Yes, a red light re-exposes the cyan layer on the base side, and a blue light re-exposes the yellow layer on the emulsion side. The magenta layer can then be chemically re-exposed since the other two layers have already been developed. K-12 used a separate magenta reversal bath and wash, while in K-14 they incorporated the reversal agent into the developer itself, eliminating two steps.
Those re-exposure lights use very sharp cutoff filters to expose only the relevant layer, and adjusting the intensity of the lamps is an important factor in process control.
I'm afraid that Kodachrome may not be with us much longer. There are only a handful of labs left that run K-14 (mostly Qualex labs), and there is just not enough demand to keep justifying production on a long term basis. I think what has really been the biggest factor is the demise of super 8 movie film. When everyone stopped shooting movies and went to video tape, labs saw the super 8 volume decrease to a trickle. When I worked at the lab, movie film far surpassed slide production, and without the movies, there was not enough volume to keep the line going.
But, they sit in the warehouses, IMO because Kodak is not interested in promoting K14, which (I'm shocked! I'm shocked!) results in low volume, which translates into insufficient demand to warrant investing in a K-Lab, which itself contributes to less demand for the film (because it takes longer than E6 to get back from the lab when you have to mail it to Fairlawn).
Maybe I'm missing something but I see all of the above as "management issues" rather than "technical" or even "marketing" issues.
If someone with sufficient rank was to start kicking ass, I think some amazing stuff could happen. [fire up the cloud machine, start the woo woo music, enter Don Joe's Dream World...] If I was in charge, I'd make a standing offer to any lab in the US that met minimal qualifications (i.e., it's solvent, and it's located in a region with a minimum population density yet to be determined).
The offer would be this: I give you a K-Lab, and a six month supply of chemistry, with the following terms. I run national ads and give you co-op for regional ads that you are required to run. You are required to commit to running the machine for a minimum of two years. If you run it for five years, you own it. I would also require rigorous QC requirements, and put the labs on notice that I'd be putting anonymous "spot check" rolls through on a constant basis.
I'd then turn to our ad agency, and start barking out orders.
Then I'd start sending out bricks of my new, improved K14 emulsions to magazine editors, newspaper columnists, and prominent photography clubs.
I'd cut deals with all the slide scanner manufacturers to include a few free rolls with every scanner sold. I'd cut deals with camera manufacturers to include free Kodachrome with all their mid-range and up cameras.
Each roll would be distributed "European style", i.e., processing included in the price of the film, no mailer needed, but one included for convenience. (If it's lost, just send the film.)
The mailers would only be good at the K-Lab dealers, or, existing private K14 labs. (there are two or three, and I would not want to alienate them, but, in the interest of goodwill, I'd offer them the same free K-Lab machine offer the others got).
Inside of a year, when people thought "slide film", they'd think "Kodachrome" -- which is how it was for the longest time, until Kodak dropped the ball.
Chromogenic films have gotten better and better over the years, but the fact is that how ever good a chromogenic film is, a "comparable" (speed) Kodachrome type film will always be better. Instead of "dye clouds" that form in the proximity of a developing grain of silver salt, Kodachrome images are made of dye that replaces a grain of metalic silver. Kodachrome will always be sharper. And, the lack of dye-coupler migration issues means it'll always have better color purity too.
People who've never seen a good Kodachrome image are frequently shocked, not because the colors are so bright (i.e., "velviaesque"), but because they don't feel like they're looking at a picture, they feel like they're looking at the actual scene itself. There's something life-like about a good Kodachrome that nothing else can match. And as far as resolution is concerned, I've looked at Kodachromes with a 20X textile microscope, and there was still more detail in the image than my eye could resolve. Unbelievably sharp.
Seeing this amazing product languishing, while "Max Zoom!" and gaudy teenybopper hippityhop packaging and "speed speed speed!" is pushed... it's sad.
I managed to get ahold of some outdated (the only kind available anymore) 120 K64 and after a week on the phone to Rochester, Fairlawn, England, Switzerland, and I've forgotten where else, we got the lowdown on how to get it in for "the last run."
Then 9/11 happened.
I hoped they'd extended the deadline, but no such luck. So, we managed to get it Fedexed to Wimbledon for the October 1, 2001 run.
I'd originally heard that any 120 K64 they received sent in via mailers or pickups would be sent to the UK and put into cold storage until 10/1, but found out that they would return it unprocessed if I sent it that way, and that I'd have to get it to Wimbledon myself if I wanted it processed. Man, talk about making it easy, eh? No two people anywhere in Kodak knew the same details the same way. Half the phone numbers (for UK) didn't work. I was losing hope when we finally got someone who gave us a working phone number, and someone there knew the actual address, payment instructions, deadlines, etc. Argh!
They set up a machine for 120 film, and cold-stored all the rolls people sent to them prior to that date, and then they ran 'em all through, shut down the machine, and ended an era.
I still have a few rolls in the freezer, in the vain hope that some day they'll see the light and start rolling it in 120 spools again. Yeah, right. Fat chance. So, I hold onto them as keepsakes.