Down memory lane (3rd and final pano added, 23 Feb)

[simato73]

It's hard to say. I think all film could suffer quite badly from excessive UV at altitudes above 3000m or so, but this effect was variable; some images might be badly affected, others not at all; the time of day was probably a factor with the middle four hours of the day, the sun at its highest, producing the worst colour-casts. But it was all too long ago to be certain of anything.

In any case, all Kodachrome processed in Kodak's UK lab was quite likely to have a severe cyan cast, or a bad magenta cast, or - sometimes - be absolutely perfect, with the  beautiful colour which only Kodachrome was capable of, at that time. You sent your film off, never knowing how it would look when you got it back.

The beauty of the current age is that even severe colour cast can now be corrected reasonably well, even in those old transparencies that came back "wrong".
It's not all bad in today's world

[rosko]

Thanks, Dave for the last one !

I am sure you enjoyed this trip. So nice to meet local people (if they are not too spoiled by mass tourism...)

The landscapes must be breathtaking as you seemed to have magnificent weather.

[Akira]

Thanks, Dave, for further explanation.  Kodachrome 25 used to be my favorite film, but it often showed greenish cast here in Japan.  I don't remember if I observed cyan or magenta cast.  Nevertheless I miss Kodachrome, but I'm too addicted to digital now to go back to film. 

[John Geerts]

Very impressive David. Unusual and beautiful depth and colours in these pano's. ! 

[David Paterson]

The beauty of the current age is that even severe colour cast can now be corrected reasonably well, even in those old transparencies that came back "wrong".
It's not all bad in today's world

Of course you are right - digital has many advantages, and I would never go back to film though it had its own qualities, some of which survive through the scanning process.

Akira - yes, green rather than cyan. But my memories of Kodachrome go back further than K25 and K64. My first colour film - and into the early 70s - was Kodachrome II.  This was a most beautiful film with gorgeous colour and all who used it lamented when Kodak retired it. The new Kodachromes were more stable and easier to process but lacked the limpid beauty of KII.

Francis - I was lucky enough to visit Nepal ten times between 1979 and 1996 but all these images were shot in '79 when I was in Nepal for 10 weeks. Those were the days!

And thanks, John, I am glad you like them.

[Akira]

Dave, unfortunately, I came to the world too late to experience Kodachrome II.    Another thing I regret about my film days is that I didn't have chances to try 120 size KR which was in production for a very short period of time.  When I finally grabbed a medium format camera, it had been discontinued. 

[Erik Lund]

I used a Fujifilm 120 roll film at 160 ISO on Pentax 6x7 for a couple of years, it was designed for scanning - Stunning images, but each scan was 45 minutes on the Coolscan 8000,,,

[David Paterson]

Dave, unfortunately, I came to the world too late to experience Kodachrome II.    Another thing I regret about my film days is that I didn't have chances to try 120 size KR which was in production for a very short period of time.  When I finally grabbed a medium format camera, it had been discontinued. 

I tested the KR med-format film; it was interesting but not the same as the 35mm film. There was also,  for a short period, a 200iso K'chrome which my memory says was med-format. It also was very interesting - quite grainy but with soft pastel colours. It wasn't in production long.

Erik - I shot Pentax 67 for 20 years, until I went digital in 2006. 6x7 and 6x17 became my "travel and landscape" kit, instead of 35mm and 5x4.

I'm posting a final Himalayan image (from 1981) - an un-named peak in the Gokyo region, south-west of the Everest valley.

[Erik Lund]

Just the right amount of snow, weather an location perfect as well!

[Akira]

You keep me amazed, Dave!

[Anthony]

Great photos from places most of us will never see, thanks.

[David Paterson]

Thank you, Erik, Akira and Anthony.

[Michael Anderson]

Thank you David for a truly wonderful set of images, so inspiring!