Now Kodak says film will stay.

[CZeni]

I disagree with that suggestion.

1) Sometimes I like to shoot color - Ilford doesn't make that stuff!

2) The more film makers the better the prices for me (let K and F keep in competition).

Why would you look upon "good news" in such a negative way? Cripes!

Simple. I don't trust Kodak. They are going to do whatever it takes to meet their quarterly projections from Wall Street. As long as they can do that while making film, they'll make film. As soon as film gets to be a burden, it will be gone in a heartbeat.

I'm sorry, but anybody who thinks that Kodak has some sort of sentimental or historical commitment to film is fooling himself. Modern corporate America with publicly traded firms have no room for sentimentality or history. The Kodak shareholders will demand maximized profits and if they can't do that with film, the film line will vanish. Remember Kodak dropped black and white paper...

 

[Trius]

What company doesn't respond to its investors, whether public or private? It's all about balance, but we can't expect a division to run at a loss forever just because of sentiment. That doesn't mean I would like it if something I want/need goes away, but I'm a realist.

Seems like the "let Kodak die" and "I don't trust them" attitudes are more about emotion than anything else. JMO

I'll use products based on their quality and approrpiateness to me.

 

[Uncle Bill]

I agree with Trius on this one, I am going to use Tri-x and Plus-x as long as its around.

Bill

 

[Trius]

OM, Pentax M42, Kiev.... it's all good no matter which camera!

 

[CZeni]

What company doesn't respond to its investors, whether public or private? It's all about balance, but we can't expect a division to run at a loss forever just because of sentiment. That doesn't mean I would like it if something I want/need goes away, but I'm a realist.

Seems like the "let Kodak die" and "I don't trust them" attitudes are more about emotion than anything else. JMO

I'll use products based on their quality and approrpiateness to me.

I think I'm being misunderstood - I'm not attacking Kodak's product (I get great results out of Tmax 400 and Tmax developer...). My point is that some folks are acting as if this is Kodak's death sentence reprieve for film...and that's the part I don't buy. There's no commitment to film at Kodak...I think Ilford is committed to film.

 

[Trius]

Craig: I don't think I misunderstood you. And I am not advocating blind support of Kodak. But Kodak's press release is at least a bit more "fresher air" than what they have given us in the past. My point is simply that if I, or anyone, "boycotts" EK because they are sending mixed messages about film (Perez is the main culprit here, and he's an HP guy, not a real EK guy,) we'll aid in killing off film at Eastman.

Blind dismissal is as blind as blind loyalty.

FWIW, I drove by the Kodak R&D unit today and thought about this thread. Hey, it's a real building, and I assume with real people who are trying to support photography.

 

[celluloidprop]

CZeni said it. Do you trust Kodak? I don't. Besides their pricing (even when you go to the NYC discount stores like B&H) at least for B&W is way over what competitors like Ilford are charging. Looks to me like Kodak is trying to price themselves out of the market...

I can't figure out pricing at all.

As noted, Kodak bulk is pretty cheap ($1.50/roll) but rolled is not. Kodak color slide is cheaper than Fuji slide from my comparisons. Kodak Tri-X 120 is cheaper than Ilford 120, about the same price as J&C's ADOX-badged Ilford film.

I was actually going to set up a spreadsheet for my next big film buy to try and figure out exactly where I can do one-stop shopping for the least. Instead I'm just buying up bits and pieces I can find outdated and cheap on Ebay for now - easier and almost fun.

 

[Socke]

Thanks for posting this Andy. It's the first reasonable explanation of the roles of both film and digital that I've read from Big Yellow. As with most things, I agree that the balance will end up somewhere in the middle - some only digital, some both, some only shooting film. The only thing that I didn't like was the short sighted comment from Mr.Rowe about the cost of film developing. I tried digital briefly, sold my Digital Rebel after about a year, and lost a little less than $400USD on the whole deal. I haven't done the math, but I could develop an awful lot of film for $400.

If you shoot color, it's between 80 rolls with Superia 100 and cheapest development (three day service with mandatory 4x6 prints) and 30 rolls Kodak EPR 64 including glassless frames.


Actualy 300 to 400 Euro is what I spent on film and development (DIY chemistry and labservice) a year.