[js2]

> The images were commissioned by the British Ministry of Information, which got hold of a very small quantity of Kodachrome film.

My dad has images he shot going back to the 60s on a variety of films: Kodachrome, Ekatchrome, GAF, Agfachrome and Fujichrome. All stored the same. The Kodachromes look like new. Everything else deteriorated in one way or another.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodachrome

[dbcurtis]

Kodachrome is a very different process from other color films. (going from memory from years ago when I dabbled in color wet-chemistry darkroom work) Most color transparency films have color-couplers linking the silver salts to dyes that are in the unexposed film. Kodachrome, as I recall, had no dyes in it as shipped from the factory. Just three layers of silver salts with different wavelength-response curves. The archival color dyes were implanted into the emulsion at processing-time. The Kodachrome process is very complex and was never approachable for home darkroom work.

[js2]

That’s correct. My dad owned a darkroom business/photoshop for years and we had a nice home darkroom. Kodachrome could only be developed by Kodak and I think one independent business that bought the necessary equipment from Kodak as they were winding down Kodachrome:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwayne%27s_Photo

Kodak simplified the Kodachrome development process over the years, but it was never viable to do at home.

Honestly, anything but B&W and E6 was a PITA to do at home. Even the color negative process (C-41) was annoying at home due to the extra chemicals and temperatures required.

https://www.reframingphotography.com/content/processing-imag...

[themadturk]

My dad took a lot of Kodachromes while flying during the Korean war. Those slides have held up very well, especially compared to my Ektachrome slides shot in the 70s and 80s. He once told me that many of his photos -- some taken out the window of his C-127 Globemaster, where he served as flight engineer -- would have been considered classified at the time.

[jrumbut]

Are these posted anywhere? They sound fascinating.

[themadturk]

Unfortunately no; they're somewhere with the family photos in storage.

[unfocussed_mike]

Mm. The pre-E6 Agfa transparency film really is very unfortunately unstable; it had really beautiful colours but it fades.