Film is Dead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

I heard that PCPS, a photo lab in California, has had to hire an additional person to do film scanning because their business has increased so much. I send them my film for processing and get beautiful 48 MB scans for an amazing low price.
 
Just went to my local lab this morning to drop something off, and they told me that they're going to stop processing film by the end of the month. Looks like I'll be setting my darkroom up for b+w, but don't know what I'm going to do about colour film.
 
Do you mean NCPS? That's the (reportedly pretty good) shop Mr. Rockwell keeps plugging.

The OP's suggestion that we all start writing magazines to tell them we want more stories about film and film cameras seems to me an unproductive approach. If I ran one of those magazines, I might write back and ask for specific story ideas. If a picked one of those ideas, and if I had someone qualified to do the story, I'd publish the story and then I'd look to see if it had any impact on circulation. Magazines make money by selling advertising. Advertising rates are geared to circulation levels: More magazine sales means you can ask more for an ad.

So, if film stories boost circulation, I'm happy, and I'll run more film stories. If they don't, I won't.

If and when you do find a magazine with film coverage, buy it and keep buying it. Writer a letter to the editor/publisher explaining why you're buying it. "I'm buying your magazine because you run film stories" is probably going to carry more weight than "I'll buy your magazine if it carries film stories."
 
Depends where you live I suppose.
Where I am film is pretty cheap (5$ for TriX, 8 for HP5, 12 for Provia) and processing is 9$ including cutting (even E6).
Couldn't find Velvia 50 anywhere though, and a lot of stores don't sell film anymore, the one I go to sells only pro film.

I agree though, film isn't as dead as people think it is, i'd buy a magazine about film. Most of the stuff in the photography section these days are just DSLR benchmarks and photoshop tutorials...
 
Keith said:
Decent black and white film where I live is nine dollars a roll and between ten and fifteen dollars per roll just to get the negatives processed, no scanning ... the last roll of E-6 I had done cost me twenty dollars for processing and they didn't even have to cut the negatives into strips!
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Keith, is it safe to assume that all film available in Australia is imported? How does the markup on imported film compare with the markup on other imported items? Are there competing importers and distributors, or does one outfit have a monopoly?

The USD is selling for about 1.20 AUD, so there's more going on that just the currency conversion. I've noticed that American products in Britain often seem to be priced thusly: First, convert price directly to pounds. I.e., if it sells for $100 in the U.S., mark it at £100. Then add on whatever mythical markup you think you can get away with.
 
It would be interesting to see if this is a regional problem. In Portland, Oregon I never have had a problem buying film. I've purchased bricks of Tri-X just as easily as I have purchased a loaf of bread. Well, almost as easily. I know of two pro labs within 10-15 mins of my house that do excellent work. Our Costco still has a film processing machine as does our Target. It's strange to hear that it is so difficult elsewhere.
 
wgerrard said:
Keith, is it safe to assume that all film available in Australia is imported? How does the markup on imported film compare with the markup on other imported items? Are there competing importers and distributors, or does one outfit have a monopoly?

The USD is selling for about 1.20 AUD, so there's more going on that just the currency conversion. I've noticed that American products in Britain often seem to be priced thusly: First, convert price directly to pounds. I.e., if it sells for $100 in the U.S., mark it at £100. Then add on whatever mythical markup you think you can get away with.
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Dear Bill,

Given the number of film coating lines in Australia....

Cheers,

R.
 
pachuco said:
It would be interesting to see if this is a regional problem. In Portland, Oregon I never have had a problem buying film. I've purchased bricks of Tri-X just as easily as I have purchased a loaf of bread.
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Big-box stores here (North Carolina) carry the same kind of film drugstores sell. It's easy to find a big box store or a drugstore that runs a processing machine. The machines are seldom staffed and you need to chase someone down. In my experience, some drugstores will balk at handling any film they consider professional.

Tri-X and its friends, bricks and otherwise, are sold at 2-3 photo shops in the area. Quantity buys are cheaper online, even if you pay for shipping.
 
I just bought 5 rolls of 35mm Tri-X and 5 rolls of TMY at a camera store here in town. I do have to drive to the next town over to get 120 film, though!
 
My daughter got her first digital camera when she was about 11 or 12 years old. She eventually graduated to a Digital Rebel.

Last week, she hit me with "teach me to develop film". She has never shown any interest in film before. I mentor high school students in photography also, and I give them a tour of the darkroom. Several have come back to ask the same thing..."can you teach me how to develop film?"

Like film, all hope for our youth is not dead. They are interested if they are aware that they have options. Those high school students didn't know what a film scanner was...didn't realize there was an option for taking a negative and digitizing it.

If film truly dies, it will be our fault for not putting the information out there that lets our young people know that there is an option and it can be a very interesting, unique, and fun option.
 
Flogging dead equines again I see....

Flogging dead equines again I see....

I use film and digital depending on my mood.

Film is like Schroedinger's Cat. It's half dead and half alive, until one opens the box...
 
3 problems:

- C41 is getting too expensive to shoot. Film and processing ranges from $10-20 per roll.
Unless you only shoot an occasional roll that's a problem.

- With the Nikon 5000/9000ED having gone to the great darkroom in the sky there are no more affordable high quality scanners on the market. Flatbeds don't really cut it, unless you are talking about a very expensive units made for publishing houses etc.

Without access to affordable and high quality scanners, film shooters will be excluded from the internet and digital printing. That would be a disaster.

- Sooner or later it will become impossible to get film cameras repaired due to lack of parts or because all of the qualified technicians will have retired. No more functional cameras = no film sales.

I hope that Kodak, Fuji and Ilford understand this.
Fuji seems to have an inkling; they did release the 667 folding camera.
Kodak could make a very, very good scanner without much effort. They have a lot of experience in this market.
 
The Netherlands were an early adoptor in digital photography, and an increasing number of photographers is getting fed up with the ease of digital photography. I have met and spoken with folks that reverted back to film, or bought manual Zeiss lenses for their Nikon DSLR to regain a bit of 'the old way'.

I'm pretty sure a turnaround will come, digital has gotten too easy and if you want to distuingish yourself you either choose manual lenses (and your result still looks digital) or film. Film will never be as big as it was, but the downfall will at least slow down and possibly level off in the next one, two years.
 
Harry Lime said:
3 problems:

- C41 is getting too expensive to shoot. Film and processing ranges from $10-20 per roll. I spend $3 for C41 and $6 for hand BW.... Where do you go? I send it to Blue Moon In Portland Or. :confused:
Unless you only shoot an occasional roll that's a problem.

- With the Nikon 5000/9000ED having gone to the great darkroom in the sky there are no more affordable high quality scanners on the market. Flatbeds don't really cut it, unless you are talking about a very expensive units made for publishing houses etc. I have a $250.00 PlusTeck 35mm scanner that does up to 7200 dpi (native), I scan at 5000dpi that gives me 100mp TIFFs. You don't NEED to pay $1000.00 for a good scanner

Without access to affordable and high quality scanners, film shooters will be excluded from the internet and digital printing. That would be a disaster.

- Sooner or later it will become impossible to get film cameras repaired due to lack of parts or because all of the qualified technicians will have retired. No more functional cameras = no film sales.

I hope that Kodak, Fuji and Ilford understand this.
Fuji seems to have an inkling; they did release the 667 folding camera.
Kodak could make a very, very good scanner without much effort. They have a lot of experience in this market.
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Reply above in light yellow......
Oh, just too "negative" :rolleyes:.....What ever dude :cool:
 
Film is undead.

I speak as an (almost) direct descendant of Count Dracula. This means I speak with heavy authority. You may now grovel.
 
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