Obviously, this is sarcasm.
I wish it were. Back in 2003, I expected color negatives to die quickly, color slides to shrink to a limited selection of pro emulsions, Kodachrome to die off, but B&W to remain healthy.
The speed at which the film market imploded surprised me, specially on the Fuji side, as Japanese companies are often more inclined to let unprofitable businesses with sentimental value linger beyond what American bean-counters would permit (see how Olympus, Pentax and Panasonic are still in the camera business despite hemorrhaging red ink).
Why would any of that mean someone shouldn't shoot film right now? Because of heartburn? People will always shoot film, even if it's exotic and inconvenient. Some other people won't.
Because it takes time and proficiency to gain expertise in developing and printing film. If after all that effort, you find it is no longer possible to exercise your skills because materials have become scarce, that's one form of heartbreak from my point of view.
Not all the film market is contracting. Ilford are investing massively and Ferrania are re-starting.
Ferrania never made any decent film to begin with. As for Ilford, will they still be able to get materials like the special grades of gelatin required, or film-coating machines, when Kodak is liquidated and Fuji discontinues what few films they have left? The machinery at Kodak and Fuji is designed to operate at very high volumes, and cannot be run for small batches Ilford would be content to make. I am also concerned that E-6 processing may become as unviable as K-14 did.
The only thing keeping film running at Kodak is Hollywood (Fuji has already discontinued cine film production). Cine film has been given a 5-year reprieve thanks to Tarantino, Apatow and Nolan convincing the studios to agree to keep buying film that they may not necessarily use, just to keep the lines running at Kodak. Whether that will be renewed is anyone's guess.
Almost all the films I ever liked have gone away: the original Tri-X and APX100, Neopan 1600, K64, Fortia SP, Efke KB25. I never liked Ilford films other than Pan 50F, and Ferrania was never a supplier of high-quality film. The situation is even worse in 120 format. Only Fuji Acros and Provia/Velvia are left, who knows for how long.
Even if this were true (which others pointed out it isn't), wouldn't you rather have been a part of something that had died? I mean, if I knew that ektar was going to go away forever, I would buy 200 rolls and shoot it just to know what it was like and enjoy its character. I would much rather do that than say "well I switched to digital because I was worried film was going to die."
I did that when Dwayne's phased out its K-14 line. I desperately wanted to have at least some of my first child's baby photos be taken on Kodachrome as mine were. Sadly, she decided to arrive only in 2012, one year too late.
I have a stock of my favorites in the freezer, nowhere near 80 or 200 rolls, though, more like 10-20 of each. Darkroom chemicals and pregnant women or small children don't mix, and I don't have the time to process or print myself any more (I am fortunate to have a good rental darkroom available, Rayko Photo in San Francisco, time is what I lack and I don't trust most photo labs to print and develop to my liking).
