Who said film's dead!?!

[BobYIL]

Well, we now have the M9M too, let's take a look about the future of film through the eyes of a top Kodak executive:

http://www.pdnonline.com/features/The-Future-of-Film-5631.shtml

 

[jsrockit]

Damn!!!!

'Ken Canham, of K.B. Canham Cameras, a small manufacturer of large-format cameras, has been working with Kodak to establish a special-order film service that allows individual photographers or groups of photographers to order custom sizes of any of the emulsions Kodak offers. The only requirement is a minimum purchase of roughly $14,000 worth of film, depending on the emulsion. Canham put together his first order for 8 x 10-inch T-Max 400 film 16 months ago, and since then he’s done more than $160,000 in custom Kodak film orders. “We’re on our way to do more than that this year,” Canham adds.'

 

[shadowfox]

I think we may yet be surprised at how resilient the market for film is.

I was blown away yesterday watching the video about Photobooth in San Francisco. I admire them for having the guts to put a public front to a traditional approach to photography.

While it was not strictly about film, the man said something that I have been trying to convey here in the forum, that people are drawn to the tangible aspects of the process, not just the end results. And that's where film shine and being most accessible to the masses, it actually is in the perfect position to redefine the market.

 

[Steinberg2010]

I popped into Jessop's in Cambridge this afternoon to ask if I could take their empty cartridges for bulk loading. Turns out someone had been in yesterday as well asking for them...

~S

 

[seakayaker1]

Nice article and I am optimistic that the future of film is solid for the forceable future.

The one piece of the article I had a hard time wrapping my head around was the Kodak spokesperson stating that there was no easy way to produce smaller runs of their film without producing a new formula. Then stating at the same time a start up company could accomplish this but it would be more difficult for Kodak to achieve success.

 

[HLing]

maybe photographic paper, too?

maybe photographic paper, too?

Damn!!!!

'Ken Canham, of K.B. Canham Cameras, a small manufacturer of large-format cameras, has been working with Kodak to establish a special-order film service that allows individual photographers or groups of photographers to order custom sizes of any of the emulsions Kodak offers. The only requirement is a minimum purchase of roughly $14,000 worth of film, depending on the emulsion. Canham put together his first order for 8 x 10-inch T-Max 400 film 16 months ago, and since then he’s done more than $160,000 in custom Kodak film orders. “We’re on our way to do more than that this year,” Canham adds.'

Thanks jsrockit for the quote!

It is bringing together the people who want it to stay. I wonder if the same can be done for some of the color photographic paper? I don't know the name, but I've been told that the unavailability of it had been reason for going solely black and white...anyone know what the paper might have been?

 

[bigeye]

Ciba/Ilfachrome.

 

[shadowfox]

Nice article and I am optimistic that the future of film is solid for the forceable future.

The one piece of the article I had a hard time wrapping my head around was the Kodak spokesperson stating that there was no easy way to produce smaller runs of their film without producing a new formula. Then stating at the same time a start up company could accomplish this but it would be more difficult for Kodak to achieve success.

I wish there are startups who would attempt new film formulas designed for smaller batches.

Imagine: grain characteristics on demand 🙂

 

[Rhoyle]

As much as I like their films, Kodak is such a disfunctional company that I can't believe that they're going to survive this.

 

[BobYIL]

Roughly $14.000 worth of film order is nothing to concern about. For 100 forum members to sign up for a bulk order to share, costing $140 each. And we can get special price like the dealers..