“Kodachrome Film Inspired”

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 8:46 pm

Eastman Kodak Co., the photography pioneer whose Kodachrome film inspired Paul Simon’s 1973 hit of the same name, said it will retire the 74-year-old product this year after sales dwindled and most labs stopped processing it.

Revenue from Kodachrome represents “a fraction of one percent” of Kodak’s total sales of still-picture films, the company said today in a statement. Kodachrome became the world’s first commercially successful color film in 1935, Kodak said.

The Rochester, New York-based company has seen its profitable film business “evaporate” as digital cameras gained dominance, Chief Executive Officer Antonio Perez said earlier this year. The company lost $4.53 billion in market value in 2008 as it struggled to show investors it had a place in the new technology.

“The majority of today’s photographers have voiced their preference to capture images with newer technology — both film and digital,” said Mary Jane Hellyar, Kodak’s outgoing president of the film, photofinishing and entertainment group. Kodak derives 70 percent of its revenue from commercial and consumer digital businesses, the company said in the statement.

Photofinishing labs that process Kodachrome film have dwindled to one worldwide, Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas, Kodak said. The lab will offer processing for the film through 2010, and Kodak estimates Kodachrome film supplies will last until “early fall” of this year, according to the statement.

“I love to take a photograph,” Paul Simon sang in “Kodachrome,” which reached second place in 1973 on Billboard’s Hot 100 list. “So mama don’t take my Kodachrome away.”

Kodak lost 4 cents to $2.81 at 9:55 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares slumped 57 percent this year before today.

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Source:http://www.latimes.com