I'm getting straight messages about film been alive.

Huss said:
Funny how old people always claim it's the hipster movement that is driving it (and by choosing that word are using it in a derogatory way).
The majority of people who I see using film cameras are teens and 'kids' in their early twenties. They are the future. The 'hipsters' have already passed on the film torch to them even though they are still involved.

Bless the hipsters, every one of them, for they have sparked the revival that has now taken off!

p.s. and bless Lomography too, for they were the ones who saved film, showed it could be fun, showed it didn't have to be serious, and showed it could be cheap.

No-one, no-one has done more to promote film use than Lomography. Not Leica, not Nikon, not anyone. Anyone else ever promote it like this?:

https://www.lomography.com/magazine/
Click to expand...

Yes, Hipsters are now past the film photography stage and handed on the film still photography torch to younger people, and luckily these youngsters rejected the silly fixie bicycle fad. Hipsters these days have grown into liking their over-groomed Ned Kellyesque top piled brylcreemed haircuts and King George V beards to fuss around with film cameras and lightweight bikes with no brakes.

it is all good.
 
capitalK said:
Off the top of my head... most Wal-Marts had photo processing in-store as of about two years ago. That is now gone from all stores.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
Not surprising.
Today film shootors mainly go for higher quality. Either doing it themselves at home or using professional labs.

Film had become the mainstream photographic medium without Wal-Mart mini-labs. Film was mainstream long before the mini-labs were introduced. Mini-labs were very late in film history.
Therefore: Film will also be alive and well in the future without Wal-Mart mini-labs.

By the way, have a look at this thread:
https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165802
29 labs in Melbourne alone (and no Wal-Mart lab 😉).
Australia is a good indicator of what is possible when young(er) enthusiasts become entrepreneurs and start new labs.

And have a look here: Interview with the owners of the new "Rewind Lab" in Sydney. Quote: "The film resurgence is huge":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ViLGwWBEDE

And concerning smartphones:
Have a look at instagram and the huge film community there. The hashtag #Ishootfilm e.g. has more than 4.24 million postings!
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/ishootfilm/?hl=de
Via smartphones and instagram a huge amount of young people get in contact with film photography. And quite a lot get curious enough by that and start shooting film.

Cheers, Jan
 
Skiff said:
That film photography today is a niche market and on a much lower sales level than 20 years ago is of course right.
Everyone knows it.
But it is also completely irrelevant for the future of film!!
We only need about 2 million enthusiast film photographers worldwide in the long term for a very good and sustainable future of film.
Enthusiasts who shoot - on average - about 25 - 30 rolls of film p.a..
Makes 50-60 million films in total. That is more than today and enough to keep Kodak, Fujifilm, Ilford, Foma, Adox and Film Ferrania profitable and in business!
Currently about 3 - 3.5 billion people worldwide are taking photos. In 20 years it will be probably 5-6 billion worldwide.
So if then only 0.03% are shooting film, it is more than enough to keep film alive and kicking.
It is negligible and a tiny market in relative terms in comparison to digital imaging.
But for itself and in total it is a big and attractive global market. And that is all what film shooters need.
That 99.97% of all others use smartphones and digital cameras is totally irrelevant for film shooters.

Film can be extremely well as a niche market!
Click to expand...

If there is a market and a profit to be made, then someone will make what ever needs to be made to be sold.

But eventually everything has got to come to an end.

No big market for Ford Model T parts but a lot of new parts are still reproduced for that car, same for Tri-Five Chevys , one can practically build a 1957 Chevy Bel Air 2 door coupe with newly made parts, including whole body panels.
 
BLKRCAT said:
Shoppers Drug Mart doesn't accept films anymore. The last one that did it downtown was at king/yonge.
Click to expand...

It was FujiFilm at one and only location lab in GTA for processing all Shoppers films.

Yet, shoppers still sells overpriced FujiFilm. And their current listing for photo associate job in Burlington store has chemicals dumping as part of the job description. I was ready to apply, but it is 11.04 per hour.
 
BLKRCAT said:
Shoppers Drug Mart doesn't accept films anymore. The last one that did it downtown was at king/yonge.

I'm not sure of the state of Aden camera's film processing but I assume that with the university crowd that they are sustaining themselves.
Click to expand...

Shame about Shoppers Drug mart dropping film development.

Last time I used their services for colour film development was in November of 2016. I shoot mostly B&W film and home develop, D76 or Rodinal .

I still have several of their two dollars off film development coupons.
 
I entered Walmart unsupervised tonight. And went mucho hipsta.

30049445898_863b93b458_o.jpg
 
HHPhoto said:
And concerning smartphones:
Have a look at instagram and the huge film community there. The hashtag #Ishootfilm e.g. has more than 4.24 million postings!
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/ishootfilm/?hl=de
Via smartphones and instagram a huge amount of young people get in contact with film photography. And quite a lot get curious enough by that and start shooting film.

Cheers, Jan
Click to expand...

Just an addition:
On instagram the hashtag #filmphotography has even more than 10.421 million postings!
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/filmphotography/
Facebook and instagram are currently probably the most powerful mediums to promote film use.
Let's use them wisely to get more people interested in film.

Cheers, Jan
 
The Shopper's at King and Yonge was still doing film last year...and if memory serves the price hadn't changed over the last decade: $3 developed and scanned to CD. They sent the slides out and develop the negatives in house. You could see the chemicals lying around behind the counter.

It would be sad if they're gone.
 
Ko.Fe. said:
I entered Walmart unsupervised tonight. And went mucho hipsta.

30049445898_863b93b458_o.jpg
Click to expand...

You still need to buy Papst Blue Ribbon beer and lots of moustache wax and an Edwardian style fancy front brocaded waist coat,( aka a vest in Canada and the USA).
 
Melbourne, Australia has a reasonable number of film shooters on the streets. We've also got businesses like Walkens House of Film and FilmNeverDie which sell film and run workshops. A few months ago, I saw a young woman in her early 20's with a Contax G2 and 45mm lens. Dudes with film Leica bodies are wandering around (including me). You see a young person with an older film SLR across their shoulder fairly often, too.
 
Archlich said:
It would be sad if they're gone.
Click to expand...

It's true. There's a self checkout area where the mini lab used to be.

I think they may have been processing film last year but they would have been weeks away from dismantling it all. It was a couple years ago that they told me that it was all winding down.
 
Recently even some celebrities have influenced film photography in a positive way.
For example Kendall Jenner - model and photographer - who has shown up with her Contax T2 in a talk show. She said she has started using film.
https://fstoppers.com/film/kendall-jenner-credited-spike-film-camera-sales-214166
If someone who is so prominent (over 90 million followers on instagram) make such a strong statement, quite a number of fans follow. The signal to the young people is: Film is cool.

Another example is actor Chris Hemsworth, who about two months ago also said that he is now shooting film:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkeuVAPlEPM/?taken-by=chrishemsworth
and
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlplppDFXtm/?taken-by=chrishemsworth
 
Skiff said:
Recently even some celebrities have influenced film photography in a positive way.
For example Kendall Jenner - model and photographer - who has shown up with her Contax T2 in a talk show.
Click to expand...

T2 prices skyrocketted after that... I'm at a crossroads when it comes to celebrities like the jenner's. I have a hard time believing that their use of film is genuine and not because its in fashion.

If it was in popular and in fashion to sketch out everything in a small notebook with a feather quill you know they would be doing it. Or at least carrying around a book and quill because generally decent sketches take some amount of talent.

As for film being alive, yesterday I didn't see too many photographers. I did catch a few SLRs, 2 point and shoots and a digital Leica. Guy was taking cliche touristy shots of kensington. I can assume two things. 1, he's a tourist and just has a leica. 2, he's a member of RFF doing lens comparisons 😀😀
 
Banged into a young man at the Scottish festival in Fergus. He was shooting with an Olympus 35 SP, which just happens to be the first rangefinder camera I ever owned.

Had a nice chat with him, he shoots a lot of different film (35mm, 120, Instax) and can't be older than 22.

Here's a photo I took of his camera, which includes a link to his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BmZBKNmHWdX/
 
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