Kodachrome One Hour Labs, APS slide Film, ...

[P3D <BD3D@xxxxxxxxxx>]

One hour labs for Kodachrome?

>From an article in the local (Rochester NY) paper Thursday about
Eastman Kodak's new products and services being announced at Spring
PMA '97, in New Orleans through Sunday:



"Kodak will unveil a new "minilab" for processing Kodachrome color
reversal film in less than one hour - a significant breakthrough
for advanced photographers who like the brilliant color Kodachrome
affords, but are put off because slide film typically has to be
sent out for processing.  The Kodachrome processing lab will allow
retailers to process the film right in the store.

The new "K-Lab" will be able to process 75 - 100 rolls per hour.

Kodak plans to roll out the new labs in a limited basis for testing
and to announce worldwide availability at a later time"

Wow!  That is not at all the kind of Kodachrome announcement I have
been expecting.  I was expecting something more like an obituary.
This sounds like great news to me, although most of the ex-Kodakers
that I work with (most with a thorough knowledge of Kodachrome
processing) were highly skeptical that one could simplify the
processing enough to condense either the space, time or skill
required.

Since Rochester is the home of E.K., one would expect that at least
one of the "limited basis" labs will be somewhere around here.

If I come across it, I will be sure to give them a try.  Will
report findings.

The article also mentioned that Kodak will be showing five new
Advantix cameras and an APS slide film. Hmm...

Also discussed a new Internet photo system now undergoing trials,
called the Kodak Picture Network, with a proprietary image file
format called FlashPix.  This is said to be a collaboration between
Kodak, Hewlett-Packard "and a West Coast firm called Live Picture".



Best regards,
Bill Davis


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