Goodbye Kodachrome!

Kodak Film had this message on their website:

They say all good things in life come to an end. Today we announced that Kodak will retire KODACHROME Film, concluding its 74-year run.
It was a difficult decision, given its rich history. At the end of the day, photographers have told us and showed us they've moved on to newer other Kodak films and/or digital. KODACHROME Film currently represents a fraction of one percent of our film sales. We at Kodak want to celebrate with you the rich history of this storied film. Feel free to share with us your fondest memories of Kodachrome.

I have had much better luck with the longevity of slides that were taken with Kodachrome over the ones taken with Ektachrome. Here is a scan of a slide taken by my uncle in 1949:

When I was in Singapore and Hong Kong in the Navy, I used what I consider the best film ever, ASA 25 Kodachrome. I figured at the time that these were colorful places that I would only see once in a lifetime and it made sense to use the finest grain film available.  The Nikkomat FTN I was using had a fast f1.4 lens and with the slow film the shallow depth of field is quite apparent.

When I was scanning slides, I liked the fact that you can get the proper alignment in the scanner. All you need to know is to have the emulsion side pointing down. You cannot do that when you don’t have a visible built up emulsion.