Re: Kodachrome/mold

[Richard Knoppow <dickburk@ix.netcom.com>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don Bryant" <dsbryant@bellsouth.net>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca>
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 9:38 AM
Subject: RE: Kodachrome/mold


> Dear Alters,
>
> Sorry Chris, I don't mean to hijack your thread, but what 
> is really sad for
> me is the whole saga of Kodachrome film dying a slow 
> death. It appears that
> it will be discontinued this year or next.
>
> No, I'm not trying to preach doom and gloom as the 
> moderators on APUG are
> fond of saying. The year that Kodak stopped producing K25 
> was the year I
> stopped shooting Kodachrome. There was something special 
> about how that film
> responded to light that I've not seen digital imaging or 
> other films touch.
> Man, give me a roll of Kodachrome 25 and a Nikon/Leica 
> camera and I'm all
> set. Just look at the color work of Ernst Haas, Harry 
> Callahan, Fred Herzog,
> Esther Bubley, Jim Hughes, and Helen Levitt to name just a 
> few.
>
> For a little bit of Kodachrome inspiration take a look at 
> some of the work
> by Herzog:
>
> http://www.equinoxgallery.com/artists_index.asp?artist_type=1&artist_id=121
>
> or Haas
>
> http://www.ernst-haas.com/color_gallery.html
>
>
> In all honesty though, Kodachrome processing is really 
> costly, complex, and
> nasty; so it's demise is just a sign of the times. As its 
> legacy fades into
> the past at least the slides won't fade away so quickly.
>
> Don Bryant
    There are a lot of Kodachromes on the Library of 
Congress site including a bunch from the Office of War 
Information. They are available as relatively small JPEGs 
and very, very large TIFFs. Some need a bit of work in 
Photoshop but many are pristine.
    Kodachrome has very good dark storage characteristics 
but fades faster under strong light (projection) than 
Ektachrome. Kodak seems to have wanted to get rid of it from 
the time Ektachrome was put on the market about 1946. Kodak 
discontinued all sheet film sizes of Kodachrome about that 
time (it was available in sizes up to 11x14).
    Kodak's recommendation for mold removal is to use dry 
isopropyl alcohol but only on the emulsion side. There are 
better solvents for dirt, if you can find them, such as 
1,1,1,trichlorethane, now hard to find because it is an 
envrionmental hazard. I think for a large amount of material 
it would be best to contact a conservator. Mold is very 
difficult to actually remove and I don't know what the 
current approved methods are. The cardboard mounts should be 
removed and probably burned.
   At least two kinds of laquer were used on Kodachrome and 
Kodachrome prints. On dissolves with a mild alkaline 
solution like about a 2% solution of sodium carbonate 
(Diluted Dektol will probably work). I no longer remember 
what removes the other but think its a solvent like alcohol. 
Kodak used to have some experts but I doubt if any of them 
are still there.

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com