The Future of Film Photography

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Krzys said:
The worst thing is that he had to start a thread on APUG too.
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Yeah and at four posts and a fairly recent join date this forum and it's discussions are a new thing .... the OP has little historical understanding of how much we actualy enjoy these threads! :p
 
viridari said:
My totally baseless predictions:

* E-6 will die of attrition.
* C-41 emulsions will drop off one by one
* The motion picture industry will experience a radical shift in favor of digital. After a few years of rapidly shrinking revenue in that market, the existing still photo market won't be able to pick up the slack.
* Kodak & Fuji then get out of film entirely. Color first, then B&W.
* Ilford/Harman becomes the big dog on the block. Other than introducing Delta 25, don't expect anything more than incremental improvements in existing emulsions, or existing emulsions being offered in formats not currently available.
* Other boutique film manufacturers thrive in a niche market no longer dominated by Kodak & Fuji. There will be a huge bump in their figures once Tri-X is gone.
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Baseless maybe ... but fairly astute IMO!
 
Film will continue to be used in circumstances where the advantages of digital are not important to the photographer. How long that can sustain a viable market for film is unknowable.

Today's New York Times reports that HP has developed a technology, that they expect to market, that will leapfrog current transistor-based chip technology. They have developed switches that are ten times as small as the smallest transistors: 3 nanometers. Think 3 atoms wide. It has the potential to deliver flash memory with a capacity of 20 gigabytes per square centimeter.

Ponder the capabilities of a camera built with that kind of tech, using that kind of sensor.
 
I was told ten years ago that film would be dead in five. Predicting is hard to do, especially about the future.

Film will be around as long as enough people find it valuable.
 
Ah, but the world has moved on since then, functus. You have to suppose that the next generation of photographers over the next 10 years will continue to buy old film cameras and burn film like they have over the last few years. Big assumption, given the flow of folks here on RFF from film to digital lately.
 
wgerrard said:
Film will continue to be used in circumstances where the advantages of digital are not important to the photographer.
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What exactly are the "advantages of digital"?

Is it that amazing dynamic range or the beautifully flat tone curve or reliance on mains power? Or is it that all-important ability to chimp?
 
My take is that the advent of digital has brought film/analog/whatever photography full circle.

When photography was first invented, it was the domain of artists and craftspeople. Then the Brownie came along in addition to the notion of mass production/mass consumption. There photography remained to this day.

Now, with digital taking the mass approach by storm, photography has come full circle -- it's come back to the realm of artists, craftspersons and others who deliberately seek it out and don't mind the extra work.
 
Film and digital are different. There are too many differences to list, both physical, image-wise, philosophical etc. Film is still around because those not working to deadline or to a deadline that permits film, still find the advantages of film (to them) outweigh digital. For those never working to a deadline those advantages might exist for a very long time. LOTS of pros shoot film for personal projects or long term work where it is viable. They do do because it remains distinguishable from digital (many prefer the look) and the integrity of the image tends to hit you in the face because you know (or at least think you do) that the image has not been messed with in PS.

I reckon film will be about for another 10 years without any shadow of doubt and probably another century. Cameras did not kill off paint.
 
This is where these threads go wrong. Regardless of how they are started (usually with a declaimer that the OP isn't talking about film versus digital), they turn into film versus digital.

The future of film has nothing to do with whether it's better than digital. Or whether digital is more convenient. Irrelevant. It has to do with simple economics. The economics of making film, the economics of using it, and the economics of making new film cameras.

In 10 years most of these cheap old film cameras constantly changing hands on eBay will be in land fills and nobody will be making affordable, decent quality film cameras. There will be no 1-Hour photo processors left and probably no pro labs. Neither Kodak nor Fuji will still be making the film we use, and the cost per shot of 35mm will have skyrocketed, in the unlikely event you can still buy it at all. The last 10 years economically decimated the market for both film cameras and film. Think of what another 10 years will do to it.
 
Pickett Wilson said:
This is where these threads go wrong. Regardless of how they are started (usually with a declaimer that the OP isn't talking about film versus digital), they turn into film versus digital.

The future of film has nothing to do with whether it's better than digital. Or whether digital is more convenient. Irrelevant. It has to do with simple economics. The economics of making film, the economics of using it, and the economics of making new film cameras.

In 10 years most of these cheap old film cameras constantly changing hands on eBay will be in land fills and nobody will be making affordable, decent quality film cameras. There will be no 1-Hour photo processors left and probably no pro labs. Neither Kodak nor Fuji will still be making the film we use, and the cost per shot of 35mm will have skyrocketed, in the unlikely event you can still buy it at all. The last 10 years economically decimated the market for both film cameras and film. Think of what another 10 years will do to it.
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if you believe this then why do you shoot film?
 
One of typical internet forum errors is to predict future. This days no one can clearly read crystall ball.
Do masses knew about twin towers before 9/11? Do sinking man knew after 10 meters he will be able to reach tree, hanging over river?
 
shootodog, why not shoot film while it's around? See, you are trying to make it film versus digital again. As most folks these days, I shoot far more digital than film, but I have no animosity toward film and own a lot of film gear.
 
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