ad announcing Kodachrome for professionals
Toronto. For decades, I thought of Kodachrome as home movie or 35mm slide film. Journal editor, the late Ev Roseborough, corrected me as did another journal editor, the late Bob Lansdale. When Kodachrome was introduced (1935) it was limited to 16mm home movie film since the Kodak plant in Rochester had limited Kodachrome processing capability. The next leap was 35mm transparencies (slides).
But in November 1938 professional cut film up to 8×10 inches a sheet was announced. The ad here is from the November 1938 issue of American Cinematographer. Back then colour film had to be corrected for the principle lighting used – daylight, tungsten, floodlights, even fluorescents. Modern day digital users don’t realize just how much automatic ‘white balance’ has simplified things. Cut film Kodachrome for daylight use was in the near future.
The cut film version of Kodachrome was balanced for ‘clear Mazda lamps’. The film speed was about 1/3 that of Eastman portrait or SS panchromatic B&W film (pitiful speed today). To use it in daylight, or other kinds of incandescent bulbs, a filter on the lens was necessary.
My thanks to good friend George Dunbar for finding and sharing this ad with us.
