Is film dead ?

keithwms said:
I have absolutely no intention of joining the digital throng. What value is a technique that everyone else has? I had a DSLR- been there done that. Raw capture, photoshop.... yawn.
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I can't agree more.
You are more interested in the process and you don't like the way pictures are made in a digital environment. So you are absolutly correct in your choice of equipment.

I don't care much about what happens between shutter release and hanging a print on the wall :). That's just a nuisance which I have to go through to get a picture which looks like I wanted it when I pressed the shutter.

For me developing my own B/W is just an inconvenience I have to go through for the greater benefit my RFs have for what I do with them. The bulky dSLR is just to big for daily use and a Contax G with 35/2 beats any dSLR with a 25ish lens in portability and size.

Hm, we just had a small exhibition of the world press photo awards in the local trainstation. For a week I spent some 15 minutes twice a day to look at those pictures, in a technical sense realy bad reproductions in bad lighting, and never wondered about the camera used.
 
courtney said:
I just checked in with my local lab (a PRO Lab) and they informed me that they are ceasing all film proccessing !!!!!!!!
Yet another lab in my city either closing or ceasing all film work. This is in Brisbane Australia, let me know whats going on with labs in your part of the world???
After just buying my Mamiya 6 .......im getting nervous now !!!!
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That some labs close does not prove film is dead :

New Portra 800

This comes from a company whose CEO has shouted a all over the place recently film would be definitvely dead now, finally, for ever !
Obviously the niche demand for film is large enuff for them, they don't want to hand over their market share to Fuji.

Please notice this film is sold for 135, 120 AND 220 !! Have fun with the M7.

bertram
 
Bertram2 said:
That some labs close does not prove film is dead :

New Portra 800

This comes from a company whose CEO has shouted a all over the place recently film would be definitvely dead now, finally, for ever !
Obviously the niche demand for film is large enuff for them, they don't want to hand over their market share to Fuji.

Please notice this film is sold for 135, 120 AND 220 !! Have fun with the M7.

bertram
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And where is Royal 800 introduced at the 'kina 2002? Ok, it was crap anyways and I returned to Fujipress 800 after two rolls .)

That they cut the new stuff to 220 is interesting, Ilford can't do that anymore.

http://www.film220.com/Text220EN.html
 
Things that are not dead: (even if you cant find 'em at Walmart)
- Flintlock firearms
- Archery
- Sail
- Horses
- Ballroom dancing (disco IS dead)
- The model A Ford (you can build one from repro parts)
- non-light beer
- Hand made furnature

And my favorite: Crimes comitted with swords

http://www.thearma.org/essays/Fringe.htm
 
keithwms said:
I have absolutely no intention of joining the digital throng. What value is a technique that everyone else has? I had a DSLR- been there done that. Raw capture, photoshop.... yawn.
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The irony here, Keith, is that a hell of a lot of people in possession of the "right tools", digitally speaking, are often clueless in terms of effective use of them (thereby somewhat validating what I'll now refer to as Vestal's Law). I'm willing to bet that a a lot of them weren't too seasoned shooting film, either. Digital won't be bringing out their inner Ansel or Henri any sooner than rushing out to buy a new F6 or M7 would, because too many of them won't take the time to know their medium (and, too often, the attitude is "It's digital, man...I don't need to understand it").

Hand me a dSLR – any dSLR – with (preferably) my choice of two or three primes and a whopping-big and fast CF card and ask me to come back in 24 hours with some great pics, and I'll do it (while flashing you a look that says "...but I'll probably hate myself in the morning"). SLRs don't do it for me anymore, and dSLRs "don't do it for me" a whole lot more, but I can use that tool fairly effectively, and bring back the goods, as it were. But I'd much rather use cameras, and a workflow (of which film is a key component), whose gestalt agrees with me better. No pissing contest over which is "better": if you work best with one medium, if you feel most at-home with one medium, well, baby, that's the best medium, whichever that may be. (And who says you have to choose?)

As for me, I'm going across the (East) river to buy a pro-pack of that new Portra 800 to try, assuming it's shipping. (Hey, let's all go to our local supplier and ask for a pro-pack of the stuff; if they say they don't have it, tell em to order some, and if they don't don't know what it is, give 'em an incredulous look and say "What kind of knuckle-dragging troglodytes are you? It the latest thing! Unlike those Lexar cards you've had hanging in the corner for what, two months?") :p

Peace, Semper Fi, and all that.


- Barrett
 
I agree about the dSLRs... Rangfinders are my favorite shooters, and I find myself more and more avoiding any SLRs. Instead, I feed reams of film into any (or all) of my rangfinders! If I were offered an Epson RD-1... maybe I'd sell it for the cost towards a nice Leitz Product :)
 
Nachkebia said:
we killed it :(
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Some of us, indeed, did. I didn't, but that's not of much relevance here and now.

I was listening to an interview today with Lou Reed about his new book of photography, and his analogy of the the transition to digital in the worlds of music and photography. At one point he said (I'm paraphrasing a bit here), "Imagine someone saying to you, 'we're taking away your film, but we're giving you three new colors'". He goes on to talk about the pictures he's taken with those "new colors", without PS trickery. I wondered: were those colors denied to him in the film world? Some things in the digital realm are easier to manage; I deal with that all the time, and I for one am glad I have the option. But he painted digital's virtues with such a broad brush that had to wince a few times while listening (and chuckling at the same time when he talked about how much more there was to hear in those "old" analog mix tapes when properly remastered...digitally, of course).

To each his or her own, natch. But there's still more than one way to get there. That's all.


- Barrett
 
come to sydney mate

come to sydney mate

theres still half a dozen pro labs that does b/w, in house e6 etc. plus fletchers and most other decent places will process C41. i have some trouble believing pro labs stop selling film. surely you must mean speciality films.

i dont know how long this will last though. we need younger people getting back into film to keep the market going.
 
amateriat.... "Hey, let's all go to our local supplier and ask for a pro-pack of the stuff; if they say they don't have it, tell em to order some, and if they don't don't know what it is, give 'em an incredulous look and say "What kind of knuckle-dragging troglodytes are you? It the latest thing! Unlike those Lexar cards you've had hanging in the corner for what, two months?"


So what is a pro pack? :- D
 
During my recent trip to Germany, I saw oodles and caboodles of people, old and young, bright and dim, light and dark, use digital cameras. I got a kick of the fact that the older the shooter, the smaller the camera.

And, despite the apparent popularity, there were several labs offering film developing along with prints from cards. And many stores had both, film and digital gear side by side.

So, again, film is not dead. And, by the way, neither are radio stars! :) See Garrison Keillor act in a movie inspired by his own show! :D

Small towns are taking the hit in terms of labs. The only pro lab in DeKalb stopped developing E-6 last December. It was a business decision: nobody took their film to them to justify keeping a $75,000 piece of equipment (or, worse yet, use it to develop only my two or three weekly rolls). However, the film market in Chicago is very much alive and kicking, so we should abandon this useless disquisitions and get out, burn some film.

Or do we shoot it?

And if we shoot it, don't we kill it?

Shucks...
 
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