Anybody in Kansas, Toto?

Alessandro Machi · October 15, 2004

If somebody who lives near Dwaynes in Parson's Kansas would like to do the following test, it would be of interest to many in Super-8 land.

Shoot two cartridges of Kodachrome 40 back to back in the exact same conditions at the same time of day on the same day back to back.

The Kansas contact would walk one kodachrome cartridge into Dwaynes in Parson's Kansas for processing. Ship the other cartridge to a friend in some other part of the country who will then re-ship it into Dwaynes themselves for processing. CAUTION, both kodachrome cartridges need to be processed on the same day!

When the processed film comes back to the friend in parts elsewhere they would then ship it back to our Kansas contact. The Kansas contact would then compare the two processed films and report the findings here.

An additional test would be to compare the Dwaynes lab with the Kodak lab in Switzerland.

Alessandro Machi · October 16, 2004

There is an outside chance I could shoot a rather big project with K-40, but I would only do so once I know that the quality of the Parsons lab is on par with the lab in Switzerland.

John Pytlak RIP · October 17, 2004

The Kansas contact would walk one kodachrome cartridge into Dwaynes in Parson's Kansas for processing. Ship the other cartridge to a friend in some other part of the country who will then re-ship it into Dwaynes themselves for processing. CAUTION, both kodachrome cartridges need to be processed on the same day!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Accidental x-ray exposure from airline security of mail carried on passenger airlines is a very rare occurance, and would not likely be found in such a test.

Alessandro Machi · October 18, 2004

My biggest concern is I don't think the on site certified Kodak chemist was ever replaced.

John Adolfi · October 18, 2004

As it was expalined to me from an expert at Kodak on Kodachrome is that there is a 19 step process that kodachrome goes through while being developed. Every step in hypercritical. The machin at Dwaynes is made for 35mm film. He said that sometimes the agitation process is not perfect with the 8mm format. I just sent my latest 3 rolls to Walmart and thinking it went to Switzerland I got them back and viewed them yesterday. Grain was managable. Most of it was slightly outm of focus (chrome plate causing it??) The film has railroad tracks running down all 3 rolls. In the middle of the film small black lines with a ever so slight orange tint in the middle. I'm contacting Walmart to find where they are sending the film. I thought 1 week turnaround was too fast for a Switzerland trip. I'm vying for Switzerland or nothing at this point. Or I shoot s8 negative, 16mm or single 8mm from now on.

Alessandro Machi · October 18, 2004

It wouldn't be fair for me to suggest super-8 film to a client of mine for a potential 60 minute video if the processing facility does not have a quality control hound on board and yet the project I will be shooting is ideally suited for Kodachrome 40.

John Adolfi · October 18, 2004

So I went to Walmart to find out which facillity they send the movie film to to process. Dwaynes they said. So here's the good news, For $4.88 you can get a roll of kodachrome developed in a week at Walmart. That is halving the normal cost if you send it direct. The bad news is that I have 7 rolls of film they did not process correctly. Grain and lines running through almost all the rolls. I'll be contacting Clark Photo Lab and see where they send it. At this point I need Switzerlands help.