Film usage in 2018 - two data points

[mooge]

I was at the local camera store (Downtown camera in Toronto, Canada) yesterday and I asked the guy behind the counter whether their deal was dip and dunk or not. He said it wasn't - "we have too much volume to do dip and dunk". Huh? Like what? Like 200-300 rolls a week (of C41) apparently; most of it from drop-ins and not too much mailed in.

And the lab in my hometown, GPC labworks in Ottawa, recently beat their record for most film developed in a month at something over 1000 rolls (also C41 - they ceased doing E-6 only a couple months ago too).

So yeah, film's not super dead I guess. (But we knew that already)

 

[Bille]

https://trends.google.de/trends/explore?date=all&q=c41
https://trends.google.de/trends/explore?date=all&q=Kodak t-max

 

[bulevardi]

But all those rolls get developped in "the only lab in town", while 30 years ago, there maybe were like 20 labs in town, maybe with each 200-300 rolls?

Right here in Brussels, there aren't that much labs anymore. The only lab I frequently go is always busy, because he has to develop the rolls from the labs that closed down in the past years.

 

[Skiff]

I was at the local camera store (Downtown camera in Toronto, Canada) yesterday and I asked the guy behind the counter whether their deal was dip and dunk or not. He said it wasn't - "we have too much volume to do dip and dunk". Huh? Like what? Like 200-300 rolls a week (of C41) apparently; most of it from drop-ins and not too much mailed in.

A friend of mine owns a lab (he sees increasing demand, too).
And I can ensure you, that 200-300 rolls can be developed in a Refrema or Hostert dip-and-dunk processor without problems per day!
Therefore they probably use a roller-transport machine probably for other reasons:
- they don't have a dip-and-dunk processor
- roller-transport processors are cheaper
- roller-transport processors do need much less space, they are very compact.

Last week I visited Photokina. We have also had a meeting with several others rff members there. And we from the "rff-gang" 🙂 'swarmed' to all the companies being active in film photography. All companies reported increasing demand for film and film related products.
There is indeed a film revival. And it is getting stronger.
The most encouraging news was the Fujifilm booth, which had lots of space and presence dedicated to all their silver-halide products. And they made a clear statement there that they are not only fully committed to Instax film, but also to standard (conventional) films. Even some sheet film formats (Velvia 100 in 4x5" and 8x10"; Provia 100F in 8x10") are back in production.

 

[trix4ever]

This intrigues me as up to five years ago I ran a Kodak shop for my sins in northern new south wales, and in a town of ten thousand population and four c41 labs, we were doing 50-60 rolls of 35mm per day. With camera sales, scanning and restoration work and plenty of portrait and wedding jobs we were run off our feet.
Then smartphones and facebook took off, and within six months we were struggling to put enough films through the Noritsu to keep the chemicals replenished enough.
I now work from home and just love having no overheads.

I'm happy to hear of labs keeping busy but I think it's pretty patchy and often a case of last man standing within a catchment area.

http://filmisadelight.com

 

[Filter Factor]

I'm happy to hear of labs keeping busy but I think it's pretty patchy and often a case of last man standing within a catchment area.

Many more new labs have opened within just the past few years. Especially in Europe! Most of them say the demand is non-stop, particularly on weekends when young enthusiastic film photographers are most active. Not included in this discussion are the many thousands (millions?) of film users doing their own processing, whether it be B&W or C-41, all of which goes uncounted. Film use has passed the bottoming-out point and is on the upswing! And let us remember Fuji sold 6.6 million Instax cameras last year, and the processing of that format won't be seen by the local labs either.

 

[Godfrey]

I was at the local camera store (Downtown camera in Toronto, Canada) yesterday and I asked the guy behind the counter whether their deal was dip and dunk or not. He said it wasn't - "we have too much volume to do dip and dunk". Huh? Like what? Like 200-300 rolls a week (of C41) apparently; most of it from drop-ins and not too much mailed in. ...

Huh? We used to do upwards of 2000 rolls a week in tourist season when I worked for a photofinishing lab in the early 1980s. All dip and dunk. (Our E6 machine was roller feed, and was a daily chore to keep clean and calibrated compared to the C41 dip and dunk.) And we were a tiny lab in a smallish city with 35 other labs!

G