Jul 282010
Steve McCurry’s “Afghan Girl,” photographed in Peshawar, Pakistan, in 1984 on Kodachrome film.
So Kodak decided to stop producing the Kodachrome, the landmark film that pretty much turned photography around.
In a last marketing move, they gave the last roll 
of film to Steve McCurry. Fair enough.
Is Fuji Velvia the next film to go?
I can’t stop wondering how come almost all major film makers are reducing their production lines, pro-labs are extinct, but film cameras are still priced very high on the market. Isn’t a contradiction somewhere?
Oh, well, we’ll live and see…
Until then, I’m looking forward to see Steve McCurry’s images on the last roll of Kodachrome.
Read more of the story here.
In richer countries, film is becoming a niche market, hence a very expensive market indeed with very few specialized labs, in fact, I expect new film cameras to become ever more expensive has they become limited run almost hand made items. I still use my Leica M7 but planning to eventually move to the M9. I am finding that with advances in software, film emulation, and sub dye printers, I can get virtually any look, and any texture that film used to provide, without the hassle of dealing with lab people and constantly having them reprint my negatives, processes that quickly added up in costs and time, and even in the presence of quality professional labs, frustration. Unless one develops color film or one makes prints from color slides, the final outcome is often biased to the preferences in color and tonality of the lab technician doing your prints.