What if Nikon (and Canon) released new RF FILM cameras (and lenses)?

[css9450]

That is wrong. Used camera prices have been rising steadily in the last couple years. I would buy a Summicron 5 yrs ago and it was 800 dollars. I gave up on the project. Now it´s 2 times more expensive.
The same rise or even more is seen on Rolleis, Hasselblads, Olympus, Plaubel, Contax, Mamyia.

I think that's only partly correct. Some camera brands or models have bucked the trend and can be obtained today for tremendous bargains.

 

[splitimageview]

As stated earlier with no response, some specific camera models are increasing in price.

So?

This has no correlation to sales figures of film.

None.

There are also many specific camera models that are selling for less than they used to; would this therefore imply the opposite?

This camera sold for a record price; it’s rather absurd to think that this somehow indicates sales of film must be surging, but no less absurd than tying film sales to the price rise of any other model.

 

[aizan]

You can buy 5 Pentax Spotmatic bodies for $100 if you shop around and at least one of them is going to work perfectly. [...] I think it would be better policy for the big manufacturers to accept the camera bodies that all these new users have bought at yard sales, repair them, CLA them and then "certify" them with a warranty on parts and service. [...] Now THAT service could be the gateway for a new generation of analog shooters.

I completely agree with this idea. Polaroid Originals is already doing it, and it saves customers from going through all of the trouble of finding a reliable used camera. Refurbishing programs will definitely play a role in the new film photo marketplace. That's why I just bought an airbrush compressor.

 

[Contarama]

This whole conversation strikes me the same way as the conversation about coal mining coming back...lol

 

[gavinlg]

I'm 31, and been shooting film since around 2002. As I shoot more I shoot less digital and more film. I haven't bought a digital camera in nearly 5 years despite having owned and used professionally really nice high end digital equipment.
I've noticed in both NZ and Australia a vast increase in film cameras and companies selling film cameras and film itself. In Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney the traditional film labs closed up around 2010 but in the last 5 years I can think of around 7-8 newer generation labs that have popped up and the ones I know personally nearly cannot keep up with demand for developing and scanning.
In wellington and Auckland In the last 2 years there have been 4 new film labs pop up, and one store dedicated to film and film cameras. I have several younger friends that shoot film and don't consider themselves 'photographers' and just last night my partners younger 18 year old cousin asked us for advice on buying a 35mm camera.

I have several friends that shoot commissions and editorials and use mainly film.
The price of nearly every good used film camera has doubled or tripled in the last 5 years.

If you can't see that film is on the up big time, you're looking in the wrong places. It's only a matter of time before one of the bigger players re-releases another film SLR or rangefinder.

 

[Ted Striker]

Lighten? Me? I am light as a feather on this topic. I am just using the most simple clear logic based on camera sales and prices. I am not writing long convoluted posts based on notions that have no facts behind.
Prices kept rising on the past couple yrs. It already surpassed prices of a rerelease like w/ Zeiss Ikon. Cosina could sell new editons of those RFs, cheaper than actual prices on ebay, make some money and don´t even sweat so much. It will happen soon.

Fujifilm only a year or so ago discontinued all their Klasse S film cameras. They were $400 cameras, just perfect for enthusiasts.

Clearly Fujifilm could not make any money selling these cameras.

 

[Ted Striker]

I'm 31, and been shooting film since around 2002. As I shoot more I shoot less digital and more film. I haven't bought a digital camera in nearly 5 years despite having owned and used professionally really nice high end digital equipment.
I've noticed in both NZ and Australia a vast increase in film cameras and companies selling film cameras and film itself. In Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney the traditional film labs closed up around 2010 but in the last 5 years I can think of around 7-8 newer generation labs that have popped up and the ones I know personally nearly cannot keep up with demand for developing and scanning.
In wellington and Auckland In the last 2 years there have been 4 new film labs pop up, and one store dedicated to film and film cameras. I have several younger friends that shoot film and don't consider themselves 'photographers' and just last night my partners younger 18 year old cousin asked us for advice on buying a 35mm camera.

I have several friends that shoot commissions and editorials and use mainly film.
The price of nearly every good used film camera has doubled or tripled in the last 5 years.

If you can't see that film is on the up big time, you're looking in the wrong places. It's only a matter of time before one of the bigger players re-releases another film SLR or rangefinder.

All the labs I used in Chicago closed down. None have reopened.

Canon and Nikon will *never* release another film camera.

 

[Ted Striker]

I'm with you on this, Phil. If anything film-related is going to come along, its going to be Sony/Fuji/Panasonic engineers coming up with film emulation software that PERFECTLY mimics film.

Fujifilm's digital film emulation modes are an absolute joke. Embarrassingly so. Just look at their Astia film simulation. Looks nothing at all like the real thing. Not even close.

 

[Out to Lunch]

Well, one reason as to why Fuji might stay in the 35mm game is that it's in their name...Fujifilm. It's not Fujimedical or Fuji instantfilm or Fuji whatever. It's Fujifilm.

 

[colker]

I'm 31, and been shooting film since around 2002. As I shoot more I shoot less digital and more film. I haven't bought a digital camera in nearly 5 years despite having owned and used professionally really nice high end digital equipment.
I've noticed in both NZ and Australia a vast increase in film cameras and companies selling film cameras and film itself. In Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney the traditional film labs closed up around 2010 but in the last 5 years I can think of around 7-8 newer generation labs that have popped up and the ones I know personally nearly cannot keep up with demand for developing and scanning.
In wellington and Auckland In the last 2 years there have been 4 new film labs pop up, and one store dedicated to film and film cameras. I have several younger friends that shoot film and don't consider themselves 'photographers' and just last night my partners younger 18 year old cousin asked us for advice on buying a 35mm camera.

I have several friends that shoot commissions and editorials and use mainly film.
The price of nearly every good used film camera has doubled or tripled in the last 5 years.

If you can't see that film is on the up big time, you're looking in the wrong places. It's only a matter of time before one of the bigger players re-releases another film SLR or rangefinder.

Yup. It´s circumstantial. Some places, a certain age bracket and film is being used.

Right where i live there is no lab. Nothing. There won´t be... because it is what it is. Even then i am not going to say film is dead. It is dead here. Photography has been dead here forever, That´s why i went living elsewhere... unfortunately i came back.

I will use film and develop my own. Print my own. Show the prints elsewhere. I am not waiting for anyone to wise up.

 

[colker]

Well, one reason as to why Fuji might stay in the 35mm game is that it's in their name...Fujifilm. It's not Fujimedical or Fuji instantfilm or Fuji whatever. It's Fujifilm.

It´s a company and needs to make money otherwise everyone is fired. If they sell film is because someone is buying.

 

[colker]

Fujifilm's digital film emulation modes are an absolute joke. Embarrassingly so. Just look at their Astia film simulation. Looks nothing at all like the real thing. Not even close.

We are bored with digital. That´s how i see it. Film is being talked about, used, loved because digital stalled. I want the risk of shooting film. The risk of developing. Manual focusing. The engagement of film.

Who wants to shoot a phone?????? it´s a poor experience. Cameras which emulate phones? Who wants that crap? The novelty is gone. We want our rich experience back.
Fuji was smart. They knew it was coming and launched the X100. They can´t keep up w/ demand on an expensive camera. A camera that closely emulates a film camera experience. Next everyone is shooting film. It´s pretty simple. And it´s here. I don´t need to convince anyone. If i want to buy film there is a page on line that sells.. If i want to develop i grab a patterson tank. Scanners cost half of a decent quality digital camera. I can always make photo prints. Doom and gloom rhyme but i rather go w/ rise and shine.

 

[jsrockit]

Lighten? Me? I am light as a feather on this topic. I am just using the most simple clear logic based on camera sales and prices. I am not writing long convoluted posts based on notions that have no facts behind.
Prices kept rising on the past couple yrs. It already surpassed prices of a rerelease like w/ Zeiss Ikon. Cosina could sell new editons of those RFs, cheaper than actual prices on ebay, make some money and don´t even sweat so much. It will happen soon.

Are you truly thinking about volume though? Or just price increases on a tiny volume?

 

[colker]

All the labs I used in Chicago closed down. None have reopened.

Canon and Nikon will *never* release another film camera.

Too bad for them. Let´s buy from someone else. Leica, Cosina, Lomo..who is next?

This is not Soviet Russia. If there is a market, a company will fill it.

 

[colker]

Are you truly thinking about volume though? Or just price increases on a tiny volume?

I am talking about supply and demand. Our favorite philosophy. I want another leica body. I expected to pay between 600 and 900 bucks. It´s more like 1000 and 2000. I don´t see prices raising like that in any other field.
Can i try another RF? They all increased their prices sometimes 100%.

So the used camera market idly waiting for someone to throw them a buck is a false notion.
It´s pretty reasonable to think a big company w/ a history making these kind of cameras would be interested in filling the buying lust. It´s not lunacy. I know a lot of factors come to play in manufacture but basically it´s supply and demand.
A new Xpan like camera should be made. A contax T3. Z Ikon. There is demand for them.

 

[Out to Lunch]

...''Fujifilm means Digital''...OK, I give up.

 

[jsrockit]

Scanners cost half of a decent quality digital camera. I can always make photo prints. Doom and gloom rhyme but i rather go w/ rise and shine.

Those antiquated scanners or crappy scanners? Surely an abundance of new scanners are on the horizon too no?

 

[colker]

Your logic is faulty. Film is not dead, but it is a niche product. While film use appears to be increasing, it is extremely unlikely that it will ever sell anywhere close to the volumes it sold in the 1990's or even the early 2000's. A person can go through a pretty decent amount of film with just one old working film camera. I go through about 40-50 rolls of 36 exposure 35mm film a year. However, this level of use won't support the resurrection of new film camera manufacturing, let alone at a reasonable price. Just look at some of the Kickstarter projects proposing new film cameras. The new proposed models are rudimentary junk compared to older film cameras, yet cost $500 or more. Building a new film camera comparable to the quality of many older film cameras would cost much more and then how many would be sold, particularly when you can get working copies of an Olympus OM-1 for $125, Nikon F3 for under $200, etc.? If it made economic and business sense, the major camera manufacturers would already be restarting their manufacture of film cameras, with sales of digital cameras falling due to cellphones. The camera manufacturers know a hell of a lot more about the business and technical aspects involved and they have decided not to do so.

I always said it´s a niche product. Of course it is.

We are living a different economy where niche is not an extravagance anymore. It´s just another market.

We had a huge crisis in 2008. We are in post 2008 economy.

 

[css9450]

We want our rich experience back. Fuji was smart. They knew it was coming and launched the X100. They can´t keep up w/ demand on an expensive camera. A camera that closely emulates a film camera experience.

They can't keep up with demand for the digital camera yet they cancelled their GF670 and Klasse cameras? Hmmm, I detect a pattern here...

 

[colker]

Those antiquated scanners or crappy scanners? Surely an abundance of new scanners are on the horizon too no?

Those 500 dollar scanners.

Film is the domain of artists and enthusiasts. It´s not "pro" photography w/ their 50k digital hasselblads.
No one buys a Leica M 6 to shoot editorials for the NYT or advertising campaigns for dental floss.
It´s a new photographic market and it does not happen everywhere the same.
I have been working in certain markets and it´s regionally defined. What´s sold in certain cities, countries .. it´s not sold in others. This reasoning is spreading. It´s a new economy.