8 cartridges? I think the retirement of K40 left a hole in the market that should be filled.
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Re: Kodachrome K40 chemistry question

Post by S8 Booster »

I think processing of K40 is free to do for anyone who may manage it, besides get hold of the film stock :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-14_process

https://digital-photography.wonderhowto ... s-0123573/

http://kodachromia.wikia.com/wiki/K-14_Process

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Arislan
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Re: Kodachrome K40 chemistry question

Post by Arislan »

I don't mean processing it, I actually mean mass producing the film cartridges.
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Re: Kodachrome K40 chemistry question

Post by doug »

Arislan wrote: Sun Sep 10, 2017 10:59 pm I don't mean processing it, I actually mean mass producing the film cartridges.
Interesting idea ;;)
You'd think it would be fairly straightforward as I think Kodachrome was essentially a black and white emulsion ? The colours were added during the complicated processing stages. Way back in 1960s UK we had a film called Gratispool that had similar characteristics to Kodachrome, and it was very cheap.
Maybe Ferrania could manage it ? :-?
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Re: Kodachrome K40 chemistry question

Post by Will2 »

Kodachrome was one of the most toxic and complicated processing processes ever; one of the reasons it didn't survive even though it's such a beautiful and long-lasting stock. There's was much talk about the process when Dwayne's shut down...while you can process it as B&W, the real color process is crazy and the chemicals no longer exist.

The reason the color is so stable is that the color was added in the processing vs. being "built-in" like with E6. If you search the forum you'll find all sorts of posts about it al few years ago.
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Re: Kodachrome K40 chemistry question

Post by mr8mm »

Ferrania can barely manage the black and white film they are selling let alone a complicated color process. In the "day" there were a number of color films using processes similar to Kodachrome. Seems like every country in the East had some film that was unique to that country. Maybe someone can dig up these old film recipes. Kodak will sell empty cartridges for about $3 each and you can start up your own film company.
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