Kodachrome

The Gift

Kodachrome is the trademarked brand name of a type of color reversal film that was manufactured by Eastman Kodak from 1935 to 2009. Kodachrome was the first successfully mass-marketed color still film using a subtractive method, in contrast to earlier additive "screenplate" methods such as Autochrome and Dufaycolor, and remained the oldest brand of color film.

Over its 74-year production, Kodachrome was produced in formats to suit various still and motion picture cameras, including 8mm, Super 8, 16mm, and 35mm for movies and 35mm, 120, 110, 126, 828, and large format for still photography. It was for many years used for professional color photography, especially for images intended for publication in print media.

Kodachrome required complex processing that could not practicably be carried out by amateurs. The film was sold with processing included in the purchase price except in the United States, where a 1954 legal ruling ended that practice.

Kodachrome is appreciated in the archival and professional market for its dark-storage longevity. Because of these qualities, Kodachrome was used by professional photographers like Steve McCurry and Alex Webb. McCurry used Kodachrome for his well-known 1984 portrait of Sharbat Gula, the "Afghan Girl" for the National Geographic magazine. It was also used by Walton Sound and Film Services in the UK in 1953 for the only official 16mm film of the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second. Subsequent prints for sale to the public were also produced using Kodachrome.

Competing slide films such as Fujichrome and Kodak's own Ektachrome used a less complex, faster, less expensive, and more widely available developing process; this eroded Kodachrome's market share as these competing films improved through the 1980s and 1990s. As Digital photography progressively reduced the demand for all varieties of photo film in the first decade of the 21st century, Kodachrome sales further declined. On June 22, 2009 Eastman Kodak Co. announced the end of Kodachrome production, citing declining demand. Many Kodak and independent laboratories once processed Kodachrome, but only one Kodak certified facility remained in the world after the announcement: Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas, where the final roll is scheduled to be processed on December 30, 2010. The final roll of 36-frame Kodachrome to be manufactured was tracked by National Geographic; it was shot by photographer Steve McCurry and processed by Dwayne's Photo in Kansas in July 2010. On December 30, 2010, the final roll actually processed and developed was also done at Dwayne's Photo; the film was shot by the shop's owner, Dwayne Steinle. 

source:wikipedia