Film: How much longer?

I shot film for 50 years. I have a number of film cameras but haven't actually shot any film for almost two

years. Got a used Nikon D100, then graduated to a D300 and have never looked back.

 

Still, I was convinced film would remain fairly cheap and easy to obtain for a long time. I thought that even if

Kodak shut down its film lines the manufacturing rights would be sold to some Chinese company. After all, if even

25 percent of 1.3 billion Chinese continue to shoot film that's a sizable market, right?

 

Got back two weeks ago from our first visit to China. We hit some of the major tourist spots -- Tinianmen Square,

The Forbidden City, The Great Wall. Now that the Olympics are past most of these spots are crawling with Chinese

tourists from the outlying provinces. These folks are far enough from the big cities they wanted to have their

pictures taken with us Westerners--apparently they don't see many of us where they live.

 

Anyway, these Chinese vacationers may be from the "sticks" but that hasn't stopped them from jumping on the

technology band wagon. We saw literally tens of thousands. Most of them were taking pictures. And virtually ALL

the pictures were being taken with cell phones or digital cameras.

 

You would probably see more film cameras on the Mall at Washington, D.C. than on Tinianmen Square in Beijing.

 

Last year we hit some of the main tourists sites in Germany, Austria, Italy, France and the U.K. Didn't see more

than a handful of film cameras--mostly the throwaway variety.

 

Film, at least a a mainstream way of recording "the moments of our lives," is almost dead. Given what we've seen

over the past two summers I would be very surprised if you will be able to find film in many of the high volume

general merchandise stores two years from now. And the 1-hour film labs in Wally World, Rite Aide and Walgreens

will be retiring a lot of film processing gear in that same time period.

 

Shooting film is only a step or two away from being a cult hobby--like restoring vacuum tube AM radios.

 

And to those of you who claim this is crazy talk and film is slowly making a comeback, print this out, hang it on

you refrigerator and read it again in November 2010.

 

Like it or not, at least photographically, we now live in a digital world.

Yeah, I do and I don't. I really care about image quality, and that's one of the main reasons I still use film to supplement

my digital images. I know my film camera metering system well enough that I don't need instant feedback in the form of

a histogram, but I will use it when shooting digital. I prefer to spend a relatively greater amount of time outside rather

than sitting in front of a computer, and film helps greatly in that regard. I like to look at a transparency on a light table

and know exactly what I got, rather than a RAW image that always requires tweaking to approximate what my eyes saw.

I prefer to store a transparency in a sleeved sheet in a filing cabinet rather than as a digital file on a hard drive (even

though I use a RAID 1 system and even though I know any form of storage is vulnerable to a catastrophe). I hope (and I

believe) there are enough people like me that film will continue to be available for a long time to come. I just ordered my

first rolls of the new Kodak film Ektar to see how it might fit into my photographic pursuits. For the masses of people you

described who are essentially taking snapshots, I'm not surprised that they're using digital. I see them here in the U.S.

as well, extending their point-and-shoots at arms length prior to taking a picture. However, that's not what I see when

hiking the trails of Mt. Rainier or walking the shores of the Olympic Peninsula. Folks who consider themselves to be

photographers at varying levels of seriousness are using a combination of film and digital, and often individuals like me

use both.

I agree with Stephen. My camera bag has film{Pentax 6x7} and digital{Pentax k200d} with assorted lenses etc. This topic is never going to be solved here, if you like digital, use it , if you like film use it! Just my 2cents , John

<i>"Shooting film is only a step or two away from being a cult hobby--like restoring vacuum tube AM radios."</i><p>

 

Maybe that's a good thing.<p>

 

BTW, have you seen the youtube video of the French radio technician who builds complete vacuum tubes from scratch? Every single component in a tube. As long as folks like that exist, some forms of traditional photographic techniques will persist.

On the one hand I have a trio of digitals but also a half dozen Nikon film bodies, a 4x5 and a freezer with more film than food. Really. When I go Saturday to shoot the protest at Ft. Benning it will be on T-Max. I was going to use a Speed Graphic but couldn't round one up in time. It probably wouldn't bother me if I never shot another digital image but if you want client-type people to call you a digital capability is de riguer.

 

On the other hand the next generation in my family is growing up, two of them over 18 already, and the entire tech savvy bunch of them wouldn't know a roll of film if it spit at them. As much as I love shooting film I'll bet in another 25 years you won't find it. More's the pity.

 

Rick H.

Don't know how much longer myself...A number of problems of keeping it alive is more than just keeping film

supplies alive. Very few film camera's being made these days and the processing of film can become a big problem

also. As lab's drop film processing it will get more difficult and expensive to have the work done. I recently gave up

film because there just is not a lab within range of my home. I tried the mail order but do not care for the time and

expense associated with that. I sold off my medium format and then a few months later sold my 35mm film gear. I

have 6 kids and 1 of them prefers 35mm. She is an art major (not a photography major) and I guess film is alive

among artists and other people also..I rarely see a film camera out and about anymore. But I guess I am just not

going to worry about it and just shoot what I have.

The Mayan calendar shows that the world is going to end in 2012, so relax and have fun with the film available today. Now if the Mayans were wrong, then I would expect, and at the very least, B&W film to be used 100 years from now....not so sure about color though.

I bet that crystal ball will show that when film is gone, the oldest processes such as tintypes will continue.

Well of course the tourists are only using digital or through away, there not taking photographs for a profession are they,

and I dont no what you mean when you say you were convinced that film would remain fairly cheap and easy to obtain

for a long time, well it still is, I buy pro packs of 120 velvia for $AU55.00 (5 X Rolls per pack) B/W IR 120 Film for

$AU8.00 Per Roll,which I think is very reasonable, I suppose it comes down to a persons personal view on what is cheap or overpriced. If

you want to

shoot outstanding images on film the price of a roll of film dose not really matter, for me anyway.

 

As long as I draw breath or for as long as film is available I will always prefer to shoot with film.

 

Look forward to seeing your post in 2010 forecasting film to be extinct in 2015....

Although I shoot digital exclusively now, I'd sure hate to see film disappear altogether. I like knowing that I have options, and might in the future return to film just for kicks. Once my extremely curious preschooler is older, I might consider setting up a b/w darkroom again.

 

I suspect film will always be around...it'll just be hard to find and very, very expensive.

Remember, one of the costs of making B&W film is the cost of silver. So, while a person might blame everyone's going digital to B&W film going up. Silver going up has a very large part of it.

My fortune cookie from last nights take out stated that film would no longer be available as of 10:00am Feb. 23, 2011 Pacific Time. While this may be great news to those of you who are insecure with your choice of medium and thus look down on us film shooters for not being part of the herd, I for one will plan on cleaning out all the B&W film in LA before this fateful day. That way I can still get my film "fix" (pun intended) for a extended period of time.

Tourists who use film, unless they know better from being a hobbyist or professional, are likely to shoot Kodak 800 Max and *insert your most dreaded consumer film here*. I really do not care if the world's crappiest films die, for I want to use the good stuff. As long as I can get my surplus military films in 135 and 120 formats, and there are good quality color transparencies to be shot in 135, 120, and 4x5 formats, I shall keep on shooting film. Let the "tourists" trade in their Lucky Color Film Super 400 for their Kodak EasyShare One.

 

God bless out of control military budgets supporting the creation and overproduction of aerial and other surveillance films. I am a little excited to see what new film developments occur during the next Great War. I just hope that enough people survive so that we can use those films. ; )

I thought it only had seven and a half minutes left.

If you're concerned about how long film will last, buy film now. If we all continue to buy film we will show that there is still a market for it and it may prolong its life.

 

I shot a roll of 35mm 400-speed Fuji colour neg a week back and got the results back. I must say, after a while of 'digital only' shooting it was quite exciting not knowing how my shots had turned out and getting some pleasant surprises.

 

I plan to order more film real soon now :-)

I often find that those who have changed from a film P&S to a digital model are really happy. "There is no grain" they gleefully tell me. For some reason, strong purple fringing, cranky colours, fuzzy horizons and obliterated highlights that come with the territory of the 'economy digital' go unnoticed by them. Another thrill for them is DELETING images. Imagine that - the reason for buying a camera is to delete images! That, and wanting to look at what they have just taken the moment after taking it “look – there you are – that was you just now!” It’s probably just me being too sensitive, but photos taken with those cheap cameras make my eyes hurt – just far enough away from reality to be wrong.

Cheap P+S film cameras don't really take great photos either.

"Cheap P+S film cameras don't really take great photos either."

 

100% agree with that.

 

Short story. A friend went on holiday with his family a while back and came back with three rolls of film. Only cheap stuff, but fresh mind. The clarity and contrast in the images was striking - they looked alive. He had borrowed his Dad's old Nikon L35AF made in 1984. Following year he showed me his photos after his holiday - I was looking forward to them. Hang on - fuzzy, underexposed and lifeless - what's happened? He had 'upgraded' to a zoom compact - the pencil-thin zoom lens extending unsteadily from the front of his camera had seduced him away from the razor sharp fixed lens of his previous camera. Now he has a cheap digi - and that is just as bad (but in different ways).

 

Concerning the topic, those I speak to left film due to 'bad quality' results, yet when I show them results from inexpensive (used, old but better) equipment, they are always shocked. "Is that really film?" they ask. I feel strongly that people who are moving to digital only for 'better results' are misguided and are just following the crowd. Digital is great for so many things, and those who persue it for a specific reason are getting the best out of it, but the hoardes of cheap consumer P&S's driven purely by hype and profit are doing nothing for recording our place in history - just press and erase.

Many consumers don't, don't care or don't know how to backup. When it was film only days, almost everyone developed and printed what they snapped. The prints went to an album or a shoe box.

 

I used to see stacks and stacks of inkjet paper sold along with CD-Rs maybe two years ago. I don't remember if I saw a stall selling them recently. In the consumers' mind why buy CD-Rs when flash memory can be cheaper and faster. The downside is photos are gone when the harddisk or flash memory goes. Another strange thing, I don't see photo albums sold nowadays.

 

In America, I think a lot of people get their prints online. That is fine but I don't think that is happening a lot elsewhere. There are kiosks for the consumer to stick their flash memory in and print but I don't see a lot of people doing that. And that depends very much if there is a Noritsu or a Frontier at the back of the shop.

 

It is for the consumer to choose, whether they want instant gratification or something more tangible, like film. The latter is getting more difficult to acquire but just like the audiophile who wants a tube amp, he will know where to get it.

I have only been an amateur photographer for about 6 years. Two years ago, my lovely (and at the time, pregnant) wife

gave me the green light to buy "any camera I wanted" so I could capture good images of our new baby. I had my heart

set on a Nikon dslr. At about the same time, I purchased a cheap, old Minolta x570 to be used for teaching my friends

about photography. As I was testing and getting to know this camera, I fell in love with it and decided to use it instead of

buying a new dslr. To help me make this decision, I also began comparing film scans to digital and discovered that,

FOR ME, the strengths of digital just did not make up for it's weaknesses. (honestly, I just hate the way it renders

highlights). I bought a film scanner, some lenses, and never looked back. I even taught myself how to process my own

film.

 

I chose film on purpose, not because it was something I was used to or because I couldn't afford a good dslr. I chose it

because I like its look.

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't movie film the exact same dimension as 35mm film? Yes there are good

digital video cameras that some directors are using (like Ridley Scott and Michael Mann) but I think the differences

between HD video and traditional movie film are even greater than in still photography. I'm not a filmmaker, but I think

traditional film as a medium is more attached to the art of filmmaking than it is in still photography, therefore, I don't think

its going anywhere for a long time.

Like it or not, the people who take family snapshots and vacation photos are the ones who drive the photographic market. And they are the ones who have made the switch to digital. They mostly don't care about the possible digital archiving problems because if they get one print to put I an album, they're happy.

 

I don't claim film will disappear from the face of the Earth in two years. But I do believe a person will have to be very motivated in oder to find film and processing.

While not taking pictures yesterday (playing golf instead) I suddenly thought of what would happen if the S76 (and LR44 etc etc) batteries were discontinued. Then I got to thinking what would happen if my D200 battery was discontinued. I think both of those batteries are very safe but it just made me think that there are a lot of links in a chain to photography (not just batteries but camera's, film, labs, chemicals, paper etc, etc) that can break and bring it to a screeching halt.

 

The photo guy at Gilroy Cost Co said the only thing holding C41 processing together at Cost co is the disposable camera and that Cost Co would drop C41 processing when the profit margin is gone. He said even the disposable camera business is diminishing due to the cell phone camera.

An analogy: I have an old rotary dial telephone. It's big, black, heavy and tethered to the wall. I also have a cell phone. It's

small, silver, sleek and I can take it anywhere I want to go. But, when I make a phone call on the rotary dial, the sound is

crystal clear. On my cell phone, all I get is static and everyone sounds as if they are talking into a tin can.

Digital is so good and so cost effective that film will eventually lose appeal to all but the most hard core

film camera owners. But the hard core will always find a source. Kodachrome will be a memory albeit a

delightful one. Never disappear entirely. I hang on to my film cameras. I may get tired of all digital. But it

is nice to digitize and crop by myself and adjust levels and spot the images. Remember how tedious that used to

be...or the trip to the pro lab with all the instructions on the neg sleeve...There are disappointments of

course. A wood storage box for slides made by a company called Negafile in PA no longer makes slide storage as

far as I can tell. May have to custom make storage box by neighbor with saws and sanders and hardwood...but I

will if I have to.

The bigger question is will that nasty rouge asteroid pass through the keyhole that will change its orbit to

collision course with the small blue planet. That comes, I recall, in 2029. It will mean either the End of Life

forms or at least a Giant Craft Fair bonanza. Dark joke,sorry. Its always darkest before the dark.