But Film Now - Stock Up - Won't be around Long!

[john_r.2]

I know one thing I can count on and that is my use and preference of

using traditional imaging products and processes. I agree with what

Micheal said to just keep using and supporting the use of films,

papers and chemicals as has been done for decades. Manufacturers will

recognize the market and continue to support it if we create it. I'm

not against digital imaging but I'm not nearly as dedicated to it as

I am to traditional imaging. I believe most people find traditional

imaging more satisfying to work with. The digital investment is

ridiculous for the quality acheived. Unless you are a major shooter

with big clients or a catalog production house I just don't see the

ROFI in digital. There is going to need to be a balance stricken

between the two methods of imaging and the manufacturers, retailers,

suppliers will need to accomodate the demands in both those areas.

 

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After the expense and time I've put into digital my vote goes to

traditional processes and materials! Although digital shines when it

comes to retouching or corrections. You can keep the rest of it.

[steve_rasmussen]

If there is any question as to Kodak's intent with Pro film in the

future, I suggest contacting their Pro film manager Jeffrey.

jeff.gunderman@kodak.com

[ed_candland1]

The problem is the vast majority of the market isn't pros or even

hobbists. It's Joe Blow with the new kid or the vacation pics of

Europe. It's people who wouldn't know quality if it knocked them

across the face. Digital quality is improving and prices are droping.

Remember when CDs first came out, when VHS first came out? It was a

$1000 for those products. Now it's $30. The same will happen to

digital photography. In fact it already is. and when price and

quality get close to silver, Joe blows not gonna wanna drive down to

walmart for his pictures. When that happens we all might be in

trouble. I hope I'm wrong...

[richard_ilomaki3]

Here is my 2 cents worth for free.

 

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I think the next Star Wars episode will be a watershed, as Lucas is

(I hear) shooting it on video with computer disc memory. He will then

use UBB (Ultra Broad Band) technology to send it via satellite to

theatres on a per-showing basis, thus eliminating bad prints and more

effectively controlling piracy.

 

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This will also allow easier editing, addition of CGGs and

sound /Foley/syncing as well.

 

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If it works, then Kodak, Fuji et al will lose a really big slice of

their film business. If it is not popular, then they will be able to

keep making thusands of miles a year and we will still have the

crumbs.

 

I have said before: Kodak has giant investments in China for film and

paper and Fuji does in Europe. Soon we may be buying Kodak film from

China, just as most everything else we buy that is manufactured.

 

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The main reason CDs & digital sound took over as fast as they did was

because of the inherent weak points in vinyl: Tape hiss, limited

dynamic range, a fixed lifespan for a plastic groove subjected to

incredible forces by a diamond stylus, click & pops etc. Digital is

MUCH better than analog sound, despite what the purists and their

Sondek TTables say.

 

Digital photography will take over when it is not only as good, but

better and esier to use. Investing a thousand bucks in a computer is

the main obstacle. The future may well lie in the do-it-yourself

machines in stores and malls. In Shanghai last year I could take a

Compact Flash card into a shop, load it into either Photoshop or some

other software, then make 1 or 100 prints of any size up to 11 x 14

on a Kodak machine on RA4 silver based paper. I am sure Fuji and

Konica are not far behind, if at all.

 

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Galen Rowell has all his exhibition prints done on Fuji Frontier or

Pictrography machines on Fuji Crystal Archive Silver based paper:

 

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see www.mountainlight.com.

 

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I predict both will be running side by side for a long time.

 

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Cheers

 

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Cheers

 

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I await the results of Star Wars V with great anticipation, but will

keep my LF cameras, Metol, HQ and Pyro, as well as Bregger's E Mail

address.

[www.graemehird.com]

Good-bye and good riddance..

[bruce_wehman]

Ok, the market for large format film goes South; Companies like Kodak

stop making it; Material costs go up and LF B&W becomes an Alt.

Process practiced by a niche group of Die-Hards........With the

dilettantes weeded out, the quality level of the output goes up and

people start thinking: "Gee, this film stuff really isn't such a bad

thing after all."

 

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Wassswrong with this?

[arthur_gottschalk]

I suggest we all bone up on alternative process photography. Do-it-

yourself is the future for traditional photography. There's even a

newsleter on this theme, "The World Journal of Post-Factory

Photography." Info can be found on the net.

[erik4]

"Digital is MUCH better than analog sound, despite what the purists

and their Sondek TTables say". This is not an audiophile forum so I

won't turn this into an audiophile debate but let me disagree with you

vehemently on this statement, Richard, and I am no purist. I will

just say that you have not heard a good analogue set up, Linn Sondek

or not. Let me just say that you have to qualify your adjectives.

Anytime you use adjectives like 'MUCH better' (emphasis yours) you

open a huge can of worms. And it is the same in digital versus

analogue photography. So let's not make blanket statements like that.

We, vinyl buffs, are not delusional and the superiority of analogue

versus its digital equivalent in quality are real, and often in areas

which you least expect.

 

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I am writing this to register my protest at a blanket statement, not

to start an argument.

[canfred]

Hi all

Yes ,right and the wheel will be replaced by a digital version too.

Manfred

[matt_saunier]

You silly people, film will always endure. How many beta cassettes

do you see anymore? There might be a few, stuck underneath the

Super8 reels of the world. And who wants their wedding pictures on

Photo CD? B&W in particular will never go away, and is even today

blossoming from all the new emulsions out. Let's face it, if Kodak's

only concern was popular demand, B&W would have gone away in the

80's. For every one professional photographer out there who develops

his Tri-x in a Jobo, there are probably 500 civilians who develop

their Max 100 at Wal-Mart. And don't gripe about some chem or

another going away, off the top of my head I can name 9 or 10

different Kodak developers that have been around since the Ice Age.

Besides, if you really need to get that perfect push-processed,

solarized B&W reversal, you could actually mix it yourself as we all

had to do in the ELDER DAYS. Remember the ELDER DAYS anybody? Or you

could stop being eliteist and reach for that bottle of Ilford or

Agfa or BloggsCo or whatever... Anyways I am through ranting now.

35mm forever!

[camera_girl]

I wish the folks at Kodak would read this and get in touch with the

real customers.

 

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I can only compare them to GM when it comes to being out of touch.

 

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Another alternative is for the people who really love photography buy

up the stock, boot the board of directors and the yo-yo's who are

mis-running the joint. Put people who really care about photography in

control. Let the bean-counters go count somebody else's beans.

[martin_pistor]

Hi to all,

please keep my e-mail adress: m.pistor@gmx.de. When everyone else stopped making analogue films, I`m gonna buy the last machines and make a fortune selling folks like me and you the stuff they can`t get anywhere else (not cheap, of course). As long as people want it and people pay for, there will be someone who does it. Of course not the variety of different films, available now, but after all there is no witchcraft in making films. Neither is in cutting 8x10. And to be honest, I`m afraid, this way to be a millionaire won`t come during my lifetime.

[mark_michaelson]

It's 5 years now since the post (plus or minus), and film is still here.