joseph_andrew Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 <p>So I shot my first roll of Kodak slide film - expired Ektachrome E100G. Out of the box, it looks completely brand new even after 5 years expired. Also, in my humble opinion, I find it very subdued, very tasteful.<br> Why on Earth was this incredible film discontinued? What a loss. </p> <p> </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterbcarter Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 <p>The short answer: With the pro photographers gone digital, slide film sales tanked.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yockenwaithe Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 <p>From what I understand the price of developing it was REEEEEEALY expensive because it was super old school color film. I'm not even sure anywhere develops it anymore for anything remotely reasonable</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donbright Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 <p>Tasteful, the operative word. Some have it, some don't. I hear you Joseph, its a shame E100G is discontinued.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossb Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p> I shot a lot of Elitechrome and thought it was awesome. Nice color, beautiful natural skin tones. </p> <p> </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossb Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <blockquote> <p>Spencer you might be thinking of Kodachrome. I shot a lot of that also in it's day. </p> </blockquote> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_s Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p>As with all these things, the reason they're discontinued is simply a matter of the bottom line, but that's stating the obvious. Transparency film is a pretty vestigial market now, and I suspect it will be gone within a decade. </p> <p>I'm just happy we can still get the range of film we can. Ten years ago a few people were speculating that 120 would be the next to go, but it looks like I'll be using my Rolleiflex, at least in black and white, until they pry it from my cold dead hands.</p> <p>Right now, you can of course still get E6 developed easily, if you don't do your own. <a href="http://www.northcoastphoto.com/film_developing_scans.html">North Coast Photo</a> will handle it up to 8 x 10, and I'm sure there are many others. </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glen_h Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p>Fuji still makes E6 films, as far as I know. It might be that there isn't enough demand for two companies. I believe Kodak still sells E6 chemistry, but not film. I miss Ektachrome, too.</p> <p>Kodak still sells color negative to movie companies, enough to keep color negative film production in business. </p> <p>Kodak is slowly discontinuing black and white films. I suspect Ilford will be the last producer of black and white film. Kodak stopped all black and white paper some years ago. </p> -- glen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_shriver Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p>Kodak's film production line can't make just a little film. It was setup for making huge quantities of motion picture print film, a market that has almost totally dried up. A minimum production run of any Ektachrome film is more film than Kodak can sell before it expires. Still picture film was always a sideline. If you make twice as much film as you sell, you either have to price it very high, or lose money.<br> Also, Fujichrome, particularly Velvia 50, was selling much better than Ektachrome. There were always a lot of Ektachrome "haters," people who wanted the distorted hyper-saturated colors of Velvia 50. Fuji has the production advantage of a smaller scaled production line.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yockenwaithe Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p>Ross you are right, I was thinking of Kodachrome :P, I get mixed up between the two sometimes</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aoresteen Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p>While you can still get Fuji E6 films. it is very expensive compared to C41 films - double in a lot of cases.</p> <p>Fuji Velvia 100 in 120 costs $7.69 and Kodak Ektar 100 in 120 costs $4.95 from B&H.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrankin Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p>Profits disappeared. Times change. I remember loving Elitechrome 100 very much, but that was fifteen years ago. Now I love digital color <em>almost</em><em> </em>as much.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossb Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p>It's just the times we live in. Basically Ektachrome was discontinued because sales dipped to the point where it was not profitable. I suppose they hoped that folks would still buy film and move to Portra which would beef up that product. <br /> These days even camera's are difficult to find. The used models are getting very old, the new market is bleak. Even the Bessa is now discontinued leaving the Nikon FM10 which is a piece of junk and the Leica models. Not sure about the Nikon F6 if it is discontinued or not. I have an F100.</p> <p>I shoot a small amount of film but it is so expensive to shoot it's just an occasional thing. I am working on a couple rolls of Delta right now and will have Dwaynes develop the film. Then I will scan the film and if I feel the film with home scanning shows promise I was going to purchase a tank and chemicals and develop my own B/W film at home and scan it. A mini hobby.<br> Most of my photos are in color and I will use my digital camera for that. I shoot to many photos to pay big prices for every roll of film I shoot.. The scanning optimized color film or C41 B/W film looks pretty much just like photos from your DSLR. Well XP2 has a bit of texture to it. </p> <p> </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c_watson1 Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p>With respect, I kinda wonder where the OP's been for the last decade. The clock started ticking on E6 materials' demise when pros dropped them. They kept the labs and Kodak/Fuji coating alleys running for the rest of us. Many E6 labs were designed for large volumes, making them losing affairs when demand for processing slowed to a trickle. All of this is old news.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wblynch Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p>Simple, Kodak failed to understand the market changes and adapt. Their lack of attention allowed them to be distracted by other ventures which soaked up all their profits from film. They squandered their resources on inkjet printers and other follies.</p> <p>Then they blamed it all on film.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henryp Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <blockquote> <p>Kodak's film production line can't make just a little film. It was setup for making huge quantities of motion picture print film, a market that has almost totally dried up.</p> </blockquote> <p>FWIW <a href="http://petapixel.com/2015/12/16/star-wars-the-force-awakens-was-shot-on-film-and-kodak-may-be-profitable-in-2016/">the new Star Wars movie was shot on Kodak film</a> and is being credited with salvaging their film production system. Another recent film-shot movie is Tarantino's <a href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/how-quentin-tarantino-resurrected-ultra-panavision-70-for-the-hateful-eight-roadshow-20150828">The Hateful Eight</a>.<br> Henry Posner<br /><strong>B&H Phioto-Video</strong></p> Henry Posner B&H Photo-Video Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossb Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p>I am surprised that Star Wars was shot with film. Glad to hear it and I am glad it did some good for Kodak. I was going to wait another week before going as I like to avoid the crowds. </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_shriver Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p>Plenty of movies are still <em>shot</em> on film. But very few movies are <em>printed</em> on film. Digital projection is over 95% of screens in United States. Motion picture <em>print</em> film was 90% of Kodak's film volume for decades. Now it's just a blip in the statistics. Kodak built a monster highly automated plant to keep the price of motion picture print film low to maintain a monopoly. (Fuji never got much of a foothold in the motion picture business.) Without that print film volume, that Kodak plant is a white elephant.<br> Kodak is still making film now only because the motion picture studios are picking up the bill. They promise to spend so much money a year, whether they ask Kodak to deliver any film or not. There's enough influential DP's (directors of photography) that insist on film. They are on the second five-year deal. But at some point, the studios won't pony up the money, and Kodak's film line will be dead.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glen_h Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p>I believe E6 processing is still cheaper than C41 if you get prints with the C41. <br> But more usual, to get it scanned or scan it myself. </p> <p>The price of prints had gone down so much over the years, even without inflation adjustment. As I remember it in 1967, when I first started home B&W, nearby stores charged USD0.22 for 3.5x5 color prints. (4x6 hadn't been invented yet.) Now, many are down to USD0.10 in quantity, maybe USD0.19 for singles. </p> <p>But I do still like slides, E6, and Ektachrome. I don't do it all that often, though.</p> -- glen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randrew1 Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p>Motion picture print film used to be a major portion of the volume of Kodak film. It might have exceeded 50% in some years, but I don't believe it ever approached 90%. Motion picture negative volume was always small compared to print, but the profit from negative was greater than from print. In 2000 color negative film challenged motion picture print volume. </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrydressler Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p>Economics 101. Supply and demand. Fuji still makes some E6 film along wit AGFA Belgium And soon Ferrania.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c_watson1 Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 <p>Afga 200 is rebranded Fuji. Ferrania? MIA so far. The longer they wait, the smaller the market for E6 materials.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrydressler Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 <p>AGFA/Rollie is not re branded Fuji AGFA Yes has been re branded by another commence but AGFA Belgium is still separate and running E6 and C-41 color/colour films along with A few others. Please excuse sorting out but Coating machines still run with emulsions of the past just little or no R&D. <br> It is not tough to shoot film it is tough to do it and develop it. That is why I do my own.<br> E6 chem kits are not cheap but then they are 50% cheaper than sending it out to a company that you have no idea about. I get 15 rolls from one kit. and it cost me what I used to pay for in 4 rolls send out.<br> http://filmphotographyproject.com/store/unicolor-rapid-e6-slide-development-kit</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_henderson Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 <p>In my experience most discontinuation decisions are made too late rather than too early.The writing's mostly been on the wall for a while before companies act. The still film business was simply lost to digital.</p> <p>That said , and perhaps not unexpectedly, you can still get E6 in London, and my old Pro Lab- Bayeux - still offers a full service including E6 , though including tax we're talking £11 per roll (35mm/120) for processing only ( about $17) unless you get a Pro discount. That's bad enough but the price of b&w dev and SS contact, or large format E6 are just jaw-dropping. Clearly, even with a lot of concentration in few hands volumes are insufficient to allow efficient film processing. Even with a relatively modest annual volume, it would now cost me well over $10 000 pa to revert to medium format E6/ b&w. plus scanning of scanner costs </p> <p> </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c_watson1 Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 <p>Not so sure about non-Fuji Agfa materials:<br> http://www.agfa.com/sp/global/en/internet/main/solutions/aerialphotography/color/recording_films/index.jsp<br> Good luck sourcing Aviphot materials.<br> Hairsplitting aside, scarfing up out-dated film lends nothing to the impression among manufacturers that there's much if any demand for their products. Buy all the new film materials you can afford.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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