Phil_F_NM
Camera hacker
What dictates the availability of our current form of film in 120 and 135 formats is the motion picture industry. While many pictures are shot digitally, the prints that are distributed to the thousands of projection booths are largely still film.
Film production and projection equipment is 100% paid off, in-full these days, so aside from maintenance using film is pure profit for the movie studios.
Motion picture prints for distribution are a few tens of thousands of feet per-film. More film in one movie than most serious amateurs will shoot in 20 years.
Just about or slightly less than half of the older yet profitable projection booths in the US are still shooting through film so this is where the rubber really meets the road. Many regions in the world have gone solely digital due to environmental regulations and conversely, many regions still shoot only film in theaters.
We've had this discussion before in a few threads here on RFF and it's been hashed out that once digital projection truly takes over in the next few years, there will be no profit for any of the companies to lay expensive (and highly regulated) silver onto plastic backing. THAT will be the end of wide-scale film availability and the still photo market will come to rely solely on production firms such as Ilford and whoever decides to purchase Efke, etc.
As for the very last roll to be produced, I'd say it will be 120 or something similar. Adding perforations to film is one more critical QC step that isn't expensive per roll or per 1000ft can but is over the course of a few million feet of a production run. 35mm film started out for movie projection and it was almost a courtesy that it was used for handheld miniature format cameras. Perfs are another reason that 35mm may die a few thousand feet before 120, simply because of little production issues like cutting and perforation.
Phil Forrest
Film production and projection equipment is 100% paid off, in-full these days, so aside from maintenance using film is pure profit for the movie studios.
Motion picture prints for distribution are a few tens of thousands of feet per-film. More film in one movie than most serious amateurs will shoot in 20 years.
Just about or slightly less than half of the older yet profitable projection booths in the US are still shooting through film so this is where the rubber really meets the road. Many regions in the world have gone solely digital due to environmental regulations and conversely, many regions still shoot only film in theaters.
We've had this discussion before in a few threads here on RFF and it's been hashed out that once digital projection truly takes over in the next few years, there will be no profit for any of the companies to lay expensive (and highly regulated) silver onto plastic backing. THAT will be the end of wide-scale film availability and the still photo market will come to rely solely on production firms such as Ilford and whoever decides to purchase Efke, etc.
As for the very last roll to be produced, I'd say it will be 120 or something similar. Adding perforations to film is one more critical QC step that isn't expensive per roll or per 1000ft can but is over the course of a few million feet of a production run. 35mm film started out for movie projection and it was almost a courtesy that it was used for handheld miniature format cameras. Perfs are another reason that 35mm may die a few thousand feet before 120, simply because of little production issues like cutting and perforation.
Phil Forrest
