Wonder How Long 35mm Will Last

[Finder]

The last I heard from Kodak is their film business shunk to a mere 6 BILLION dollars in sales. Hardly seems worth it.

But, you could start with a darkroom. Secondhand darkroom equipment is dirt cheap right now. That will give you time for the digital market to mature and then you can pick up the latest digital technology for a song. Or go on ebay and get "old" digital gear for even less.

 

[Andy K]

That will give you time for the digital market to mature and then you can pick up the latest digital technology for a song. Or go on ebay and get "old" digital gear for even less.

People who use film and darkroom do it because that is their medium of choice and the way they wish to work, not because 'the latest digital' is expensive. Kelloggs could be giving away free D70s in their cornflakes, I would still use film and a darkroom because that is what I like doing.

🙂

 

[Tom Harrell]

I'm new to RFF and did not get in on the discussion the last time this question was asked. I'm very happy to know that film will be around for many, many years. I will start planning that dark room and get ready for retirement.

Thanks,
Tom Harrell

 

[bobofish]

I don't mean to beat a dead (or at least well-informed, but sickly) horse....

Film will most certainly be around for a long time. 120 film may get hard to come by, because it was a film size oddly dominated by professionals for decades. 35mm on the other hand will still be available, if not widely.

Thanks to the internet, it is easy to pick up odd things from just about any country on the globe, and therefore it won't be hard for a distribution network to stay in place for any niche that might exist. As mentioned, if buggy whips, vinyl, etc. is still available.....

That said, I wouldn't make the mistake of saying "film is still prominent in many parts of the world;" many parts of the world are experiencing a societal change not unlike Germany and Japan's in the 19th century, and Russia's in the early twentieth: they leapfrogged the development process that England, France, and the US went through, and moved straight to modern practices.

Countries like India, China and Malaysia are doing the same thing....rather than going through the slow, painstaking process of pencil-pen-typewriter-computer, they're simply moving from the pen to the computer. I just did some bios on students from Thailand for my overworked wife, who works at an international exchange program....all the paperwork from those "poor" kids had pictures of them holding nikon dslr's, some of them with a pig walking in the background. I should also mention that all of those application forms were edited together on computers....

And it's also important to mention that those places that supposedly still use mainly film never used that much film in the first place. I'd be willing to bet that kodak's best customers in Africa were the tourists from Europe.

But, I'm giving that dying horse a firm beating now, this has all been discussed ad nauseum already. The point is, film will be around for a LONG time, if not indefinitely. It will certainly not be available in your corner drugstore like it was 10 years ago, but it will be available in big cities, and on the internet. Fear not, good sir, you have plenty of time for exposing little particles of silver.

And now I'm going to make a late-night run to the grocery store to return some defective beef! (I wonder if it was a defective cow?)

 

[Socke]

I think bobofish is right, the developing countries want to catch up and this is not done by repeating our technical history.

They don't replace land lines with celular phones, they start with celular!

This leaves the non developing countries and the people there have a bigger desire for food than for film.

Edit:

That does not mean film is about to end, it will be produced for those in the developed countries who can afford it! I'm one 🙂

 

[Andy K]

Film will be around for as long as there are people who cannot be photographed digitally. 😉

 

[Socke]

Film will be around for as long as there are people who cannot be photographed digitally. 😉

Cool!

Does he eat garlic?

 

[Steve George]

Was reading the British Journal of Photography last night - they interview one of the guys involved with the Travel Photographer of the Year competition who says most entries were film (from memory 75 to 80%) despite the deluge of digital cameras, and that almost all the winners were taken on film too (whether the proportion of winners on film is greater than the proportion of entries on film I don't think they say).

Whether that's on 35mm or not I don't know, and if this has any particular relevance whatsoever to anything I don't know...but may be interesting to people contemplating whether film is dying out.

 

[Film dino]

Invisible man.. [going OT]

Invisible man.. [going OT]

Film will be around for as long as there are people who cannot be photographed digitally. 😉

Reminds me of the one about the invisible man who married an invisible woman.. their children were nothing to look at either

 

[jorgef2002]

WELL SAID DEAR FELLOW PHOTOGRAPHER :LONG LIVE SILVER"


jorgef2002
PS I drive a BMW 2002 made in the 70,runs like a clock,regards

 

[morongobill]

Was reading in Pop Photo couple months ago about how the newer films have improved coatings to obtain sharper scans. Also I note new scanners keep coming out as well. These are 35 mm developments.

Setup your darkroom and enjoy.

 

[bmattock]

I respectfully disagree with all of the above, for reasons I've noted elsewhere.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Azinko]

I can't resist making a few observations;

35mm film will be around for a long time, maybe even far into the future,.....However, very few people will eventually be using it,....the economic, convenience and also the artistic/aesthetic matters of digital will be overwellming. Film is coming towards the end of its life span but 'synthetic' imaging methods are only just starting and we have'nt seen anything yet!

The post about the "man who could not be photographed" is particuilarly intersting since it happened in China, the traditional home of 'Qi Gong', the Chinese art and science of cultivating and directing the bodies own electronic energy. There have been very interesting research projects with Qi Gong masters displaying abilities which are unheard of in the west and which incidentally, are usually treated with derision and laughter by western media.......

Lastly, the bloke with the BMW 2002 that "runs like clockwork" is either very, very lucky or a very good welder since most of them rusted away while the horrified owners watched!!

 

[Kevin]

I think film in its current physical form will remain but its substance will change radically.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I think we should be worried more about how long oil supplies will last. Once that's gone, bye-bye film, bye-bye affordable digital sensors (please read before flaming).

I think the future is in Large Format photography. If you can make and coat your own emulsions, you'll be ok.

They say an iceberg sunk the Titanic. I say it was complacency that made it run into one.

 

[TimF]

Was reading the British Journal of Photography last night - they interview one of the guys involved with the Travel Photographer of the Year competition who says most entries were film (from memory 75 to 80%) despite the deluge of digital cameras, and that almost all the winners were taken on film too (whether the proportion of winners on film is greater than the proportion of entries on film I don't think they say).

Yes, I saw that. He also said how poor quality wise were many of the digital entries and prints, though that was put down to people not having proper control over their output rather than something inherent.

 

[DougK]

...I think the future is in Large Format photography. If you can make and coat your own emulsions, you'll be ok....

I would agree with your statement.

In the applications that large format is usually used for, digital capture, at this point in time, is neither an affordable option nor a convenient one for the majority of photographers. I know I certainly can't afford a digital back for a large format camera... hell, I have enough trouble keeping my current cameras fed. Large format cameras also tend to be more easily adaptable to other media (glass plates, etc.) than their smaller bretheren.

Maybe in the future that will change, but I think 35mm and medium format will get knocked off by digital relatively soon while large format will remain an option for much longer.

 

[aad]

I agree film will be available for a long time, as I've noted elsewhere.

 

[Frank Granovski]

Sure film will be around for a very long time, but with fewer choices. Ilford will around, Fuji too; and China recently got Lucky (Chinese Tri-X). 😎


However, I wonder how long my favourite Konica colour film will stick around. Any ideas?

 

[Bertram2]

All the hype with the new Zeiss SLR lenses has left one important aspect aside:
These guys trust in that niche market ! Enuff to invest real money for new products and I think a more reliable indicator for a positive future of film does not exist. !

Zeiss interview

Bertram