[PRCo] Color Films

[Fred W. Schneider III]

Kodachrome dates to about 1936 ... first several years were a disaster. 
I have slides of myself as an infant in 1940 that still have not
experienced significant degredation.

Prior to Kodachrome there was a starch grain color process known as
Dufaycolor ... I've seen some 616s of WCF&N and Utah Idaho Central on
this material that Jim Shuman took in 1939, and they are the only
examples I've ever seen.  Stuff was not particularly good although I did
make 8x10 prints of one or two of them back when I was playing with
color printing.  

Kodacolor goes back into the 1940s ... dye stability has never been
exemplary until recent years.  And still its not great.  

By the way ... Kodachrome 25 (the film with the most accurate color
rendition on the market) has been discontinued.  About the only place
using it here in Lancaster was the Lancaster General Hospital.  

I heard an Eastman rep at a local camera club meeting Monday night ...
claims that Kodak changes the color balance of films depending on where
they are shipped ... more blue in the southwest, less yellow in Hawaii,
more red in Europe ... all of these changes to reflect the way people
perceive themselves and friends to look.  I asked about Kodachrome and
was told that they regionally alter for tastes in the processing ...
therefore if you buy Kodachrome in Europe and have it processed here, it
will look like you expect it to look.  He said this ... I didn't.