Checking the Pulse of Film Photography
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Ted Striker
Well-known
INSTAX camera sales are up to 6 million/year. Along with that are film sales of 10 million packs a year. INSTAX is HUGE for Fujifilm.
css9450
Veteran
Kind of a pyrrhic victory to be sure. Film is booming! But we're dropping Acros and maybe next year Velvia and Provia too. But Instax is "film" too so its all good!
ptpdprinter
Veteran
If they sell 6 million cameras and only 10 million packs of film, no one is shooting much.
Ted Striker
Well-known
ptpdprinter
Veteran
Yes, but for each camera sold, they sell less than two packs of film. Not high usage was my point. Seems like a try it and abandon it type of thing. Maybe it's the expense. I remember being (too) judicious with my SX-70.
kangaroo2012
Established
My retirement job has been servicing enlargers in school darkrooms here in Sydney Australia.
I have 80 schools still teaching B&W film photography in Sydney.
The rationale is : learning photography with film gives a much better grounding than digital (which can be taken in photography 102) You always get a result with digital but you don't know why.
With film you can see if you have under or over exposed instantly after Develop and fix.
I still use 35,120 and 4x5 and process to print myself.
Regards
Kangaroo2012
I have 80 schools still teaching B&W film photography in Sydney.
The rationale is : learning photography with film gives a much better grounding than digital (which can be taken in photography 102) You always get a result with digital but you don't know why.
With film you can see if you have under or over exposed instantly after Develop and fix.
I still use 35,120 and 4x5 and process to print myself.
Regards
Kangaroo2012
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
I will mention my friend Louis Mendez was a big user of pack film (Polaroid), flash bulbs, and now that Fuji FP-100 is costly has adapted an Instax wide to his Crown Graphic.
I also see that he has resurrected some old Polaroid to utilize some of the new Polaroid films that are available.
Louis had 4 kids from 4 different women, never married, and sent all four kids to college shooting street portraits. He is an urban legend and back in the day hung out with W. Eugene Smith during the "Jazz Loft" era.
Here is a man who has dug in. 70 plus years old. He is out there every day shooting.
Cal
I also see that he has resurrected some old Polaroid to utilize some of the new Polaroid films that are available.
Louis had 4 kids from 4 different women, never married, and sent all four kids to college shooting street portraits. He is an urban legend and back in the day hung out with W. Eugene Smith during the "Jazz Loft" era.
Here is a man who has dug in. 70 plus years old. He is out there every day shooting.
Cal
Out to Lunch
Veteran
Louis Mendez: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Mendes
Ted Striker
Well-known
I'm sure there is some level of abandonment with cameras like this. Those that remain probably shoot quite a lot of film. Fujifilm earns more from INSTAX than they do from their digital cameras.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Peter,
Thanks for the link.
I'll check with Louis. Wikipedia reports only two children. Louis told me 4.
Also one day I met up with Louis at the Park Ave Armory. He asked if I was going to hang out for a while, so he hands me his camera and says, "I'll be back in twenty minutes or so; hold onto my camera and watch my wheelie; I'm going to get some lunch; want anything?
So I find myself doing a Louis Mendez impersonation suddenly, and I got mobbed.
"You're not Louis," some woman leaving the Armory show said to me like I stole his identity.
"Where's Louis?" a few people said.
One guy rather aggressively wanted to know what I was doing with Louis' gear and stood watch like a soldier waiting to see if I was telling the truth that he went for some lunch.
Anyways this was a powerful experience. Louis is a widely known and loved walking tourist attraction. Every year he invites me to go down to NOLA for Marti Graws.
Cal
gdi
Veteran
It's always a pleasure to run into Louis when I visit the City - he is a indeed a moving landmark and treasure.
maigo
Well-known
Here’s a good article from May 15 summarizing the history, current state and sales impact of Instant photography.
Quote from article:
Fujifilms Instax is among the best-selling cameras on the market. No qualifiers needed. In its 2016 fiscal year (ending March 2017; fiscal year 2017 numbers aren’t available yet), Fujifilm sold 6.6 million Instax cameras and printers; the company says it plans to sell 7.5 million this fiscal year. For comparison, the entire digital camera market—point-and-shoots, DSLRs, mirrorless lens cameras, Canons, Nikons, Sonys—sold 18.91 million units in 2017.
https://www.theringer.com/platform/...2466/instant-print-polaroid-instax-fuji-kodak
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Quote from article:
Fujifilms Instax is among the best-selling cameras on the market. No qualifiers needed. In its 2016 fiscal year (ending March 2017; fiscal year 2017 numbers aren’t available yet), Fujifilm sold 6.6 million Instax cameras and printers; the company says it plans to sell 7.5 million this fiscal year. For comparison, the entire digital camera market—point-and-shoots, DSLRs, mirrorless lens cameras, Canons, Nikons, Sonys—sold 18.91 million units in 2017.
https://www.theringer.com/platform/...2466/instant-print-polaroid-instax-fuji-kodak
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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