K-Lab Kodachrome Processing after Dec. 30, 2010

[lxdude]

The Rocky Mountain K-Lab is the one Kittlegraphy acquired.

I think it had gone to a salvage yard and he bought it from them.

And yes, be very wary of Rocky Mountain.

[RichardE]

The final UK processing address for pre-paid Kodachrome films was Kodak Processing Companies Ltd 29 Deer Park Road London, SW19 3UG, which closed in 2006 when 120 processing finished. (This seems to be the same address used by Agfa for their pre-paid reversal films way back in the 1960's/70's, though later, (when their films changed to E6) they used (independent?) labs in Bury and Coventry).

Just been wasting-a-few-minutes with Google maps of Deer Park Road, and the "street-view" shows a largish fairly-modern (1970's or early 80's) building on a busy industrial estate. The only indication of any connection with Kodak is an old banner "Overnight film processing" (and "Kodak-Yellow" painted railings).
At the time of the picture (June 2008) the building looks in good order but is empty and "To Let", while the weeds in the car yard look consistent with it being unused for a year or so. So no moth-balled K-labs to be found there now, I guess.

[sdkodachrome]

So what's in Lausanne/Gland* now? (When the UK processing closed down in 2006, was it processed at Lausanne for a while, or was Lausanne from 2006 on already used just for forwarding to Dwayne's?)

*Googling maps for Kodak near Lausanne, it seems to have all the Kodak addresses in nearby Gland rather than Lausanne proper. So was processing ever in Lausanne proper, or was Lausanne just the mail drop address for mailers, or the name of processing facility based on the region rather than the exact address?

[RichardE]

Originally Posted by sdkodachrome

So what's in Lausanne/Gland* now? (When the UK processing closed down in 2006, was it processed at Lausanne for a while, or was Lausanne from 2006 on already used just for forwarding to Dwayne's?)

*Googling maps for Kodak near Lausanne, it seems to have all the Kodak addresses in nearby Gland rather than Lausanne proper. So was processing ever in Lausanne proper, or was Lausanne just the mail drop address for mailers, or the name of processing facility based on the region rather than the exact address?

The Kodak address for the prepaid mailers was a Lausanne PO Box No., but the lab seems to have been at Renens. There is an interesting video on Google Video at:

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?...&hl=en&view=3#

(Try Googling "Kodak Lausanne" on Google Video if the link doesn't work.)

No idea if they had a K-lab there, but the main plant looks very substantial? I assume that it was the last Kodak official lab, until it closed around 2008-ish and became just the mail drop address for films to be couriered to-and-from Dwaynes. The last processed slides must have been despatched from there to users around Feb last year, 2011. I've also read that unused chemicals were taken back to Dwaynes (and, looking at the videos of Dwaynes, it seems that they mixed chemicals on quite a large scale, rather than just using K-lab pre-packs).

[RichardE]

Originally Posted by KR4myF2AS

"Kittlegraphy" was the nom de guerre given, with Albuquerque as his/her location. Unless Dan is willing to release an email address, the only means with which to contact Kittlegraphy is via pm through this site.

Might Dan be willing to contact him by email on behalf of those of us interested,
if release of email addresses is against Dan's policy?

[KR4myF2AS]

Originally Posted by RichardE

Might Dan be willing to contact him by email on behalf of those of us interested,
if release of email addresses is against Dan's policy?

I pm'd Dan on Saturday to enquire re an alternative email address or another means by which to contact Kittlegraphy. I am currently waiting a response. I expect to hear back from Dan shortly; bear in mind, however, that he is a working photographer, so a bit of patience is in order.

As an aside, it is encouraging to take note of the continued - I might say growing - interest in the K-lab resurrection: over 27,000 hits on this thread (even with repeat visits, a number that remains, by any fair assessment, significant); frequent discussion on APUG (including the fact that a number of APUGers have film to shoot, and are inclined to "wait and see"); and the fact that several APUG members are actively at work experimenting with processing on their own.

For my part, I am inclined to wait on Dan, give Kittlegraphy time to respond, and then, if necessary, commence the search for a surviving and serviceable K-lab. As best I know, the list of K-labs I provided in an earlier post was Kodak's complete listing. However, I may stand corrected on this one. If anyone here can provide additional sites - especially outside the US - ambitious "KPers" may want to do some legwork, and post any relevant information here.

[nzoomed]

Originally Posted by RichardE

The Kodak address for the prepaid mailers was a Lausanne PO Box No., but the lab seems to have been at Renens. There is an interesting video on Google Video at:

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?...&hl=en&view=3#

(Try Googling "Kodak Lausanne" on Google Video if the link doesn't work.)

No idea if they had a K-lab there, but the main plant looks very substantial? I assume that it was the last Kodak official lab, until it closed around 2008-ish and became just the mail drop address for films to be couriered to-and-from Dwaynes. The last processed slides must have been despatched from there to users around Feb last year, 2011. I've also read that unused chemicals were taken back to Dwaynes (and, looking at the videos of Dwaynes, it seems that they mixed chemicals on quite a large scale, rather than just using K-lab pre-packs).

The size of that lab looks huge!
Leaves Dwaynes lab for dead!
I shot some super 8 film in 2006 and kodak sent it to that lab and it got processed only about a month before they ceased prepaid processing of kodachrome.
Otherwise i would have had to pay Dwaynes to process it for me.
Interesting how it shows the cyan, magenta and yellow baths in those photos, i saw a similar thing of the photos at Dwaynes too, i thought the dye couplers had no colour and only created the dye on the film itself when the film was developed in the couplers, those baths look very stained!
I would like to see more video of kodachrome labs, there is not much around it seems, K14 appears to be top secret!

[KR4myF2AS]

Originally Posted by RichardE

Might Dan be willing to contact him by email on behalf of those of us interested,
if release of email addresses is against Dan's policy?

Given that it has been some six weeks since I contacted Dan, and he forwarded my communication to Kittlegraphy, and neither of us have received the courtesy of a response, I think it is safe to assume that Kittlegraphy intends to remain incommunicado. Perhaps he/she is deceased? With the level of interest shown by a number of individuals on APUG, however, I am of the opinion that the Klab issue may well become moot; several individuals there have (or are) contemplating alternative processing methods. As an aside, it is rather encouraging to discover the large number of individuals with (frozen) Kodachrome awaiting "the word"...

[RichardE]

Originally Posted by KR4myF2AS

Given that it has been some six weeks since I contacted Dan, and he forwarded my communication to Kittlegraphy, and neither of us have received the courtesy of a response, I think it is safe to assume that Kittlegraphy intends to remain incommunicado. Perhaps he/she is deceased? With the level of interest shown by a number of individuals on APUG, however, I am of the opinion that the Klab issue may well become moot; several individuals there have (or are) contemplating alternative processing methods. As an aside, it is rather encouraging to discover the large number of individuals with (frozen) Kodachrome awaiting "the word"...

I would agree entirely...after the lapse of time and lack of response, I really don't think we shall hear anything more of Kittlegraphy's K-lab. And it seems that some "simpler" alternative method may be the answer....there cannot be many K-labs still left, their condition may well be poor, the computer control could be unworkable, original Kodak chemical packs are unobtainable, and a large amount of film could be needed (and "wasted") to calibrate and keep in balance.
The prospects of processing in simpler and smaller tanks seems attractive, and someone might be able to provide a viable service to those of us with just a few films frozen. I'm keeping a check on processc22's website, but nothing has appeared yet. Maybe time for an enquiry there?

[KR4myF2AS]

RichardE: I am not certain how often processc22 updates their site, but, according their home page, efforts to develop Kodachrome into colo(u)r images are still at some point in the future ("experiments are being planned"). The site does, however, indicate that an update is in the works; perhaps new (more current?) information will be disclosed at that time. As well, the site notes that emails may be backlogged; you may well be waiting a good while to your enquiry.
While I wish all well to those mad scientists giving this a go, my preference, in the interest of consistency would of course be for a lab to offer processing services. That said, if the eventual process can be undertaken on a smaller scale ("home kits," etc.) I would certainly be prepared to try my hand. In the interim, my stash of Kodachrome awaits.