Kodachrome is a brand of color transparency (slide) film sold by Kodak. First sold in 1935, it is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) mass-marketed color still film. Kodachrome has been through many incarnations and processing processes over the years; the current (2003) is the K14-process Kodachrome. Kodachrome is widely regarded as one of the best films available for the consumer because of its fine grain and vivid colour reproduction.
Kodachrome film has a different structure to its emulsion than other slide films. Color is added in the developing process which makes its rendering of color and response to light unique. A Kodachrome slide is quickly detectable by an expert reviewing a series of slides with indeterminant origins.
Kodachrome film has mostly been replaced by E6-process transparency films, though it still finds use for applications where its archival stability is valued. Kodachrome 25 was taken off the market in 2002, though Kodachrome 64 and 200 remains available as of January 2004. A recent Kodak announcement that it will be reducing the number of production runs of the remaining Kodachrome films coupled with the dwindling number of labs which process Kodachrome are expected to expidite the films demise. Despite these trends there are still a number of loyal Kodachrome photographers.
The musician Paul Simon included a song titled Kodachrome on his 1973 album There Goes Rhymin' Simon.
The National Geographic Society led an initiative to name a state park in Utah after the Kodachrome film. Kodachrome Basin State Park contains unique, beautiful, and varied color in its rocks.
