kodak ectochrome slides (info & history)

Hi all,

recently during my scanning project I've come accross some old family slides
in the ectochrome format, they are larger than the 35mm type and they are
square rather than rectangular. They are also RED, meaning everything is in
the hue of red. When I scan these (using vuescan) and run them through
photoshop for tweaking I'm able to "restore" what looks like the original
color of the pictures themselves. My question's are regarding ectochrome
itself, was this a transitional color format introduced at the time (these
slides are from 1958-59) were they meant to provide a bit of red hue to
slides as opposed to a typical black & white of the time? Does anyone have
any info or links that gives a bit about the history (and reasons) for this
type of slide format? any information would be appreciated.

Thanks

On Mon, 19 Sep 2005 00:18:05 GMT, "sammy" wrote:


Sammy,

The film was/is called Ektachrome with an "a."

Ektachromes are still around, and in fact they will be around long
after Kodachrome disappears into history.

I've always preferred Kodachrome to Ektachromes for their color
stability, as you are now seeing.

I'm just taking a SWAG here about the format. I started doing
photography about 1956 using a Kodak "Brownie" camera. It used
127-format "roll film," which is about 1.4" across. Unlike 35 mm
film, it required a paper backing. Frame numbers were printed on the
paper backing, and you wound the film after each exposure until you
saw the next frame number appear in a small circular window in the
back of the camera.

You probably have "superslides," which are explained he

http://www.frugalphotographer.com/catSuperSlide.htm

Here is an interesting website, should you ever have the urge to buy
any roll films.

http://www.fotoimpex.de/Home/films/e...ody_e-127.html

For more information, try this Google search (without the quotes)
"127 roll film"

Hi all,

recently during my scanning project I've come accross some old family slides
in the ectochrome format, they are larger than the 35mm type and they are
square rather than rectangular. They are also RED, meaning everything is in
the hue of red. When I scan these (using vuescan) and run them through
photoshop for tweaking I'm able to "restore" what looks like the original
color of the pictures themselves. My question's are regarding ectochrome
itself, was this a transitional color format introduced at the time (these
slides are from 1958-59) were they meant to provide a bit of red hue to
slides as opposed to a typical black & white of the time? Does anyone have
any info or links that gives a bit about the history (and reasons) for this
type of slide format? any information would be appreciated.

Thanks

Thanks for the info and proper keywords, I now know what I'm dealing with,
they are indeed 127 roll superslides mounted in the same frame size as 35mm.
There's only one thing I didn't get clarified, my pictures are red, very
definitely red, in fact I could describe them as being sort of "greyscale"
only in a red hue, there is no other colour in the slide.
Was this how it would have looked in 1959? or is this actually what severe
fading looks like in this particular film type? I have come across other
typical faded 35mm slides processed by other than kodachrome, but I have
never seen slides faded to red.
On another note, I scanned some "professional store bought" slides (sold at
tourist stores in 1963) and these 35mm slides were also red, and when I
tried to color correct them, they stayed red, meaning I don't think there
was ever any color on the film.
can you shed any light on red?

sammy

"sammy" wrote in message
...


Thanks for the info and proper keywords, I now know what I'm dealing with,
they are indeed 127 roll superslides mounted in the same frame size as
35mm.
There's only one thing I didn't get clarified, my pictures are red, very
definitely red, in fact I could describe them as being sort of "greyscale"
only in a red hue, there is no other colour in the slide.
Was this how it would have looked in 1959? or is this actually what severe
fading looks like in this particular film type? I have come across other
typical faded 35mm slides processed by other than kodachrome, but I have
never seen slides faded to red.
On another note, I scanned some "professional store bought" slides (sold
at
tourist stores in 1963) and these 35mm slides were also red, and when I
tried to color correct them, they stayed red, meaning I don't think there
was ever any color on the film.
can you shed any light on red?

sammy

Most likely, the red tint is the result of time and the dyes of the emulsion
fading. (If exposed to sunlight, the fading is worse).
It means that the only dye left is of a red tint.
The normal dyes in processed Ektachrome film are Cyan, Yellow and Magenta.
It looks like the only dye left is Magenta.

It is not likely that you can restore the full color, once the dyes have
faded away, there is nothing to recover.

The best you can do is either create sepia tone images (colored grayscale)
or convert the image to grayscale.

You can colorize the images (Photoshop). It is an old time technique where
a black and white photograph was colored with dyes to look as if in color.
It is really a painting on the photograph.

There is a Recipe (Howto) in Photoshop Elements 2 and maybe 3 for Color a
black and white photo.


--
CSM1
http://www.carlmcmillan.com
--

As I recall Ectachrome it was a slide with brilliant hues and colours. I
used to use it primarily in the fall (early to mid 60s) to capture the fall
colours. I loved it. Looking at some of those slides now, an overall red
hue has crept in but so it has in my other slides as well. I have
Ectachrome in both standard 35mm and Super Slides. I used a standard box
camera for the Super Slides. (120 film?) Mounted, the viewing area is 2X2"
and the outside of the mount is 2.75X2.75. They projected beautifully
because they were so much bigger. I'm looking at some right now from 1961
and they are quite faded and definately redish but not enough to ruin the
image. They are as correctable as any of my other slides. (fair to good)
Gord Schindler

"sammy" wrote in message
...


Thanks for the info and proper keywords, I now know what I'm dealing with,
they are indeed 127 roll superslides mounted in the same frame size as
35mm.
There's only one thing I didn't get clarified, my pictures are red, very
definitely red, in fact I could describe them as being sort of "greyscale"
only in a red hue, there is no other colour in the slide.
Was this how it would have looked in 1959? or is this actually what severe
fading looks like in this particular film type? I have come across other
typical faded 35mm slides processed by other than kodachrome, but I have
never seen slides faded to red.
On another note, I scanned some "professional store bought" slides (sold
at
tourist stores in 1963) and these 35mm slides were also red, and when I
tried to color correct them, they stayed red, meaning I don't think there
was ever any color on the film.
can you shed any light on red?

sammy

Thanks for all this info, it's been helpful

On Mon, 19 Sep 2005 16:45:21 -0500, "Gord Schindler"
wrote:

As I recall Ectachrome it was a slide with brilliant hues and colours. I
used to use it primarily in the fall (early to mid 60s) to capture the fall
colours. I loved it. Looking at some of those slides now, an overall red
hue has crept in but so it has in my other slides as well. I have
Ectachrome in both standard 35mm and Super Slides. I used a standard box
camera for the Super Slides. (120 film?) Mounted, the viewing area is 2X2"
and the outside of the mount is 2.75X2.75. They projected beautifully
because they were so much bigger. I'm looking at some right now from 1961
and they are quite faded and definately redish but not enough to ruin the
image. They are as correctable as any of my other slides. (fair to good)

And my Kodachromes from that same era are still color-true.

So, if I have any extra grief with a scannner because I have
Kodachrome, well at least I have my color images.;

~~ Kodak ~~

PS: My Agfa slides of Paris in 1966, don't remember the film but it
may have been CT18, those are also pretty faded. Of course, that was
before the buildings in Paris were cleaned up, so the loss isn't so
great.

~~ Kodak ~~
Gord Schindler

"sammy" wrote in message
...


Thanks for the info and proper keywords, I now know what I'm dealing with,
they are indeed 127 roll superslides mounted in the same frame size as
35mm.
There's only one thing I didn't get clarified, my pictures are red, very
definitely red, in fact I could describe them as being sort of "greyscale"
only in a red hue, there is no other colour in the slide.
Was this how it would have looked in 1959? or is this actually what severe
fading looks like in this particular film type? I have come across other
typical faded 35mm slides processed by other than kodachrome, but I have
never seen slides faded to red.
On another note, I scanned some "professional store bought" slides (sold
at
tourist stores in 1963) and these 35mm slides were also red, and when I
tried to color correct them, they stayed red, meaning I don't think there
was ever any color on the film.
can you shed any light on red?

sammy

I have a bunch of superslides that my dad took with a "Baby Rollei" in the
'50s and '60s. The Ektachromes are faded monochrome red. The Kodachromes
look like they might have been shot yesterday. The Agfachromes are almost as
good as the Kodachromes.

I still have that camera. One of these days I'm going to find some 127 film
and shoot some pictures.

Paul


"Father Kodak" wrote in message
...
: On Mon, 19 Sep 2005 00:18:05 GMT, "sammy" wrote:
:
:
: Sammy,
:
: The film was/is called Ektachrome with an "a."
:
: Ektachromes are still around, and in fact they will be around long
: after Kodachrome disappears into history.
:
: I've always preferred Kodachrome to Ektachromes for their color
: stability, as you are now seeing.
:
: I'm just taking a SWAG here about the format. I started doing
: photography about 1956 using a Kodak "Brownie" camera. It used
: 127-format "roll film," which is about 1.4" across. Unlike 35 mm
: film, it required a paper backing. Frame numbers were printed on the
: paper backing, and you wound the film after each exposure until you
: saw the next frame number appear in a small circular window in the
: back of the camera.
:
: You probably have "superslides," which are explained he
:
: http://www.frugalphotographer.com/catSuperSlide.htm
:
: Here is an interesting website, should you ever have the urge to buy
: any roll films.
:
: http://www.fotoimpex.de/Home/films/e...ody_e-127.html
:
: For more information, try this Google search (without the quotes)
: "127 roll film"
:
: Hi all,
:
: recently during my scanning project I've come accross some old family
slides
: in the ectochrome format, they are larger than the 35mm type and they are
: square rather than rectangular. They are also RED, meaning everything is
in
: the hue of red. When I scan these (using vuescan) and run them through
: photoshop for tweaking I'm able to "restore" what looks like the original
: color of the pictures themselves. My question's are regarding ectochrome
: itself, was this a transitional color format introduced at the time
(these
: slides are from 1958-59) were they meant to provide a bit of red hue to
: slides as opposed to a typical black & white of the time? Does anyone
have
: any info or links that gives a bit about the history (and reasons) for
this
: type of slide format? any information would be appreciated.
:
: Thanks
:

Paul wrote:
I have a bunch of superslides that my dad took with a "Baby Rollei" in the
'50s and '60s. The Ektachromes are faded monochrome red. The Kodachromes
look like they might have been shot yesterday. The Agfachromes are almost as
good as the Kodachromes.

interesting I also took Ektachrome super slides in the early 60's and
still used Ektachrome almost exclusively up until just recently when it
got much harder to find, (now use Fujichrome) but all of my slides almost
without exception are just as sharp and bright as the day they were first
processed. I currently have over 85,000 Ektachrome slides and it is very
rare to find one that the colors are even a little off.

Bob



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On Tue, 09 Jan 2007 01:43:57 -0000, Access Systems
wrote:

Paul wrote:
I have a bunch of superslides that my dad took with a "Baby Rollei" in the
'50s and '60s. The Ektachromes are faded monochrome red. The Kodachromes
look like they might have been shot yesterday. The Agfachromes are almost as
good as the Kodachromes.

It depends on the processing used, but my guess is one of the steps
was either improperly done or missed.
I'd say whoever processed the Ektachromes didn't wash them
thouroughly. Typically I see Ektachromes shift color to a darker
blue, but well done and they should still look as good as the others.


interesting I also took Ektachrome super slides in the early 60's and
still used Ektachrome almost exclusively up until just recently when it
got much harder to find, (now use Fujichrome) but all of my slides almost
without exception are just as sharp and bright as the day they were first
processed. I currently have over 85,000 Ektachrome slides and it is very
rare to find one that the colors are even a little off.


Bob
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com