Kodachrome Color Reversal Film Type 5262
Description
Although Kodachrome 16mm reversal film was introduced as an amateur film format, rapidly after its introduction it became a format frequently used by (semi-)professional film makers. The reason was that Kodachrome was a relatively easy to use film format that reproduced colors in a photographic way. This implied that it could be used in any standard camera for 16mm film, which opened up possibilities for non-fiction, industrial, educational and other semi-professional film makers who wished to film in color. However, there is of course one major problem for professionals when working with Kodachrome, it is a reversal film material. This means that in the end there is only one print, which makes distribution of a film difficult.
To overcome this problem, in 1938 Eastman Kodak came with a reversal duplicating technique, and a Kodachrome duplicating stock type 5262 which also could be used as camera material. According to Norris Pope, this called a turning point in industrial filmmaking, allowing filmmakers to use Kodachrome for productions that required several projection prints for distribution, making these filmmakers more aware of color, simply because they had the possibility to use Kodachrome as a professional film stock (Pope 2016, 67). In addition, Eastman Kodak also developed a system to add optical soundtracks to Kodachrome 16mm reversal projection films, which again increased the use of the material by professional filmmakers.
In 1940 Type 5262 became obsolete as duplicating stock, as it was replaced by Type 5265. However, as camera material it stayed in use until 1946, when Kodachrome Commercial camera film Type 5268 was introduced.
