# Fantastic Kodachome photos from the 1940s **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 13, 2012, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633 "2012-03-13T10:56:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/1 "2012-03-13T10:56:47Z")
Someone on a different forum posted a link to these, amazing pictures! > **[4x5 Kodachromes](https://pavel-kosenko.livejournal.com/303194.html?thread=22669914)** > > To English-speaking visitors: This post in English http://pavelkosenko.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/4x5-kodachromes/ Я часто хожу на сайт www.shorpy.com вдохновляться цветом Кодахрома. Сайт широко известен своими архивными фотографиями, так что вряд ли... And someone else stated they were apparently sourced from here: > **[Shorpy.com](https://www.shorpy.com/image/tid/179)** > > Shorpy Vintage HD Photo Archive Strange to see photo’s from that era in such high-resolution and detail! ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/2 "2012-03-13T12:32:27Z")
I’ve seen them before and really dislike them. They are so damn artificial. The lighting, makeup, poses and clothing choices are so perfect they are like cartoons. Give me a slightly imperfect black and white candid shot any day. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/3 "2012-03-13T12:37:40Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I’ve seen them before and really dislike them. They are so damn artificial. The lighting, makeup, poses and clothing choices are so perfect they are like cartoons. Give me a slightly imperfect black and white candid shot any day. hey, you know that thing you like? It sucks. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/4 "2012-03-13T14:34:43Z")
I wish my attempts at scanning negatives came out this good. I did several boxes of slides for my dad 15 years ago. There’s an art to getting results like the OP’s link. I liked all of these a lot. ---
**Author:** ![xanthous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/53a042/32.png) [@xanthous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xanthous)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/5 "2012-03-13T15:18:07Z")
I often try to imagine what full-color life must’ve looked like back then, as I’ve gotten so used to seeing things in black and white from that era that it’s hard to imagine life not actually being in black and white. These are amazing to see! ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/6 "2012-03-13T15:37:35Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > Strange to see photo’s from that era in such high-resolution and detail! Not strange at all, at least to me. One of the major advantages to Kodachome transparency film was its longevity and resistance to fading. Also, the ISO rating of film of that era was very low; ISO 10-15 in many cases. Low-speed film like that is very fine grained, ergo the high resolution you speak of. And not only did Kodak discontinue this groundbreaking film, they’ve also announced the [end of all their transparency films this month](http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/colorReversalIndex.jhtml?pq-path=1229). ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/7 "2012-03-13T16:18:12Z")
While the overly posed propaganda-ish-ness of some of the shots is offputting, the ones where the machinery (especially the B-25’s Douglas Dauntlesses, and P-51 Mustangs) are the focus are gorgeous. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/8 "2012-03-13T16:24:20Z")
The high resolution is because those are large-format, 4" x 5" film, not itty-bitty 35mm slides. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/9 "2012-03-13T16:43:40Z")
I love those photos. They still give a pretty good sense of the time even though they’re posed. > [@postcards](#): > > One of the major advantages to Kodachome transparency film was its longevity and **resistance to fading**. I don’t know if they had to do it for these photographs, but the colour might have been corrected digitally. I have an old print from the 70s that has aged terribly, but one click of Automatic Colour Balance makes it look like new. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/10 "2012-03-13T17:02:06Z")
I love 'em. I can’t imagine how much cooler it will be in 300 years to know that they have photographic evidence of what life was like 400+ years into our past(going back in to the 1800’s). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/11 "2012-03-13T17:22:48Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > One of the major advantages to Kodachome transparency film was its longevity and resistance to fading. Also, the ISO rating of film of that era was very low; ISO 10-15 in many cases. Low-speed film like that is very fine grained, ergo the high resolution you speak of. When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school… > [@](#): > > And not only did Kodak discontinue this groundbreaking film, they’ve also announced the [end of all their transparency films this month](http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/colorReversalIndex.jhtml?pq-path=1229). Damn, gotta get my Ektachrome used up and developed soon, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/12 "2012-03-13T17:57:53Z")
Awesome! Those photos look as if they were taken just yesterday instead of 70 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/13 "2012-03-13T17:58:15Z")
> [@xanthous](#): > > I often try to imagine what full-color life must’ve looked like back then, as I’ve gotten so used to seeing things in black and white from that era that it’s hard to imagine life not actually being in black and white. These are amazing to see! Wait, the world wasn’t black and white back then? I can’t imagine it any other way. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/14 "2012-03-13T18:21:46Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I wish my attempts at scanning negatives came out this good. I did several boxes of slides for my dad 15 years ago. There’s an art to getting results like the OP’s link. > > I liked all of these a lot. Slides used Ektachrome. Kodachrome was for print pictures. Ektachrome has more blues. I’m not a photographer. I’ve just tried to print from slides with poor results. The differents was explianed to me by the professional who tried to print the pictures. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/15 "2012-03-13T18:45:05Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > Slides used Ektachrome. Kodachrome was for print pictures. Kodakchrome was transparency (aka “slide”) film. It used different chemistry than Ektachrome (E-6 is what became standard transparency chemistry. Kodachrome used a proprietary process called K-14, which only a few labs had access to, which is why you had to send it out so often.) but it was still slide film. ETA: Checking up on it, K-14 was just the final version of the chemistry, in 1974. And until 1954, only Kodak could process Kodachrome, before a lawsuit found it anti-competitive and required Kodak to give independent labs access to its chemistry. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/16 "2012-03-13T18:48:41Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > Wait, the world wasn’t black and white back then? I can’t imagine it any other way. [Calvin’s Dad]The world **was** black and white back then, but it changed to color in about 1955. That’s why old pictures are in black and white, but old paintings are in color–because the paintings changed to color along with the rest of the world.[/Calvin’s Dad] ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/17 "2012-03-13T18:52:44Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I’ve seen them before and really dislike them. They are so damn artificial. The lighting, makeup, poses and clothing choices are so perfect they are like cartoons. Give me a slightly imperfect black and white candid shot any day. Totally disagree. First, the b&w photos we see were just as posed and phony. Second, the world is in color. Give me photos that show the world as it really was. People have always liked color. They wore colorful clothing; they painted their surroundings in bright colors, they appreciated pictures that were colored. These pictures mean a thousand times as much to me as b&w candids. Silent films weren’t better than talkies either. Thanks for linking to them, Disposable Hero. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/18 "2012-03-13T18:54:19Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > Slides used Ektachrome. Kodachrome was for print pictures. Ektachrome has more blues. Correction: Kodachrome was **also** a slide (transparency) film, but a different formulation than Ektachrome. (KM was basically a B/W film where the color dyes were added during the processing; EK color dyes were incorporated into the film itself. KM was a specialized development process\*, only done by Kodak and a few commercial labs, while virtually any lab with the right equipment was able to process EK.) Koda **color** was for print pictures. And prints can be made from slides, they just require an internegative, making the prints third generation, with some expected loss of sharpness and detail, depending upon your lab. There was (still is?) a process called Cibachrome (later Ilfochrome) that made prints directly from slides, which were sharp and with great color, but also expensive and again, only done by certain custom labs. \*‘Specialized development’ meaning more involved than EK, and more of a pain in the ass, so few commercial labs were willing to undertake it. It may have also required a special license from Kodak as well, but I’m not sure.) ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/19 "2012-03-14T04:30:48Z")
> [@xanthous](#): > > I often try to imagine what full-color life must’ve looked like back then, as I’ve gotten so used to seeing things in black and white from that era that it’s hard to imagine life not actually being in black and white. These are amazing to see! > [@Mahaloth](#): > > I love 'em. I can’t imagine how much cooler it will be in 300 years to know that they have photographic evidence of what life was like 400+ years into our past(going back in to the 1800’s). > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Totally disagree. First, the b&w photos we see were just as posed and phony. Second, the world is in color. Give me photos that show the world as it really was. Yes, they are such an accurate historical record. It really is true that in the early 1940’s American women wore perfectly clean blouses colour matched to their surroundings, coming to work after having their hair and makeup done, and had perfectly clean hands, and worked under direct mood lighting, perfectly posed, while _building engines and aircraft during a war_. That’s what life was like. Overalls, grime, harsh factory lighting, tiredness etc didn’t exist back then. Life was like a bunch of models in a Sears catalogue. No, really, that’s what it was like. It isn’t about b&w vs colour, it’s about posed vs unposed. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633/20 "2012-03-14T05:03:59Z")
And there are unposed or at least only slightly posed colour photographs from the 1940’s > **[How times have changed in New York City! Extraordinary colour photographs...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2036932/New-York-City-photos-Charles-W-Cushman-reveal-1940s-life-Big-Apple.html)** > > Pictures taken by Charles Cushman, of Indiana, are even more impressive today - as they were taken on pricey colour Kodachrome and look far more recent than they actually are. [http://hughwilliamson.hubpages.com/hub/Rural-Life-Photos-in-1940-IN-COLOR](http://hughwilliamson.hubpages.com/hub/Rural-Life-Photos-in-1940-IN-COLOR) And that was just a few seconds of googling, I’m sure there are more and better. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantastic-kodachome-photos-from-the-1940s/615633.md?page=2)