I received an email from Anders Lindborg back in November, and the subject line read, “The Last Roll.” Anders explained to me that himself and John Sevigny had co-created a Kodachrome 64 Film Simulation Recipe based on Steve McCurry’s last roll of Kodachrome film, which was (as you likely know) famously developed on July 12, 2010, at Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas.
Over the last several years, Anders has made a number of Film Simulation Recipes that have been published on Fuji X Weekly, including Kodak Tri-X 400, Ilford FP4 Plus 125, Ilford HP5 Plus 400, Ilford Pan F Plus 50, Kodak Gold v2, seven Fujicolor Pro 160NS Recipes, and seven Fujicolor Pro 400H Recipes. Anders and John collaboratively made the Kodak T-Max P3200 Recipe. They had intended to share this new Recipe with everyone, but were waiting until after the finishing touches were complete on a book that John was intending to publish. Sadly, before that happened, John Sevigny died on November 9th, after suffering a massive stroke.
Writing this article has been difficult for me, because of John’s passing. But I hope that this is somehow honoring to him. He was an extraordinarily knowledgable photographer who was always eager to help. It’s a humble privilege for me to share with all of you this Recipe that Anders and John co-created.
“The goal was to create a recipe that both looked and behaved like Kodachrome 64,” Anders wrote. “It should also be based on science, not just trying to look like the real thing during very special conditions. Our starting reference were the photos taken by Steve McCurry on the quite-famous last roll of Kodachrome project. We also studied every little detail of the documentary to find out the exact conditions for how the photos were made. Even that was not enough, so we started to hunt down every single Kodachrome 64 photo we could possibly find. Luck was on our side, as we managed to locate a whole bunch that were actually developed by Dwayne’s Photo.”
Anders continued, “After about eight months of testing every single scenario we could come up with, using similar lighting equipment that was used for the last roll project, we started to feel like we had done all that was possible with the given tools. Everything matched our reference photos, and we both got stunning results with every test we made, but we still decided to test it for just a bit longer to make sure we actually had captured the true spirit of this film. John also travelled parts of the USA and South America, shooting nothing but this recipe for color work.”
Kodachrome was first introduced in 1935, and was discontinued in 2009. There are three distinct eras of the film, and Kodachrome 64, which was introduced in 1974, was in the third and final era. Kodachrome was actually a black-and-white film, and the color dyes were added during the development process. Because of this, it is probably the most difficult film to scan, and, if not properly color corrected, will often have a pronounced blue cast. Even a scan that is carefully corrected can lean slightly blue compared to the slide being projected or viewed on a light table. McCurry’s “last roll” slides were scanned by Richard Jackson, who was regarded as a leading expert on Kodachrome scanning.
There are some differences between this McCurry Kodachrome Recipe and my Kodachrome 64 Recipe, but there are also a lot of similarities. My Recipe is more like Kodachrome as viewed via a slide projector or light table, while the McCurry Kodachrome Recipe is more like quality scans of the film. There’s a comparison of the two Recipes at the very bottom of this article.
Like the actual film, this McCurry Kodachrome Recipe has a narrow dynamic range, and must be carefully exposed. Pay extra attention to the highlights, because they can clip easily. Also, try to keep the ISO as low as practical. I used this Recipe with the ISO all the way to 6400, and it was fine, but for best results that better match the film, don’t go above ISO 1600. McCurry Kodachrome is fully compatible with all X-Trans IV models—including the X-T3 and X-T30; for X-Trans V, blues will render slightly more deeply, so the results will be just a tad different, but feel free to try anyway.
Film Simulation: Classic Chrome
Dynamic Range: DR100
Grain Effect: Weak, Small — Weak for X-T3/X-T30
Color Chrome Effect: Strong
Color Chrome FX Blue: Off — N/A for X-T3/X-T30
White Balance: 5900K, -1 Red & +4 Blue
Highlight: 0
Shadow: 0
Color: +2
Sharpness: -2
High ISO NR: -2
Clarity: 0 — N/A for X-T3/X-T30
ISO: Auto, up to ISO 1600
Exposure Compensation: -1/3 to +1/3 (typically)
Example photos, all camera made JPEGs using this McCurry Kodachrome Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T30:
Example photos, all camera made JPEGs using this McCurry Kodachrome Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X100V:
Comparison:
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Yours is a tad warmer. I think I like it better but haven’t tested this McCurry one with the T5 so can’t know for sure.
Still using KODAK GOLD 200 (XTRANS5). Now a firm favourite.
Also enjoying FUJICOLOR PRO 400H (XTRANS4) on my T5.
There used to be a saying: “There’s nothing like projected Kodachrome.”
I’m so glad that you like those Recipes. I appreciate your feedback!
Is this recipe OK for X-S20 too?
Well, sort of. The X-S20 will render the blues more deeply, so it will render slightly different, but still quite similar. Try it, and see if you like it.
Try highlight set +0.5 May help in the sky.
Thanks for the tip! 😀
Will this recipe work on XT5 as well?
Technically, yes; however, because the X-T5 renders blue more deeply on some film sims, including Classic Chrome, it will produce slightly different results. Try it anyway, as you might like it.
https://fujixweekly.com/2022/11/25/ive-got-the-fujifilm-x-trans-v-blues/
I’m testing new recipes on morning overcast and was overexcited by this new kodachrome but it seems a little bit ‘blue houred’ to me when weather is rainy, early morning. And colors, shadows not so vibrant like McCurry’s Indian photographs nor to say ‘afgan girl’ photo
I think the important thing to know about this Recipe is that it is specifically modeled after the last roll of Kodachrome, which was shot by Steve and scanned by Richard Jackson (I include that detail because it is an important part of how the images look). If you study the last roll of Kodachrome pictures and pay close attention to the lighting, and then find very similar light, you’ll see that the results are very close. The lighting is so important (both with Kodachrome film and this Recipe—check out this scan of actual Kodachrome film, which probably doesn’t look as you might expect, that I shot 25-ish years ago: https://i0.wp.com/fujixweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/48746268506_b8c70f23d4_h.jpg). I hope that makes sense.
If you look at Steve’s Kodachrome photos captured in rainy weather, you’ll notice that they’re not so warm and vibrant (even though they’ve been “color corrected”—for example: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/Travel/2017/August/mccurry1_2451176a.jpg).
I think if you shoot in quality light, you’ll get results more closely to what you’d expect to get. I hope this helps!
Hi love your website and app as I get to learn about the history of film stocks! My only suggestion is to include less pictures of bougainvilleas hehe!
🤣 🤣 🤣
I appreciate your kind feedback!
Thanks for the recipe!
As always it is interesting to read some story and information behind the recipe!
Off-topic – I followed the link in YouTube for the last roll, it was interesting! There I found another interesting video to watch – ‘Safari of my life’, documentary about Klaus Tiedge (RIP). Its wildlife style is very interesting! I am talking especially about elephant photos (https://www.klaustiedge.com/portfolio/wildlife-prints/elephant/patriarch-3/). Do you think Classic Chrome with -4 color, over-exposured with increased contrast will be close?
Regards!
I would look more at Eterna Bleach Bypass Recipes. Maybe something like Muted Color, Ferrania Solaris FG 400, or LomoChrome Metropolis.
Hi Ritchie,
Just wanted to tell you how grateful I am for this recipe! I’ve been looking for exactly this kind of Classic Chrome recipe which renders blues in this specific way. I was pleasantly surprised that it is for an older sensor as well and I think it’s awesome that you don’t just focus on the latest (as I am still using my trusty X-T3). Super happy to support you via the app and looking forward to more recipes and posts!
Thanks so much for your kind feedback and encouragement! I’m so happy that you like it! 😀
Hi, i love the film recipe! A good research is done, trust the proces. Hard work pays off!
I appreciate your time and effort. I am going to test, shoot en use this recipe for a while.
I am currently trying to find a black and white film recipe , like the monochrom Leica M10 in the shooting and editing style of Alan Schaller
I appreciate all of your kindness! Maybe something along the lines of Dramatic Monochrome?
https://fujixweekly.com/2020/02/11/my-fujifilm-x-t30-dramatic-monochrome-film-simulation-recipe/
Hello, I was wondering if you can use McCurry Kodachrome during overcast cloudy days or if it is best just for sunny daylight?
It’s “best” for sunny daylight but definitely usable for overcast situations.
Hi Ritchie,
Thank you very much for your hard work in making these excellent Fujifilm recipes and it is very enjoyable to read your blogs about the story behind each recipe.
I have also been following a very talented Asian photographer ‘samalive’ on Instagram for a while. He does both portrait and landscape photography. I have been trying to learn from his works, but not quite there yet. Is there any chance that you can give me some advice on which of your recipes can give a similar look to ‘samalive’ photos?
I think either Kodachrome 64 or McCurry Kodachrome can give a quite similar look when there is enough exposure. It would be much appreciated if you could let me know what you think.
Again, thank you very much for your hard work Ritchie and I will be very grateful if you could give me some help.
Regards,
John
He has at least a handful of different looks. It’s quite obvious that he edits his pictures, and sometimes quite extensively. I think you are right about Kodachrome 64… it seems like a good match to some of his pictures. Kodak Vision3 250D (and Kodak Vision3 250D v2) can be a good match to some, too, I think. I’d also look at Kodachrome II, Reggie’s Portra, and Kodak Brilliance. 1971 Kodak, 1976 Kodak, Kodak Negative, and Thommy’s Ektachrome also have some similarities to some of his pictures. I think that should get you a good start.
Thank you very much Ritchie for taking your time to help me out! It is very obverious that he used lightroom to edit his photos, so exact match is impossible. I will start trying the recipes you recommended, appreciate your advise!
You are welcome!