EmilGil - you seem quite gloom and doom. I refuse to shoot digital. Hate the damned things. And I'm not some Luddite who doesn't know from a computer. I taught college courses in Photoshop and digital imaging. I don't see myself ever owning a higher-end digital above the point and shoot I already own. I don't care how much they improve or how much their prices drop.
I mention this because, statistically, I represent "a market". I am a digital back to film convert. I know what digital has to offer and once the novelty wore off of "seeing what you just shot", I went back to good ole film. I will never be swayed by digital. I believe there will be enough "you couldn't give me one of those damned digitals" (and you couldn't) people around to support the continued production of film for as far as the eye can see. I'm certain there are millions of "Me's" worldwide who feel the same way. ...who would rather not shoot at all than shoot with some plastic, personality-less, soulless piece of overpriced junk stamped out like widgets by some consumer electronics company. The digital workflow sucks (at least for me as a consumer), I want my camera to be less dependent on batteries - not more, and certainly not dependent on a computer or software. Bleh! The images they produce are as soulless as their ergonomic disasters of a body. The biggest difference between digital and film? The former (digital) is boring, a chore not much different, ultimately, than using an Excel spreadsheet, the other (film) is a true craft - creative and fun. Oops, starting to rant. (Starting?)
But one must accept a minority status and expect market consolidation. We are transitioning from "consumer market" to "niche market" and there will be a bloodbath and painful decisions. But whether it's a "consumer market" or a "niche market" is of no concern to me. Both preclude production to fill the need be it volume consumer or small niche. If only Fuji is the last man standing, though Acros isn't my first choice, Acros it will be. There are not that many new cameras coming out because there are boat-loads of perfectly fine used ones - thousands(?)(!) sold daily on eBay. Between digital and the huge used market, it's actually a testimonial that there are dedicated manufacturers (Cosina) and they're being produced at all.
When producers of dramatic (not garbage reality tv) TV shows have any kind of budget, what do they shoot with? Fil-um. Even though the could cut costs dramatically with digital. If digital filmmakers actually have a budget, what do they shoot with? What do they secretly lust after? Fil-um. This, in 2007, well into the digital era - now certainly a mature technology. What do digital try and try to do? Match film. Digital is a film "wannabe". Film is evocative, dramatic. When reality is "pixelized" it loses its soul in the process. Not so with the chemical process - the film process, which in many cases enhances it.
Perhaps the soul of an image is in the highlight detail that digital just lops off with glaring white hotspots.
For now, when I drop off a roll of color in one of five nearby C-41 process places (three camera chains that do processing and two drug stores), I look at the alpabetized boxes - all loaded up with film. No, not "jammed" like the pre-digital days but still plenty full, even "Z". In fact, informally, I see more people dropping film off than at the digital kiosk.
But you want to know what's really helping to keep film thriving?
The $10.00 disposable FILM camera.
