Good point, Andy, but it raises the fear that in that time there may be nobody left able to do a CLA on a mechanical camera either. 🙁Andy K said:
How long do >>YOU<< think film will be commonly available?
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Gabriel M.A.
My Red Dot Glows For You
Any young blood willing to be a film camera repair apprentice? Hey, I'm looking...if anybody's willing to train me... 😀Doug said:
Issy
Well-known
I've considered it a few times myself, usually after bad days on the day job.
😀
😀
dmr
Registered Abuser
peterc said:
Why should anybody buy a new film camera at close to full street price when they can get barely-used high end film gear from those who have avowedly seen the light and gone digital?
A quick check at That Auction Site<tm> shows 32,000 and some film camera listings. A lot of film cameras are being bought and sold. There is a demand for them!
peterc
Heretic
Very true. There are many more film cameras that users out there now. And there definitely are deals to be had.dmr said:
Peter
S
Socke
Guest
peterc said:
Not for me! The sister of a friend just ordered a "box" at a samba school for next years carnaval in Salvador de Bahia.
Yeah! I did it! I'm going to brazil! No way to back out of it anymore!
peterc
Heretic
Way cool!!!! You should have a blast.Socke said:
Peter
Mohan
Established
One thing that I don't think has been mentioned yet is the motion picture industry, I don’t see them "going digital" any time soon, my uncle shoots commercials and they get through a few thousand feet of 35mm colour negative film per shoot, although all the post production work is all done digitally nothing comes close to film. I would imagine companies like Kodak will continue producing 35mm film stock for many decades.
PaulDalex
Dilettante artist
Another example: Fujii Single 8 introduced in 1965 is still alive 40 years later. I could propose many more cases. On the other hand in my last trip to the States I bought film and had it processed by A & I, because I could not find the film I wanted locally and I do not trust drugstore processing. My hope is that it will survive forever, albeit you have to manage it the way I did with A & I
Regards
Pistach
Regards
Pistach
S
Socke
Guest
All the examples with old formats still available don't show the real picture.
They make film some three feet wide and a couple 100 yards long, the Agfa machines produced 200 meter a minute, that's more than 3300 135 films a minute, some 5 million a day!
The big film is cut and perforated and then spooled. So as long as they produce film and the finishing machines work, they can cut it to any format.
They make film some three feet wide and a couple 100 yards long, the Agfa machines produced 200 meter a minute, that's more than 3300 135 films a minute, some 5 million a day!
The big film is cut and perforated and then spooled. So as long as they produce film and the finishing machines work, they can cut it to any format.
steelheart
Film shooter
It may disappear from the "marts" (Wal, K, etc.) in a few years, buy I expect to be able to get if from places like B&H for probably as long as we want it.
You can still get 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10 format film - even 7x17 and other LF panoramic formats, if you look for it; if anything would have disappeared, I would have expected LF film to, but it still chugs along.
It's a comforting thought that these "ancient" format films are still being made - it gives me hope for 35mm and 120.
You can still get 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10 format film - even 7x17 and other LF panoramic formats, if you look for it; if anything would have disappeared, I would have expected LF film to, but it still chugs along.
It's a comforting thought that these "ancient" format films are still being made - it gives me hope for 35mm and 120.
S
Socke
Guest
As I said, it's all cut from the same raw material. What's coming from the coating machine is one meter wide and some kilometers long. It takes Efke ten minutes to coat 1 kilometer film. Agfa made enough film in three 8 hour shifts to meet a one year world wide demand.
The problem is, you can't just run the machine one day a year and maintain it for the other 364 days.
Economy of scale is against us here, but I can imagine somebody coming out with a coating mashine slow enough to produce small amounts of film. Efkes coating mashines are from the 50's and too fast for todays demand, they produce in batches and store the material until it is cut to size and sold. Efke 25 for example is produced every two years, they just had the production run for the next two years and the emulsion is different to the last run from early 2004.
The problem is, you can't just run the machine one day a year and maintain it for the other 364 days.
Economy of scale is against us here, but I can imagine somebody coming out with a coating mashine slow enough to produce small amounts of film. Efkes coating mashines are from the 50's and too fast for todays demand, they produce in batches and store the material until it is cut to size and sold. Efke 25 for example is produced every two years, they just had the production run for the next two years and the emulsion is different to the last run from early 2004.
Mackinaw
Think Different
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What we need is for a retired (or fired) Agfa or Kodak production engineer, who knows the ins-and-outs of film production, to design a coating machine that could fit in a room and economically produce small batches of film, whenever needed. Any venture-capitalists out there looking to invest some money?
Jim Bielecki
Jim Bielecki
c.poulton
Well-known
Todd Frederick said:
I agree with you Todd, film will be available serving the art orientated photographer for a long time to come - just as you can still buy watercolour and oil based paints in specialist arts shops.
Duncan Ross
Say it with flashbulbs
Film will be available for as long as incandescent lightbulbs. We must all stockpile NOW!
PaulDalex
Dilettante artist
Thank you Socke. I should have thought what you obderve, although this is only a first stage of production and it is conforting to see that Fuji is loayal to a small group of customers. On the other hand there is a big stock of film cameras and we may hope that one day, as we saw for rangefinders, the same technology will pass to other companies that will make it profitable on a smaller scale. I insist that summing up all the remarks that have been posted, we can be confident that film will go on for decades, albeit we won't be able to buy it and have it processed in stores.
Pistach
Pistach
smiling gecko
pure dumb luck, my friend
...in regards to the question itself : oh, puh-leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease !!!!!!!!!!!
...whew, guess i got that out of my system.
...seriously now, i believe film as we know it will be around for a long, long, long, long time.
...as c.poulton - chris - so aptly reminds us water colour & oil based paints are still available.
...the materials for treating glass plates are still around.
...the materials for black powder weapons are still around.
...there are still forges and the steel to craft swords.
...the english longbow as well as the flintlock musket were improved upon, but not forgotten.
...now, i'm wandering off course.
...as with most commodities - supply will equal demand - no doubt at higher cost at some point.
...maybe the sky is falling, but you gotta admit there's alot of sky still up there.
... with new film cameras being made - mainly rf - there's a glimmer of hope for us all .
hasta la vista, adieu, dazvidanya, fino al prossimo tempo, auf wiedersehen, and later y’all
kenneth
_______________________________________
"...patience and shuffle the cards" miguel cervantes
"nothing can be learned" herman hesse
"everybody knows everything" jack kerouac
"some memories are realities and better than anything" willa cather
" doo-wacka doo, wacka doo" roger miller
"we have met the enemy and they is us !" walt kelly (pogo)
“a mans cartilage is his fate” phillip roth
...whew, guess i got that out of my system.
...seriously now, i believe film as we know it will be around for a long, long, long, long time.
...as c.poulton - chris - so aptly reminds us water colour & oil based paints are still available.
...the materials for treating glass plates are still around.
...the materials for black powder weapons are still around.
...there are still forges and the steel to craft swords.
...the english longbow as well as the flintlock musket were improved upon, but not forgotten.
...now, i'm wandering off course.
...as with most commodities - supply will equal demand - no doubt at higher cost at some point.
...maybe the sky is falling, but you gotta admit there's alot of sky still up there.
... with new film cameras being made - mainly rf - there's a glimmer of hope for us all .
hasta la vista, adieu, dazvidanya, fino al prossimo tempo, auf wiedersehen, and later y’all
kenneth
_______________________________________
"...patience and shuffle the cards" miguel cervantes
"nothing can be learned" herman hesse
"everybody knows everything" jack kerouac
"some memories are realities and better than anything" willa cather
" doo-wacka doo, wacka doo" roger miller
"we have met the enemy and they is us !" walt kelly (pogo)
“a mans cartilage is his fate” phillip roth
macnorfin
Member
Film will be here for a long time, but it will be different. Twenty years ago, I could buy 120 Tri-X at the corner photo store. Now, if I go into a store asking for that they look at me like I have three heads. I live in NYC, the photo mecca of the world, but still can't buy 120 outside of the photo district on 18th street.
I don't think film will disappear, but I do think it will be harder to buy.
I don't think film will disappear, but I do think it will be harder to buy.
C
ch1
Guest
macnorfin said:
Last I checked you can get 120 Tri-X (and Fuji equivelent) at AllKit on 50th and 3rd!
Oh, last time I checked was last week!
KILL THIS THREAD - OH PLEASE ,JOE - KILL THIS THREAD!!!!!
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