[PRCo] Re: Slide color

[Bob Rathke]

Fred,
I had the same experiences with a few random rolls of Ektachrome-32 holding 
their color for decades.  For example, attached is a recent scan of an 
Ektachrome slide that I took in Johnstown on January 3, 1960.  By 
comparison, nearly all of my Ektachrome slides from 1960 had lost most of 
theor red and yellow hues within 5-10 years.

Bob 12/31/06

-----------------------------
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2006 7:23 AM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Slide color


> And it didn't much matter who processed it [Ektachrome E2] either,
> Bob.   It was eratic.  I have some slides on a roll that are still OK
> and others on the same roll that faded badly.   I never sent it
> out ... processed my own because I was cheap.   Boy the stuff looked
> great when you first looked at it as it dried hanging up in the lab.
>
> I wonder if Kodachrome was in short supply because Eastman Kodak was
> trying to push Ektachrome?   Sort of like the Volkswagen Fox was
> never abundant in the United States because the builder really would
> have rather sold a Golf.
>
> On Dec 30, 2006, at 9:35 AM, Bob Rathke wrote:
>
>> I started taking slides with ASA10 Kodachome.  Kodachrome slides
>> that I took
>> in the 1950's have held their color very well; I don't recall
>> getting any
>> gray (colorless) slides on dreary days, but with a whopping speed
>> of 10, I
>> probably didn't try to take many Kodachrome-10 photos on overcast
>> days.
>>
>> When first introduced, Kodachrome II  (ASA25) was in short supply.  It
>> wasn't until 1961 that Kodachrome II totally replaced the ASA10
>> type, and
>> was widely available.
>>
>> So...in 1960, to get slide film with a moderate speed, I switched to
>> Ektachrome (ASA32) - but fortunately only for a year until I could get
>> Kodachrome II.  By the mid-1960's my 1960-era Ektachome slides
>> experienced a
>> drasatic color shirft.  Fortunately, today's computer software can
>> correct
>> the color in those old Ektachome slides.
>>
>> Bob 12/30/06
>>
>> -----------------------------
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Donald Galt" <galtfd at att.net>
>> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
>> Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2006 12:01 AM
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Tylerdale
>>
>>
>>> On 29 Dec 2006 at 22:29, Fred Schneider wrote:
>>>
>>>> I truly suspect that the colors in that picture are as close as
>>>> you're going to get to realism and that the red and cream streetcar
>>>> is the only object on a gray day that had any color other than
>>>> various intensities of gray.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Like you, Fred, I had plenty of experience with Kodachrome II but
>>> none
>>> with its
>>> predecessor.
>>>
>>> Seriously, though, I don't think we are looking at a slide.
>>> Rather, at a
>>> low-
>>> resolution 120 print that has been touched up - quite expertly! -
>>> by a
>>> colourist. It looks so very much like some of the better of the b&w
>>> pictures
>>> that I used to take as a child. The tinges of in the snow look to
>>> be done
>>> by a
>>> human hand, and the tinting isn't as crisp as the photo itself. The
>>> yellowish
>>> cast to the entire picture could possibly come from the camera but
>>> could
>>> just
>>> as likely be due to a subtle wash. 1707 may well be the only vivid
>>> object
>>> in
>>> the photo. Not that vivid, though, not in this unpromising light.
>>>
>>> I can't prove it - just my hunch. As I said, if a tint job, a
>>> skilful one.
>>>
>>> The colour quality available to the well-heeled photographer as
>>> long ago
>>> as 6
>>> decades is seen in the Washington Interurban photos in Bill Volkmer's
>>> Pittsburgh Area book. A couple of them claim to date from 1944. In
>>> any
>>> case,
>>> the Washington city pictures are obviously no later than their stated
>>> 1952-3.
>>> Oh, if only we had a few more like them! Or a few dozen more.
>>>
>>> Don Galt
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
> 


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