If film doesn't become cheap then nothing else will matter and it will die

[Karim Ghantous]

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<p>Back when video cameras were the rage, I shot about 99% of all our family outings in VHS</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Maybe I was lucky to have such clear vision, but I never had any respect for analogue video cameras (apart from the pure fun that they allowed). They were awful and I could not imagine why anyone would prefer them to Super-8. I'd rather have missed a shot than to have it on such a disgusting medium. Having said that, I did appreciate the convenience of DV cameras. At least they were compact and the footage was easy to edit.</p>

<p>I do not think that digital cameras are going to be the same thing. Just IMHO. This time, it's for real. :-P</p>

[James G. Dainis]

All the VHS tapes I shot back in the 1980s got moldy when I lived in Puerto Rico and had to be thrown away. Thankfully, I shot most important stuff like my mother and father's big 50th wedding anniversary on film, color and black and white.

[david_m]

<p>The reason film is going away is nothing to do with cost, its because people like to see the photo they took immediately. I have two daughters 16 and 20 and they look at film cameras as quaint antiques. They cannot imagine waiting a week to see a photo. That would be a completely foreign concept to them. Delayed gratification is not a thing people today appreciate or even tolerate. Of course the cost is a factor to the diehards who still like using film, mostly older people for whom is is a familar product. I think the availablility of film and processing will slowly dwindle until you simply cannot find it. Its already started to happen. My local Target store has a notice "we no longer process film". I think it is only disposable cameras that are keeping film alive. But now they have disposable digital cameras.</p>

[Member69643]

<p>I agree that the "instant" factor is important in the rise of digital, but there's another factor that's far more important. Ownership. For most people, the fact that someone else had to develop your film meant there were pictures you just didn't take. We all know what that means. So now, you take whatever you want and nobody will see them but you, if that's the way you want it. You have complete ownership. </p>

<p>That's what home processing has always been about for many film shooters. Ownership. What will kill film is the day the home developing becomes impossible.</p>

[steve m smith]

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<p>The reason film is going away is nothing to do with cost, its because people like to see the photo they took immediately.</p>

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<p><br /><br />If that were true, Polaroid would still be in business!</p>

[steve m smith]

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<p>I guess I would not buy a camera like that myself.</p>

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<p>You guess? Don't you know? I'm absolutely certain I wouldn't.</p>

[25asa]

<p>I work in a photolab (which in itself is a dying business). I stopped using film on a normal basis in 2010 because of the cost to use it, and the fact our lab was going dry. I personally hate dry prints and prefer the older chemical print. Plus the film scanner we use is not as good as what we used to use. That said I still use film for B&W and slides, even though I still have some C-41 stock to use up. The cost of processing film is now 50 cents a print which is high compared to what it used to be, but its still a tolerable cost. But to keep using B&W- I have to fork out a dollar a print, plus developing costs on top. I have four 36 rolls of B&W sitting at the lab well over a year, because its going to cost me $190 to pick up 4 rolls of film. I mean seriously- $190. I'm glad I don't use film on a regular basis anymore, because its priced itself right off the market. That said I understand completely why the cost has gone up and will continue to do so. Film will go away if people expect it to be cheap to use. It costs a lot of money to keep film going these days. So if you want to keep using it in the future- pay up guys. If people don't pay- it won't be around for much longer.</p>

[25asa]

<p>Oops double post. I'll add I just also bought a big enough supply of B&W film in both 35mm and 120 to last me for some years to come. I'll probably end up selling off at some point what I don't use.</p>

[yuri_yupiter3]

<p>later BBS's and later web / Internet and Porn drove a radical increase in digital images.</p>

<p>For color there was no local lab to play "the image is too hot too over the edge too revealing". As local custom labs died the only thing left was often chain store 1 hour C41. These prudes would not process nudes and thus most web nudes later were shot with digital. The bulk of early web bandwidth was viewing women's breasts and this drove a radical increase in digital images being shot.</p>

<p>Also Ebay had sellers just needing often just a VGA 480x640 image to sell their stuff. I used a VGA digital in the later 1990's to shoot all my Ebay auctions for Russian cameras. ie why fart around with shooting obsolete film and waste time with slow scanning? A VGA digital image was good enough and RADICALLY saved time and labor.</p>

<p>The thing is often digital IS good enough to do a task and thus folks used the tool / method that saved time and labor.</p>

<p>Some folks actually use images to MAKE money like say an Ebay auction. They could shoot C41 film and then scan it but with digital some us went to digital for auctions and web stuff over 12 to 15 years ago.</p>

<p>I use to love shooting Fuji 800 4 layer films to shoot local sports like basketball and get 2 sets of prints. This scheme often resulted in many keepers and an extra print to sell or give away. Then quality tanked as they went to a non optical print. ie they developed the C41 and the machine does a crummy scan and then do a digital print. The shadows were nice and smooth and became noise. The highlights became poor and compressed. The print quality went to total hell. Thus this FAVORITE scheme became used less and thus now is really never used anymore. ie the fine eatery one liked and was faithfull to now turned out manure thus one does not go there anymore.</p>

[rossb]

<blockquote>

<p>You guess? Don't you know?</p>

</blockquote>

<p> A figure of speech. Basically I will not need to purchase another camera of any type. </p>