The dictionary.com Word of the Day is punctilious (puhnk-TIL-ee-uhs), an adjective meaning “strictly attentive to the details of form in action or conduct; precise; exact in the smallest particulars”. After a tedious morning in-service on rubrics and assessment, I found myself with a couple of free hours. Since I’m starting a black and white film photography class on Wednesday, I tried to make good use of the time by preparing.
Several months ago at an auction I bought a Nikon FG 35 mm camera and two extra lenses. The FG is the camera I wanted in the 80’s but couldn’t afford. I had already gotten batteries for it and tested it to make sure it powered on. One thing I noticed was that it had a roll of Kodachrome film in it. Yeah, as in “I got a Nikon camera, I like to take a photograph, so Mama don’t take …. “ More importantly they don’t make it any longer. Even though that old roll left in that old camera for who knows how long might not be any good, I was optimistic and proceeded to use it up.
I referred to my manual. I carefully adjusted and readjusted the settings. I practiced using the complicated focusing screen. I framed each shot with the greatest of care. I worked at this for over an hour. I shot 32 frames and was feeling great. Again I referenced the manual for precise instructions on how to rewind and remove that precious roll of Kodachrome. Alas, when I opened the camera back, I discovered that the spool was empty.
Kodachrome... they quit making it a while ago and a few months before your post, the last roll was processed... Forever...
ReplyDeleteSince I bought my first case of Kodachrome in 1969 (named Kodachrome II back then), I've exposed thousands of rolls and although I moved on to finer still grained films like Fujichrome's Velvia, I still can recognize a Kodachrome. Shifting to digital capture, I have not gone away from Kodachrome as I still have an archive of about 170,000 transparencies in the queue waiting for me to send them through the slide scanner... 'because this film is different than all others, it requires different handling in scanning and software too. I hope that the ability to scan them continues past my time.
Peace