PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.

Last Kodak Kodachrome Prints Developed in Kansas

 & Sara Yin Junior software analyst

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

Our Expert
LOOK INSIDE PC LABS HOW WE TEST
65 EXPERTS
43 YEARS
41,500+ REVIEWS
Kodachrome

A man brought in 1,580 rolls of color film to develop as the world's last Kodachrome developer shut its doors on December 30.

The customer, 53-year-old Jim DeNike, drove from Arkansas to Dwayne's Photo Service in Wichita, Kansas to pick up his 15,000 stills, which cost him $15,798 to develop.

According to the New York Times, all the photos were of railroad trains. A forum member at Railroad.net said Kodachrome was the choice film for trainspotting captures.

Kodak's Kodachrome, widely viewed as the world's first color film, was created in 1935. It was responsible for National Geographic's stunning "Afghan Girl," photo from 1984, a Paul Simon song of the same name, and a state park in Utah.

In June 2009, Kodak announced that it would discontinue producing Kodachrome as photographers turned to digital cameras or competing products, mostly from Fuji Film. In the end, Kodachrome made up less than 1 percent of Kodak's still-picture sales.

Kodak recommended photographers replace their Kodachrome preference for Kodak Professional Ektar 100 Film and Kodak Professional Ektachrome Film E100G.

At the time Dwayne's also announced it would stop developing the film on December 31, 2010. In its last few weeks, the store was flooded with thousands of orders from around the world, the Times reported.

Kodak gave its last roll of Kodachrome to photographer Steve McCurry, the artist behind "Afghan Girl," whose final footage can be viewed at NPR. According to the Times, McCurry also hand-delivered the roll to Dwayne's Photo so as not to risk it getting lost in the mail.

About Our Expert

Sara Yin

Sara Yin

Junior software analyst

Sara Yin is a junior analyst in the Software, Internet, and Networking group at PCmag.com, pouring most of her energy into app testing and security matters at Security Watch with Neil Rubenking. She lies awake at night pondering the state of mobile security (half-true). Prior to joining PCMag.com, Sara spent five years reporting for publications in New York City (Huffington Post), Hong Kong (South China Morning Post), and Singapore (Campaign Asia, Men's Health). Follow her on Twitter at @SecurityWatch and @sarapyin, or contact her the old school way: email. That's sara_yin AT pcmag.com.

Read full bio