Skip to main content

Kodak shows off the first test photos shot on its new Ektachrome film

Five years after ditching its Ektachrome 100 film, Kodak is making final preparations for its relaunch.

The iconic photography company has been working on the production of Ektachrome for more than a year, and has just shown off some of the first images shot with it.

Recommended Videos

“Our development team is still working hard on the update,” Kodak said in an Instagram post (below), which included “some successful test photos from our pilot-scale equipment.” It declined to offer a specific date for the relaunch of its once-popular 35mm color transparency film, though a blog post last November promised it would hit the market some time this year.

Kodak says that its Ektachrome 100 film was popular for its “extremely fine grain, clean colors, great tones and contrasts, [and] became iconic in no small part due to the extensive use of slide film by National Geographic magazine over several decades.”

If you’re wondering why Kodak can’t simply roll out the same production method as before, the company points out that it’s a “very complex film with over 80 ingredients, and many of those ingredients were not able to be purchased any longer.”

So its first step was to find out which places could make the necessary chemicals and which ones it could make itself, a process that in itself presented a “big challenge,” though one that it has clearly managed to overcome.

The fall and rise of Ektachrome

Kodak launched Ektachrome in the early 1940s, but facing financial difficulties in 2012 and citing lack of demand in the face of growing pressure from the fast-expanding digital market, the company ended production of many of its film types — Ektachrome among them.

In 2013, Kodak’s film photography unit was spun off into a new company called Kodak Alaris. In the last few years, the company said it started to receive an increasing number of inquiries asking if it had any plans to reintroduce any of its films.

“Sales of professional photographic films have been steadily rising over the last few years,” the company said in early 2017. It added that both professional and enthusiast photographers were “rediscovering the artistic control offered by manual processes and the creative satisfaction of a physical end product.”

With the launch apparently just around the corner, Ektachrome fans will soon have the chance to once again load it into their film cameras. We look forward to seeing some of the results.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
GoPro launches ultralight, affordable Hero 4K Camera for $199
The 2024 GoPro hero is frozen in ice.

GoPro enthusiasts have a new camera to consider after the company introduced its miniature, ultralight 4K Hero late last week. It is the company's smallest and most affordable offering, costing just $199.

The Hero is waterproof and combines GoPro's simplest user interface with 4K video, 2x slo-mo at 2.7K resolution, and 12-megapixel photos. It is available on retail shelves around the world and online at GoPro's website.

Read more
The best camera phones in 2024: our top 9 photography picks
A person holding the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

In the past decade or so, cameras on smartphones have evolved so much that they can pretty much replace a standalone digital camera for most people. The results you can get on some of the best smartphones these days are just so impressive, and being able to be with you at all times means you'll never miss a moment.

But what if you want the best possible camera phone money can buy? A camera that won't let you down no matter what you're taking a picture of? You've come to the right place. Here are the very best camera phones you can buy in 2024.

Read more
An ace photographer is about to leave the ISS. Here are his best shots
The moon and Earth as seen from the ISS.

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick is preparing to return to Earth after spending seven months living and working aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

After arriving at the orbital outpost, Dominick -- who is on his first mission to space -- quickly earned a reputation for being an ace photographer. He's been using the facility’s plethora of high-end cameras and lenses to capture amazing shots from his unique vantage point some 250 miles above Earth. Sharing his content on social media, the American astronaut has always been happy to reveal how he captured the imagery and offer extra insight for folks interested to know more.

Read more