Important information regarding processing
old Kodachrome films

If your Kodachrome film is marked "K14" it is a modern film, and should be processed by Dwayne's Photo, the only remaining authorized Kodachrome laboratory in the world.

What follows is presented to help you decide whether or not to try rescuing your pre-K14 Kodachrome 35mm, 126, and 120 roll films. Unfortunately, we are unable to process Kodachrome movie films.

First: Some technical background.

• When film is exposed, the silver halide crystals in its emulsion are converted by light into atomic-sized specks of metallic silver. The silver forms a latent image that cannot be detected except by chemical development.
• Kodachrome development adds organic dyes to the film, and then bleaches away the silver latent image. The original negative silver image is replaced by a positive colored image made of dyes. 
• These dyes are part of the developing chemistry. They are not part of the film. 
• Kodak continues to make dyes for processing modern Kodachrome films (identified as "K14" chemistry), but they only supply the chemistry to Dwayne's Photo.
• Kodak has never revealed the chemical structures of Kodachrome dyes. Reverse-engineering the pre-K14 dyes, which are highly complex organic molecules, is out of the question. That means it is impossible to re-create the chemistry required to process pre-K14 Kodachrome as color films.

Second: The effect of age on films.

• A metallic silver latent image is stable, and does not change.
•  Kodachrome's latent image can be developed with black and white negative chemistry into a monochrome negative image.
• However, the silver halide crystals surrounding the silver latent image are not stable, and over time they spontaneously and randomly change to metallic silver due to the effects of warmth, humidity, and background radiation, creating background density (this is why films have a "process before" date). This background density is called "fog."
• When Kodachrome films remain unprocessed for many years, unless they have been stored cold or frozen, the latent image becomes obscured in fog. The amount of fog is unpredictable. This can result in images that are indistinct, incomplete, too faint to print, or completely blank. 
• The older a film is, the more likely the image will be difficult or impossible to recover. Kodachrome films 30 years old may have acceptable images; older than about 50 years, they are likely to be noticeably degraded. 
• However, even the oldest unprocessed Kodachrome films, if stored in reasonable conditions, are likely to have latent images that can be recovered and made recognizable.

Third: Our solution to the problem.

• Since the original silver latent image is stable, and Kodachrome films can be developed as monochrome negatives, it is very likely that useable images exist on the film, if they can be developed properly. 
• We use modified development techniques and chemical additives that are quite effective at differentiating between image and overall fog, so that fog can be reduced, if not entirely eliminated. 
• We then scan the recovered negative images, employing combinations of sophisticated imaging software that maximizes recovered image detail.

No results can be guaranteed. However, if images cannot be recovered, we refund your payment.

We encourage you to send your old Kodachrome films. At best, we will be successful in recovering images. At worst, it will cost you no more than your postage.