I'm getting straight messages about film been alive.

just yesterday i counted about 4 leicas, one XA, one Yashica Mat, and i lost count on the SLRs. All within 1 hour I spent sipping coffee on the corner. :D
 
Clearly you've never been in Kensington Market in Toronto. There's more film shooters there than the rest of Canada.

Are you talking to me? I'm just checking, because I posted pictures from KM in Toronto here at RFF and elsewhere for years. In fact, even before you pop up at this forum.


Cold day at Kensington Market. by Kostya Fedot, on Flickr

Wait! I'm not just sitter with coffee, I'm street photographer. Not sure if I'll try it, but just sitting where seems to help to get higher count. :)
 
you sat at the new casa? It looks like it's going to become one of those coffee/weed dispensaries when it becomes legal in october. If so I'm going to be super disappointed. Good location but the place sucks now.
 
I stopped worrying about this. I have full freezer of film (three years of shooting or so) and some powder developer, I keep replenishing it. When it's over, it's over. But it is not over until it is over. And it is not over yet.
 
you sat at the new casa? It looks like it's going to become one of those coffee/weed dispensaries when it becomes legal in october. If so I'm going to be super disappointed. Good location but the place sucks now.

yah, it's full-on hipster white walls, clean dispensary/coffee. They stopped selling everything except making beverages. Mucho seating, no comfortable.
 
Actually Google trends is considered to be pretty biased, one of their big biases is that they pretty much only care about the english speaking world understandable but not correct if one considers that most countries in the world do not have English as primary language
you are wrong mate. Maybe learn more about google trends would help you to understand how this tool works.
This is "fujifilm" in Argentina, a non-english speaking country.
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=AR&q=fujifilm
"Kodak" in Argentina:
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=AR&q=Kodak

You can even search within countries and find trends on provinces.
Anyways, if it makes you happy to believe that film is booming and doing better than ever, thats good mate :)
 
mmm great photo, KoFe!
Are you talking to me? I'm just checking, because I posted pictures from KM in Toronto here at RFF and elsewhere for years. In fact, even before you pop up at this forum.


Cold day at Kensington Market. by Kostya Fedot, on Flickr

Wait! I'm not just sitter with coffee, I'm street photographer. Not sure if I'll try it, but just sitting where seems to help to get higher count. :)
 
All in this sentence is completely wrong! Please do a proper research based on facts. Fujifilm is a global company which has strengthened its position significantly over the years in all of its different segments. Look at their published balance sheets.

As to Instax sales: Increasing sales without interruption since 2004!
Last years:
2014: 4.3 million units
2015: 5.7 million units
2016: 6.5 million units
2017: 7.5 million units
The instax film production is running in 3-shifts a day 24h.
If the interest in instax is declining since 2015 as you say, why is the demand increasing??

Concerning the digital X-system: Have a look at these facts:
https://www.dpreview.com/news/38407...able-lens-production-capacity-as-demand-grows

Cheers, Jan

Lol.. "data" from DPreview...
well, Fuji has more than double subsidiaries in Asia/Oceania than in Europe and almost 3 times more than in North America.
The consolidated revenue for fiscal year 2017 is as follows:
Japan: 962 billions of yens
Asia and the rest: 635 billions of Yens
The Americas: 450 billions
Europe: 273 billions.

data from fujifilm holdings.

please Jan, don´t waste my time quoting me.

thank you.
 
@DanskDynamite:
The data I've posted is from Fujifilm and international distributors.

You've said that the interest in Fujifilm Instax and digital is decreasing since 2015.
That is incorrect.
The increasing sales and ongoing success of both tell the real story.

Feel free to live on in your "google trends" bubble.

Thanks and cheers, Jan
 
Saying "film is dead" is really sloppy thinking and use of hyperbole. False dichotomy. It's a much smaller, different market. (Room for innovation?) There are fewer products. (Not that big of a deal.) The number of labs in my area has gone up not down in last two years. (Weird, huh? A long time coming.) The user base is quite dedicated. People love vinyl records, too. The old world (and its ecosystem) disappeared a long time ago. It's a new world.
 
Saying "film is dead" is really sloppy thinking and use of hyperbole. False dichotomy. It's a much smaller, different market. (Room for innovation?) There are fewer products. (Not that big of a deal.) The number of labs in my area has gone up not down in last two years. (Weird, huh? A long time coming.) The user base is quite dedicated. People love vinyl records, too. The old world (and its ecosystem) disappeared a long time ago. It's a new world.

+1.
The market is evolving in its new position. Lots of new, innovative companies are discovering the chances of a film revival. Companies like new labs, new camera repair companies, new global distributors for used cameras, established companies which are coming back to their roots introducing new products (like JOBO with its film processors), complete new companies like Filmomat, new camera manufacturers like Chamonix, VDS, Intrepid, Ondu, Nopo, Chroma, MINT and several others, revival projects like Impossible Projects / Polaroid Originals, even new film/paper manufacturers (!) like Inoviscoat, ADOX and Film Ferrania.
And with Instax already one film segment is a global mass market product again, which is even significantly surpassing digial segments (more than 7 million sold instax cameras last year compared to about 4 million DSLM cameras last year).

Remember what the "film is dead " or "film is dying" guys said 10 years ago: In ten years film will be gone.
They have been wrong.
But the same people tell us today again that film has no future.
Let's ignore them, and let's have fun with film....;).
 
Let's hope Kodak-Alaris, Ilford, Foma and other small film companies keep producing film. It will always be a small market but hopefully a steady one.
 
Yesterday I sold a Canon AE-1 to a young woman from Hamilton. She has never shot film before and did a lot of research and decided the AE-1 was the camera for her. We met in Aberfoyle (between Guelph and Hamilton) and I took her over the finer points of the camera, but she knew a lot from watching YouTube videos about the camera. She was a little nervous about loading and rewinding the film, but I let her practice a few times before sending her on her way with her new (to her) camera.

It was a really satisfying experience for me. Most of the cameras I sell are to faceless people on eBay or other forums. It was nice to sit face-to-face with someone new to the hobby, excited to get started. Maybe there's some hope after all?
 
Yesterday I sold a Canon AE-1 to a young woman from Hamilton. She has never shot film before and did a lot of research and decided the AE-1 was the camera for her. We met in Aberfoyle (between Guelph and Hamilton) and I took her over the finer points of the camera, but she knew a lot from watching YouTube videos about the camera. She was a little nervous about loading and rewinding the film, but I let her practice a few times before sending her on her way with her new (to her) camera.

It was a really satisfying experience for me. Most of the cameras I sell are to faceless people on eBay or other forums. It was nice to sit face-to-face with someone new to the hobby, excited to get started. Maybe there's some hope after all?

I can completely understand you :).
And there is much more than hope, see my posting above. There is already quite a lot of positive things happening in the market.

The young people interested in film don't come to forums like this. They get their information by youtube, facebook, instagram, friends, local shops / labs and online distributors.
Especially youtube is gaining popularity.
More and more film photography youtube channels are getting online. Almost all of them run by (very) young film enthusiasts.
There are already more than 20 English film photography youtube channels, and the number is increasing (and not counted the number of channels in other languages).
And then there are other popular channels with other main topics, but where the vloggers also report about film because they have started using it.
Just one example: A channel mainly on travelling. But they also love to shoot film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2laf8VdZdk
More than 700.000 views!!
 
mmm great photo, KoFe!

Thank you! It was not typical plumaging in film camera weather, true -14C (not "feels like" baloney). Bessa R batteries quit quickly and R's film advance, plus lens focus helicoid lasted one hour and froze up.
Now I'm thinking, was dog not cooperating due to weather or want to go inside and have some bones...

Yesterday I sold a Canon AE-1 to a young woman from Hamilton. She has never shot film before and did a lot of research and decided the AE-1 was the camera for her. We met in Aberfoyle (between Guelph and Hamilton) and I took her over the finer points of the camera, but she knew a lot from watching YouTube videos about the camera. She was a little nervous about loading and rewinding the film, but I let her practice a few times before sending her on her way with her new (to her) camera.

It was a really satisfying experience for me. Most of the cameras I sell are to faceless people on eBay or other forums. It was nice to sit face-to-face with someone new to the hobby, excited to get started. Maybe there's some hope after all?

I swear, I sold something to female eBay user in Hamilton and another lady in Atlantic Canada. I looked at the map and it was remote location. Some of them asked novice questions.
And then months ago I sold M3 ELC to foreigner student at McMasters, nobody wanted this fully functioning camera on eBay at the lowest price.

Walmart here quit from film developing few years ago, I'm happy they are selling Kodak film at least. Shoppers might still takes C-41 135 film for mail-in developing. And they have some Fuji C-41 film, but price is insane.
So, yesterday I developed, scanned and printed (larger than Instax size) the first film exposed by our children with Minolta Himatic AF-D.

29894954158_66249bedb7_o.jpg


Apparently, it was not just one of them taking pictures, but most of them. :)
 
Thank you! It was not typical plumaging in film camera weather, true -14C (not "feels like" baloney). Bessa R batteries quit quickly and R's film advance, plus lens focus helicoid lasted one hour and froze up.
Now I'm thinking, was dog not cooperating due to weather or want to go inside and have some bones...

I swear, I sold something to female eBay user in Hamilton and another lady in Atlantic Canada. I looked at the map and it was remote location. Some of them asked novice questions.
And then months ago I sold M3 ELC to foreigner student at McMasters, nobody wanted this fully functioning camera on eBay at the lowest price.

Walmart here quit from film developing few years ago, I'm happy they are selling Kodak film at least. Shoppers might still takes C-41 135 film for mail-in developing. And they have some Fuji C-41 film, but price is insane.
So, yesterday I developed, scanned and printed (larger than Instax size) the first film exposed by our children with Minolta Himatic AF-D.

Apparently, it was not just one of them taking pictures, but most of them. :)

It seems they did a good job, so the Minolta!

robert
PS: not so important but as collateral consequence of this thread I just load my M7 with an expired Delta film...
 
We have a small informal used camera shop in my town. Its a sideline business for the owner who actually has a restoration and graphic design business. I was visiting the owner one day (as I often do) and chatting about old cameras, etc. when a young woman came in. She was a college student and she asked about getting a film camera.

We assumed she was a complete novice to film, but after looking at a couple SLRs she started asking about cameras for wet plate or tintype. Unexpected request :eek:.

Turns out she got curious about film while working as an intern doing wet plate imagery of historical objects (related to an archeaological job). Apparently she is pursuing a dual major in Archeology and Art. An interesting combination that begins to make sense after thinking about it for a while. She also did a lot of cyanotypes as well. I enjoyed hearing that as I like to make cyanotypes myself.

She learned about shutter speed, aperture, and development processes using an 8x10 Century, then it occurred to her she would like a "personal" film camera. She had in mind a 35mm SLR, but seemed enamored of the TLRs as well.

Of course, she had lots of questions about which camera to purchase (strengths/weaknesses of the different makes). After perhaps an hour, she left with a Spotmatic and a Nikon FM2 for evaluation....... She'll keep the one she "clicks" with. Being a rather informal operation, its not unusual for folks to leave with a camera for evaluation before buying.

The young woman's enthusiasm and obvious intellectual interest in film was so heartening to see. I don't get the feeling it will be a quickly passing fad for her (as some things are with young people; and I know how this is being the parent of a young person).

I get the feeling film will remain. A much smaller affair than in the past, but a persistent and thriving niche market. We will reach equilibrium soon, if not already there.
 
"The Camera Store" in Calgary not only has increased its film and darkroom stock, fortunately they also made two videos about film photography:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMqmENnOZ8w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8av9NqQbjU

Then there is also the Calgary located and very popular photographer and youtuber Irene Rudnyk, who has recently discovered film for her work, loving it and reporting about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWPUD3F-jFE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_pl_BAkL6g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKCZQjrRJak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju792eH3A_s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG14eyuTEnc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xkOOl3xYHc

These popular young digital photographers, who also integrate film in their work, are very important to get more young "digital natives" into film.
Fortunately the number of youtube channels about film photography have increased in the last two years.

But we all should do our part in our surroundings to get more (young) photographers into film to keep it alive and kicking.

Just another addition:
Also from Canada (Vancouver).
James Stevenson Photography youtube channel with some well made film photography videos:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwmhwNhFOgCpwQZ4hdWQ7EQ/videos
 
We came from short camping at Tubermory, ON. I spotted two film photographers.
My neighbor kid with his father Zenit and my film, lightmeter and me with Zorki.
:).
 
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