Kodachrome

’The Whole Wonderful World of Colour is Yours’ - Kodak on Kodachrome, 1962

Kodak’s Kodachrome film allowed photographers and film-makers to capture the world in colour.

Launched in 1935, it became one of the most successful colour films for still photography and amateur filming. It marked the real beginning of amateur and professional film-makers creating movies that captured the everyday world in motion and in colour.

Inspired by the early work of Ducos du Hauron in the 1860s, it was developed by the musicians and chemists Leopold Mannes and Leo Godowsky at the Kodak Research Laboratory, Rochester, USA. The film could be used in all standard cameras and projectors. It was little used by the film industry due to the reversal developing process making it difficult to produce multiple copies. However it was very popular with amateur film-makers.

Only Kodak could process a Kodachrome film. Each film was sold with the cost of processing by a Kodak laboratory included. The process was improved many times. It was known for producing colour of high quality and high resolution until it was withdrawn by Kodak in 2009.