Is Film Dying Again ?

[marcr1230]

My gear evolution is as follows

1. born in the film era, grew up and matured with film only
2. Early digital, bought one, meh, not great, no infrastructure to really
share, no well priced digital that was even near the flexibility and quality of my film gear
3. Film dies, everyone goes digital, digital cameras much better.
4. I find that I can now purchase every film camera of my dreams for pennies on the dollar. So I do.
4.5. films choices are being ever reduced
5. Digital is really good, from phones to mirrorless to DSLR, surpasses film in pure quality and certainly in immediacy and ease of use. Cameras like the E-M1, iPhones, X-T1, X100s, M9, MM etc...
6. I see lots of talk on the forums about the current generation of digital, lot's of excitement.
7. I see lots of ads in RFF for film gear (more than usual ?)

not to say that film will ever go away, but is my experience and evolution in any way reflective of others and of the overall market ?

so is film experiencing a second death ?

 

[santino]

I don't hope so but I was shocked yesterday wheb I had to pay 12euros per roll for 120 E6 developing... just sick! I'm going to develop E6 at home because these prices are a crime (a roll of velvia is 15 euros at my local shop + 12 developing = 27 euros for one roll of 120 film!!!).
PS: last year it was "only" 6,50 per roll.

 

[Steve M.]

Don't confuse gear obsession with excitement. Number 3 on your list is certainly suspect. Is this your crystal ball prediction? Number 5 is a joke, right? You do understand that photography is about the image, not how anyone got it.

Basically, if you shoot B&W, film is where it's at, and probably always will be. It's the nature of the two mediums. Apples and oranges. Besides, since film never died, how can it experience a second death. It's just your perceptions, not reality. You've obviously decided, in your eyes and in your opinion, that digital is better than film. Wow, I've never heard that one? So, it must be true then. LOL!

 

[slidesandthecity]

In a word: No. Just look at the numbers.

There are lots of reasons to shoot film. Image quality isn't among them and probably hasn't been for the last three years or so*. At least not from a technical point of view if you compare apples to apples - and not smartphone snaps to drumscanned 8x10 slides.

* Interestingly, this is also the period in which increasing film sales have been reported ...

 

[John E Earley]

Although I'm shooting more digital, I'm shooting more film too!

 

[mani]

The last 73 identical discussions rang and want to have their thread back.

 

[colyn]

1. born in the film era, grew up and matured with film only

As was I.......

3. Film dies, everyone goes digital, digital cameras much better.

Film has a long healthy life ahead...

4. I find that I can now purchase every film camera of my dreams for pennies on the dollar. So I do.

Where??? I have yet to find these cheap cameras...

4.5. films choices are being ever reduced

Not really.. Old films are phased out and new films come in to take up the space..

5. Digital is really good, from phones to mirrorless to DSLR, surpasses film in pure quality and certainly in immediacy and ease of use. Cameras like the E-M1, iPhones, X-T1, X100s, M9, MM etc...

While digital may be good the cameras for the most part are plastic. Digital lens have built-in sloppiness for them to work and they don't always work that good.. I get better results with manual focus lens on digital..

7. I see lots of ads in RFF for film gear (more than usual ?)

I don't see any more than usual. People are always moving their gear to try new gear..

not to say that film will ever go away, but is my experience and evolution in any way reflective of others and of the overall market ?

so is film experiencing a second death ?

No....

 

[f16sunshine]

Everything is dying.... Period

 

[tunalegs]

6. I see lots of talk on the forums about the current generation of digital, lot's of excitement.

We tend to focus on things that we're interested in. I'm interested in film, so I read film related topics. To me it seems digital is never discussed except to knock companies for making the "wrong" camera when they come out with a new one. 🙂

I feel like there is a lot of film discussion here because I don't pay much attention to anything else. If somebody feels there is a lot of digital discussion here - it's probably because that's what they pay attention to most.

 

[helen.HH]

Everything is dying.... Period

haha, i have to AGREE...😱....:angel:

 

[jwc57]

I don't see #4 any longer. I've noticed that film cameras, especially 35mm, have jumped in price in the past few months. I've been priced out of the film camera market recently. I was just getting into the Olympus RF's, such as the RC series, and those have almost tripled in price from when I bought my last two about a year ago---one for $20 and one for $14.

 

[littleearth]

Are you serious !! Film is experiencing a second life !
Professional film labs are now opening in Europe, thanks to all the wedding and portrait photographers using film only.
Check the Facebook groups like "European Film Shooters", "Film Shooters"... a growing community of professional and amateur film photographers many of them ditching digital to shoot 100% film.

 

[Ranchu]

"There are lots of reasons to shoot film. Image quality isn't among them and probably hasn't been for the last three years or so*"

*Image quality is the primary reason I shoot film, the last three years included. It depends on what you consider image quality, I guess.

 

[tunalegs]

I don't see #4 any longer. I've noticed that film cameras, especially 35mm, have jumped in price in the past few months. I've been priced out of the film camera market recently. I was just getting into the Olympus RF's, such as the RC series, and those have almost tripled in price from when I bought my last two about a year ago---one for $20 and one for $14.

I don't know about jumped - certainly some items get some online hype and jump up in value for a period - but overall film camera prices are still very low. Not as low as they were about four years ago (not surprisingly prices seemed to bottom out when the economy bottomed out) but still very low. But I agree the prices are moving upwards now.

As cameras get older and harder to find in good condition we can expect that prices will get higher - even if the variety of film available becomes even more basic. People want to use them, but most types are out of production now.

 

[slidesandthecity]

@Ranchu

My point was that a modern FF sensor has a higher resolution than 'normal' 135 film.
I'm 100% analog and wholeheartedly agree that film has qualities digital does not have and probably will never have.

 

[mfogiel]

Colour film has been as good as dead for some years now. In B&W digital has not been born yet.

 

[Samouraï]

In a word: No. Just look at the numbers.

There are lots of reasons to shoot film. Image quality isn't among them and probably hasn't been for the last three years or so*. At least not from a technical point of view if you compare apples to apples - and not smartphone snaps to drumscanned 8x10 slides.

* Interestingly, this is also the period in which increasing film sales have been reported ...

I don't think there is any digital sensor that can even begin to compare to film when it comes to colour depth. I don't know about dynamic range, but tonal curve and handling of highlights is still something I haven't seen digital get right. There's more to quality than resolution.

 

[Pioneer]

Colour film has been as good as dead for some years now. In B&W digital has not been born yet.

Oh, I don't know about that. I would have to say that what I see from the Monochrom is pretty nice stuff. Likewise the Sigma DP Merrills are also capable of taking some very good black and white.

I think it has been born. Unfortunately a lot of what we see is black and white that has been so modified in PP that really is not what we expect. It is a bit like a 6 year old with a box of crayons and a color book. Tones, shades and colors are way out of whack. Not because they should be but because the 6 year old is still learning.

Digital black & white has certainly been born. Unfortunately most of it hasn't really grown up yet.

 

[marcr1230]

don't get me wrong, I love the film world, the processing from start to finish is like magic and there's nothing like seeing a print develop in a tray in the darkroom

yes - it is about the image, although its also about the tools used to get that image, some are more suitable than others.

yes - there is a gear obsession - I have it as do many on the forum - some people enjoy the images, I also enjoy the complexity , sounds and feedback of a mechanical camera, that's not a crime

perhaps @tunalegs is right, we all tend to focus on our own experiences and interests at a given time and not the whole picture. That's why I threw this out there. Not as a film vs digital thread - more as a "how are the trends in film and used equipment areas"

apologies if I'v offended or smacked a hornets' nest

 

[f16sunshine]

Colour film has been as good as dead for some years now. In B&W digital has not been born yet.

I would agree with this for the most part. Although, some B+W digital images stand on the image alone.

When only digital can get the shot then only digital will do and those cases do exist whether color or B+W is the final output.
When shooting at 3200-6400 in very low lit scenes it's a relief to have a digital camera and a quality editing program standing by to find a few keepers 🙂


In other news... This subject is the most beaten dead horse on the entire internet. What the ??? 😱😱😱