Kodachrome is a brand of color transparency (slide)
film sold by
Kodak. First sold in 1935, it is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) mass-marketed color still film. Kodachrome has been through many incarnations and processing processes over the years; the current (2003) is the K14-process Kodachrome.
Kodachrome film has mostly been replaced by E6-process transparency films, though it still finds use for applications where its archival stability is valued.
Kodachrome film has a different structure to its emulsion than other slide films. This makes its rendering of color and response to light unique. A Kodachrome slide is quickly detectable by an expert reviewing a series of slides with indeterminant origins.
The musician
Paul Simon included a song titled
Kodachrome on his 1973 album
There Goes Rhymin' Simon.
The National Geographic Society led an initiative to name a state park in Utah after the Kodachrome film.
Kodachrome Basin State Park contains unique, beautiful, and varied color in its rocks.