Which films do you expect to survive?

[david_henderson]

We all buy things- and sometimes expensive things- that don't have a great long term payback. Cars are a good example- people buy them without agonising over whether they'll still be getting use from it in fifteen years. Computers, washing machines,fashion clothes, digital cameras- People even spend more than a LF system costs on the momentary pleasure of flying over the Grand Canyon with their families, or a few days away,and so on.

 

So why do people who do all these things hesitate to "invest" (if that were ever true) in a camera? Could you justify a holiday in these terms? Whether the answer to your film question is positive or negative, if you really want a LF camera you've got time to get a great deal of enjoyment from it; and if you don't buy one it's because you don't want it badly enough.

[ben conover]

Hollywood? (Ha Ha)

 

I like independant movies (films) and I love to see Platinum /Paladium prints. There is a guy here locally I plan to visit to learn some tips and see how he does it.

 

Cheers.

[russell_brooks]

I can imagine we will end up with whatever film companies that are left producing only 2 or 3 films each. Probably 100, 400, and perhaps a high speed. No need for the separate t-grain, old style film lines. They will settle on the one that has the highest margin and prob drop the other. But let's face it, I can do almost everything I want with an old style (tri-x) 400 speed film. That's all I really need. And I really only need one glossy VC RC paper in three sizes. I could see us heading in that direction.

[al_divenuti]

"Digital is the MOST archival process of them all.

Not the CD, but the data itself, recorded and re-recorded through the centuries on various media...refreshed losslessly (TIFF/RAW) and periodically, backed up, spread to various archival storage facilities etc. Unless, of course, civilization, art, science, and technology are destroyed by religonists. "

 

John, you are WOEFULLY unperceptive.

 

RAW formats don't even persist across Windows upgrades. Do you really think that Canon, Nikon, et. al. are remotely interested in dragging an ever increasing ball and chain in supporting all RAW formats used in ALL their cameras across upgrades of the Windows O/S. That would require the constant updating of TWAIN drivers.

 

JPEG and even TIFF standards evolve. Have you seen what JPEG2 encoders do to a JPEG1 image?

 

Computers employing binary logic have been around 50 years. It would be dangerous to assume that technology will remain in use forever.

 

Also, I doubt you know the least little bit about the world of corporate finance. Film-related products have always enjoyed far better margins than digital which is merely a sector of consumer electronics.

[rothelle]

Paul,

I think film will last forever like it was ment to. Black & White photography is an art and something that will be part of us for the rest of our lives, Yes there will be new toys from time to time and that is a good thing too, Digital is just another art form I have worked with all types of medium from digital backs for medium format and large format, Yes the images were good but not as godd as film. There is something about film and if your printing your own work you can spot it right away. Now who will be the big players for film? You just may never know, but long as there are cars you need gas, film is gas and gas is $$$. Every month there is a new digital camera on the market. 6mp, 7mp, 8mp, 12mp, Who has time for that. I say to all my digital buddies now who all went digital are not as happy like they hope it would be, most spend hours in front of a computer instead of shooting and having fun. No matter what you have will not make you a great artist. That come from the inside. I do agree with the other response, I love my 4X5, I now shoot Iforld Delta 100/400 and Kodak Tri-X 320 and all Kodak E6, and 90% 120 film. I shoot digital for non importaint jobs for my clients. That is just what it is to me:D<div></div>

[brian_c._miller]

Guy, Ilford has discontinued SFX movie film. I had heard that Ilford had discontinued their SFX in the normal format so I stocked up, then I found on their website that it was just the movie film. I now have 60 rolls of 120 SFX in the freezer, but I don't mind. :-)

[bill_thorlin]

"Which films do you expect to survive" - the ones that make a profit for the manufacturer.

 

"Which film companies will survive long term" - may be none of the ones we know but if there is a market that is profitable someone will fill the vacuum.

 

Sometimes small is beautiful.

 

My guess ? Film will be around for a long time yet although there will be a lot of product/company rationalisation.

[big toys are better]

What I'm seeing is that some films are popular for digital scanning and printing (mostly the finer grained-higher accutance varieties), and I would expect those to survive for the near term at least. Printing paper is unfortunately headed towards the "alternative process" category, but that may be a god-send for the dedicated fine art photographers that will still specialize in it.

 

Stock up now and buy very big freezers along with lots of lead shielding!

[cdb913]

thank you Guy, for putting john in the right place..It will be a long while before there is a digi-toy that takes photos at 49MP