Received the following via email. We can all weep - no more NEAT Train pictures in Kodachrome :(
Kodak retires Kodachrome
The company will discontinue the color film after 74 years
Posted by Elizabeth Strott on Monday, June 22, 2009 10:52 AM
"They give us those nice bright colors. They give us the greens of summers. Makes you think all the world's a sunny day," Paul Simon sang in the 1973 song "Kodachrome."
It looks like Simon will have to come up with a new song now that Eastman Kodak (EK) is retiring its Kodachrome color film after a 74-year run. Kodachrome sales have plunged since the introduction of both new films and digital technology, and the product now makes up less than 1% of Kodak's still-picture-film sales, the company said. About 70% of Kodak's revenue now comes from its commercial and consumer digital businesses.
"It was certainly a difficult decision to retire it, given its rich history," Mary Jane Hellyar, president of Kodak’s Film, Photofin ishing and Entertainment Group, said in a statement. "However, the majority of today's photographers have voiced their preference to capture images with newer technology -- both film and digital."
Hellyar said current supplies of Kodachrome will likely last until early fall. Dwayne's Photo, in Parsons, Kan., is the only photofinishing lab that still processes the complex Kodachrome film, Kodak said, and it will continue to do so through 2010.
Photojournalist Steve McCurry's famous National Geographic cover of an Afghan refugee girl was shot on Kodachrome in 1985. McCurry will shoot one of the last rolls of Kodachrome film and donate the images to the George Eastman House museum, which honors the company's founder, in Rochester, N.Y. Kodak will also compile other iconic images and post them on its Web site.
Shares of Kodak stock were down 18 cents, or 6.3%, to $2.67 th is afternoon. The stock has plunged more than 76% over the past year.