Kodak Retiring Kodachrome

Demand for digital forces company to phase out film

By CAROLYN THOMPSON
Associated Press

Updated: 06/24/2009 01:38:18 AM PDT

 

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Eastman Kodak Co. announced Monday it is retiring its oldest film stock because of declining customer demand in an increasingly digital age.

The world's first commercially successful color film, immortalized in song by Simon, spent 74 years in Kodak's portfolio. It enjoyed its heyday in the 1950s and '60s, but in recent years has nudged closer to obscurity. Sales of Kodachrome are a fraction of 1 percent of the company's total sales of still-picture films, and only one commercial lab in the world still processes it.
Read More ...