When 35 mm film became main stream in the USA?

[matthew_rusbarsky]

<p>12.50 for an Argus A in 36 comes out to a bit less than $200 (according to the inflation calculator). On the secondhand market the Argus A and C series are almost as ubiquitous as the 620 Brownies and Hawkeyes. I would say they were quite popular in the day.</p>

[cliffmanley]

<p>That's nothing compared to what is coming. Are you ready for $100 a roll for film? How about $600 for a 100' can of 35mm bulk film or $20/SHEET of printing paper? How about $100 for a 4 pack of AA batteries? Better get them now.</p>

[k5083]

<p>Cliff, your comments on cameras are always great, but you need to get over this inflation hang-up! The numbers are just numbers, they all go up together. Most of us on this forum probably now earn "more" per year than Mickey Mantle did in 1961; several of us 3 or 4 times more. By the time the prices you mentioned come into being, anyone with a decent job will be earning salaries that we would associate with a film actor or pro athlete today. By any calculus, today's society is more affluent than that in the 1970s, 1950s, 1930s. It's all good!</p>

 

[cliffmanley]

<p>Certainly when I say buy your film now I expect people to be able to read between the lines as everything, not just film, will increase in price during the hyperinflation that is on the way. So prepare accordingly.<br />Yes August, they are just numbers, not to concern yourself about. Just go back to sleep...deeep sleeep... and when you wake up you will retain your secure feeing of being affluent and your job, money, savings are special, are safe, and secure. You will ignore the crumbling of the dollar because it is just numbers, not to concern yourself about. You are very special, unlike anybody around you. Your money is special and yours won't crumble. The country is doing fine. The 38 million starving people out of work will not concern you. As the country falls before your eyes, you will smile and feel contented. It's all good... It's all good. Click your heals three times and say It's all good.. Go back to sleeep... deep deeeep sleeeep.<br /><strong>Everyone else, when I snap my fingers, WAKE UP NOW and read the news!</strong></p>

[k5083]

<p>Cliff, that book called "Chicken Little" is not the news. But it's okay, I have all my savings sunk into rolls of film stuffed in the freezer. At $100 each, they'll fund my retirement!</p>

<p> </p>

[User_502260]

<p>This is a little off the topic but I'm surprised that so many people believe economists about inflation in the future. Where were these same economists two years ago? How many of them predicted that oil would reach $147 a barrel? How many of them predicted that real estate values would fall so far in such a short time? How many knew that the junk bonds based in sub-prime mortgages would prove to be worth so little? The textbook definition of infltation (in the U.S.) is too many dollars chasing too few goods. I don't believe that there is too much money sloshing around in the economy. Many of the institutions which took large sums of money from the Federal government will never be able to pay it back. The banks who took the money aren't lending any of it out. Any interest they earn on it is canceled out by more mortgage and credit card account defaults. Just yesterday GMAC asked the Federal government for a third bail-out. None of the money which was given to financial institutions has found its way into the hands of people who might spend it. Even if none of it ever gets repaid by the financial institutions there will still be the problem of servicing it. The GDP figure reported today will almost certainly be revised downward later. It will be shown that the blip was due to the selling off of accumulated inventories of cars and houses because of government incentives and not because more cars or houses were built. Of the 8 million people living in NY City, 1.6 million are receiving food stamps. There is no question that times are still hard for many people. I just don't see things improving fast enough to cause high inflation in the near future. Both Federal and State governments are running out of money to provide more stimulus. This will cause demand for goods and services to fall off, which should keep inflation in check. As a film user I'm more concerned that a slow economy will cause more photo companies to go out of business than I am about film going to $100 a roll. It's hard enough for Kodak and Fuji to sell film at the current prices. </p>

[david_f._stein]

<p>Great notes. Another camera format I believe pretty familiar mid-50s on was Polaroid. The 95A produced what I thought were excellent photos that have lasted well.</p>

[cliffmanley]

<p>The economists have been predicting the demise of the dollar for decades, but the US media has been told to look the other way and keep the masses in the dark. If you want the truth, you must seek it, it won't be handed to you by the bankers that defraud you.<br>

Who in the world needs US dollars? Every Country, to buy oil. but that is changing rapidly. Several countries just announced they would not accept US dollars for their oil and are using other currencies. When oil is no longer priced in dollars, the dollar’s exchange rate value will drop like a rock. This end to the Petro-Dollar defacto standard completes the vicious cycle that will work to destroy the US Dollar and it is here now. Since they removed the gold backing of the US currency, oil has been the only thing sustaining it. It will now be worthless paper.<br>

The reason you don't see the stimulus money in circulation in the US is because it's not here in the US. It was never meant to be used for us but to hold together the economies of other countries. The bonds have been sold off. If the dollar had a chaotic devaluation, the rest of the world’s currencies, especially the Yen, would also crumble at the same time. So to artificially support their own economies other countries continue to buy dollars for the time being. So they created trillions of stimulus dollars for them to buy. Not to help the US economy, but foreign economies. But they won't be buying them much longer. And with the US Dollar the carry trade favorite, ala Japan with the Yen carry trade, how much longer can the US Dollar hold together? Only until they create the new world currency standard and implement the framework in Copenhagen this December. Then they will all dump the dollar and it will be worthless and come back to the US. Hyperinflation will hit followed by the greatest depression in mankind.<br>

So you see, that roll of film in the freezer may very well capture a photo or two of such historic significance, that it may buy you some food and keep you alive. The party is over folks. Read the news from around the world. AP and Reuters and the like. You won't get the truth on the 6 o'clock news on TV.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Hey, [<strong>sound of huge dope slap being administered</strong> ]</p>

<p>While it is true that massive spending usually causes inflation, it is also true that this doesn't happen when there is more risk of deflation and so on occurring from people not buying enough "stuff" - the trick is to know when to stop stimulating before inflation starts.</p>

<p><strong>However, why does this argument have to be brought up in every damned forum! </strong> <br /> <strong>You want to talk about your obsession or clear-sightedness, call it what you will, go take it to Off-the-topic forum and not mess around with a nice little forum about 35mm film.</strong></p>

[tri-x1]

<p>Back to the subject. Even in the early 1950s A Contax II cost about the same as a Chevrolet sedan!<br>

I remember a lot of families back in the day who bought the Argus C3 but one reason you can still find them in almost new condition is that a lot of people immediately decided there was too much of a learning curve, put the Argus in the back of the closet and went back to the tried-and-true box Brownie.<br>

When I went to work for a daily paper in 1967 they had only just started using TLRs. The old 4x5 GRaphic was mounted on a vertical stand for copying prints. I shot with my own Nikkormat and Nikon F in the late '60s and the paper finally bought a Pentax Spotmatic in the early '70s. Most the prople on the street were still happy with 126 and 110 Instamatics.<br>

Even though we were scrimping along financially in the 1960s a Nikon F didn't seem as big an investment as the D300 I bought a couple of years ago. Of course that may be because I'm a lot older a appreciate the value of a dollar more now.</p>