AshigrainColour reversal · Vivid & saturated
Kodak Kodachrome 64
The slide film behind Afghan Girl.
A long, contrasty scale with strong reds, a deep blue sky and very fine grain, viewed directly with no print. Original vs Ashigrain.
At a glance
- Exposure index
- 64
- Daylight
- Introduced
- 1974
- Discontinued 2009
- Process
- K-14
- Prints on
- Reversal, viewed directly
About the film
When Steve McCurry photographed a green-eyed Afghan refugee girl in 1984 for what became National Geographic's June 1985 cover, he was shooting Kodachrome 64.
Kodak had introduced it in the United States early in 1974, alongside Kodachrome 25, to replace Kodachrome-X. Kodachrome itself, the work of two musicians turned scientists, Leopold Godowsky Jr. and Leopold Mannes, had arrived in 1935 as 16 mm movie film and reached 35 mm still cameras in 1936. Unlike other colour films it carries no colour couplers: its layers are black-and-white emulsions, and the cyan, magenta and yellow dyes are added during processing, each with its own colour developer. Kodak called Kodachrome the most archival of its slide films, and from 1974 Kodachrome 64 became wildlife photographers' general slide film of choice. Paul Simon sang about it in 1973, and when Kodak announced its retirement on 22 June 2009, Kodachrome 64 was the last true Kodachrome left and the family a fraction of one per cent of Kodak's still-film sales. Kodak's final production run cut a master sheet nearly a mile long into more than 20,000 rolls, and McCurry asked for the very last one; he shot its 36 frames on a Nikon F6, from Robert De Niro in New York to Rajasthan and Mumbai, though Paul Simon declined to sit for it. The journey ended in Parsons, Kansas, at Dwayne's Photo, the last laboratory still processing Kodachrome, and the slides were destined for George Eastman House in Rochester.
Sources for this history
- KODAK KODACHROME 25, 64, and 200 Professional Films Technical Data, Eastman Kodak Company
- Journal of the SMPTE, vol. 83 (1974), Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
- The British Journal of Photography Annual 1976, British Journal of Photography
- Color Photography: Inventors and Innovators, 1850–1975, Yale University Art Gallery
- 60 Years of Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Natural History Museum
- Kodak Retires KODACHROME Film; Celebrates Life of Oldest Film Icon in its Portfolio, Eastman Kodak Company
- Kodak retiring Kodachrome film, The Associated Press
- Kodachrome, TIME
- Brooklyn, India on last Kodachrome roll, The Associated Press
- Sun and Shadow: The Life and Death of Kodachrome K-14, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
- Processing KODACHROME Films, Process K-14, Eastman Kodak Company
- Un dernier shoot de Kodachrome avant l'oubli, Slate.fr
Shot on Kodak Kodachrome 64
Afghan Girl
Shot on Kodachrome 64 slide film with a Nikon FM2 at Nasir Bagh refugee camp near Peshawar; the National Geographic cover of June 1985.
The last roll of Kodachrome
The 36 frames of the last roll of Kodachrome 64 Kodak made, shot on a Nikon F6 in New York, India and Parsons, Kansas, where Dwayne's Photo processed them; the slides went to George Eastman House.
The look
Kodak Kodachrome 64 is a daylight colour reversal film: the film itself is the positive, viewed directly with no print. Its scale is long and contrasty, dense shadows stay warm rather than blue, and the grain is very fine.
Saturated reds and dense shadows that stay warm rather than turning blue.
The Super 8 home-movie look in one frame: larger grain and softer detail, with Kodachrome's colour.
Best for
- Travel and street colour in hard sun
- Wildlife and nature in daylight
- Portraits with deep, warm shadows
Among the films
Science & sources
A daylight colour reversal film with a long, high-contrast scale and dense, warm shadows. Its positive image is shown directly, without a print stage.
Response curves and the evidence behind the model
Compare manufacturer data with the Ashigrain model on the same axes. This shows the calibration to source curves; comparison with photographed film is a separate question.
Characteristic response
RMS granularity
Density variation (σD) measured through a 48 µm aperture. Where the datasheet gives a single grain value, the response away from that point is an approximation.
| Channel | Density | Datasheet-based σD | Model σD |
|---|---|---|---|
| R | 0.3 | 0.006086 | 0.006331 |
| G | 0.3 | 0.006086 | 0.006344 |
| B | 0.3 | 0.006086 | 0.006317 |
| R | 0.6 | 0.008607 | 0.008953 |
| G | 0.6 | 0.008607 | 0.008972 |
| B | 0.6 | 0.008607 | 0.008934 |
| R | 1 | 0.011112 | 0.011559 |
| G | 1 | 0.011112 | 0.011583 |
| B | 1 | 0.011112 | 0.011533 |
| R | 1.5 | 0.013609 | 0.014157 |
| G | 1.5 | 0.013609 | 0.014186 |
| B | 1.5 | 0.013609 | 0.014125 |
| R | 2 | 0.015714 | 0.016347 |
| G | 2 | 0.015714 | 0.016381 |
| B | 2 | 0.015714 | 0.016311 |
Model limits
These images show the film model in use. Spectral response, lighting and viewing conditions include approximations, while halation, bloom, grain size, weave and flicker are not fully measured for each film. A real film capture also depends on development and print timing.
- The model assumes custom lighting spectra, camera metering and the spectral reflectance inferred from fixed-white-balance footage. These inputs are not measurements of the film.
- The spectral transmission of the conversion filter the source prescribes (80A for daylight films under tungsten, 85 for tungsten films in daylight) is modelled, not supplied by the source.
- The source prints one visual MTF curve, not separate red, green and blue curves. The model applies it to all three layers.
- The only grain value is RMS granularity 10 × 10⁻³, read at a gross (not net) visual density of 1.0. Its conversion to net density and the response away from that point are modelled.
- The dye curves are normalised to a visual neutral, with no midscale neutral; dye amounts are derived from that normalisation.
- No minimum-density spectrum is printed, so the reversal base-density spectrum is approximated. Reversal push and pull have no published curves and use a generic model.
- No antihalation layer is named; rem-jet is assumed. Halation strength, radius, layer weights and bloom are not measured.
- Where calibration data is missing, the model approximates dye amounts, interactions between layers and push/pull behaviour. Grain size is an assumption: published RMS granularity does not determine dye-cloud size.
- Characteristic response outside the published exposure range is an extrapolation, not measured film data.
- Modelled projection flare raises screen blacks. Its strength is assumed because the available sources do not measure it, so it does not establish measured projection contrast.
Film guide: assumptions and practical choices
Sources
- Exposure index: KODAK KODACHROME 25, 64, and 200 Professional Films Technical Data, E-55, June 2009, p. 1
- Process: KODAK KODACHROME 25, 64, and 200 Professional Films Technical Data, E-55, June 2009, p. 2
- Characteristic curves: KODAK KODACHROME 25, 64, and 200 Professional Films Technical Data, E-55, June 2009, p. 4
- Diffuse RMS granularity: KODAK KODACHROME 25, 64, and 200 Professional Films Technical Data, E-55, June 2009, p. 4