Can anyone give me any prediction or insight on if there will be affordable/accessible 35 mm color film

[Huss]

Some people just aren't going to stick around. Some people want to know something but have no desire to talk about it after they get their answer. Take this thread for example. She asked if film would ever be cheap. The answer is "No". What else does she need to say? I doubt she has much interest in the fabled operations of whatever entity calls itself Kodak....

Actually that’s not what happened. She (I assume) was asked what price would seem affordable to her. She said $9. Then one of our most charming forum members provided a link to a site that sells a 3 pack for $25. Which is under her price point.

Instead of a thank you, silence. Guess she just wanted to post to complain which quite frankly I find offensive. We have enough people here who post just to complain already.

 

[Don_ih]

one of our most charming forum members

Certainly.
Anyway, she was already gone by then.

 

[mooseontheloose]

But a lot is to blame to newcomers too. In several cases I pm'd newcomers with a certain request as my reply was too specific for the thread in question. In these cases I got no reply whatsoever.
Also newcomers put up a certain request, got several most apt replies (with no old fart bickering and such) in their thread, but no reply by them whatsover whether the advice solved the issue. Instead they put up yet another thread with a different request.

I don't disagree with you on this point - compared to most social media sites, forums allow for deeper, more nuanced replies, whether on or off topic, and it's often more than what people expect. One of the reasons I like forums like this is because it is a community and I know many people here and respect their opinions and experience. With other social media sites it's often just strangers that you never hear from again once they've quickly answered your post, if it's even a full sentence. So maybe once she got her answer she was fine with it, didn't need to come back. The other issue too is that (especially for the younger generation) some people do not react well to even the mildest criticism or somewhat dry/sarcastic wit. I think we've had a few people come and go specifically for those types of issues, and in some of those cases it definitely seems like an overreaction. So long story short, it's not just us.

The other point though, and others have made it as well, is that the demographics of this site (at least for those who are quite active) is older and mostly male. It does feel like walking into an old boys club, or training gym, etc. and not knowing or feeling like you belong there - it can be quite intimidating. It took me months of lurking before I had the courage to join this site because of that very issue. And that's when APUG was a much more diverse, dynamic, and welcoming place than it is now. I think it's important for regulars here to not go overboard or veer off-topic immediately when responding to posts from newer members (or older ones tbh). If we can keep them around a little longer they may figure out the personality quirks of the site and hopefully realize it's worth sticking around.

 

[AgX]

It does feel like walking into an old boys club, or training gym, etc. and not knowing or feeling like you belong there - it can be quite intimidating.

But this is mutual.

Think of a young person joining, telling us bluntly "teach me". And on the most friendly advise to get any of these old textbooks he replies "Who reads textbooks?"

For myself this also is a matter of practicability. From experience I can say there are hardly real bad textbooks, even less by tho few most common authors. So he just can pick any. Concerning videos the situation is very different. It would take me a major endeavour to advise one.

As a side note: we are busy with an old, obselete technology. Is it that far fetched when diving into it being confronted with something else obsolete?

 

[pentaxuser]

Well a lot depends on how the newcomer phrases his/her question as to how it is answered Yes some here may answer abruptly irrespective of how well the newcomer has phrased the question and demonstrated good interpersonal skills when asking questions but most newcomers get the answer the question deserves

Are we seeing a change in emotional intelligence, I am not sure but what I think we may be seeing if a change in how much such skills are valued or even taught

pentaxuser

 

[pbromaghin]

Photography has never been cheap. It wasn't cheap in the 70s when I started (and I had a darkroom), and I felt the pinch as a student in the 80s and early 90s as a devout Kodachrome user involved in RA-4 and then Cibachrome (Ilfochrome). Now I don't care what I pay for film, so long as I have the quality film I am accustomed to using.

If you cannot afford the expense of film (and it will only get more expensive going forward), the alternative then must be digital.

Right, it wasn't cheap then and it kept me from doing it! It wasn't until digital-caused crash of film equipment prices made available all the absolutely cool equipment that I could never dreamed of owning suddenly made it possible. The price of film itself has recovered from those dark days, but home developing, bulk rolling 35mm, and taking more thoughtful care when shooting medium format makes up for a lot.

 

[Donald Qualls]

It wasn't until digital-caused crash of film equipment prices made available all the absolutely cool equipment that I could never dreamed of owning suddenly made it possible.

Exactly. I could never figure out how teens owned Nikkormats or other reasonably current cameras (vs. my tired old Exa II) when I was in high school, until I realized they were generally children of professionals (that is, doctors and lawyers) or successful contractors etc. and all lived in huge houses and drove (once we all got our licenses) Mustangs and GTOs instead of Galaxies and Beetles. I'd never have owned an RB67 without that price crash, likely also the case for a Speed Graphic or Graphic View (or an Omega D2).

 

[alanrockwood]

Exactly. I could never figure out how teens owned Nikkormats or other reasonably current cameras (vs. my tired old Exa II) when I was in high school, until I realized they were generally children of professionals (that is, doctors and lawyers) or successful contractors etc. and all lived in huge houses and drove (once we all got our licenses) Mustangs and GTOs instead of Galaxies and Beetles. I'd never have owned an RB67 without that price crash, likely also the case for a Speed Graphic or Graphic View (or an Omega D2).

You owned an Exa II in high school? You were lucky. My camera was a very basic 620 camera, no focus adjustment, no shutter adjustment, not aperture adjustment. It wasn't even a basic Kodak box camera. It was the same as this camera.

Herco Imperial | Vintage Camera Lab

The Herco Imperial 620 Snap Shot is a simple plastic box camera that was manufactured by the Herbert George Co. of Chicago (which would later become the Impe...

vintagecameralab.com

except that mine didn't have the option of a flash attachment.


I got that camera when I was about 6 years old for $1 and two cereal box tops. (I'm not kidding.)

I didn't get a decent 35mm camera until I got a used Exakta VX IIa when I was nineteen years old.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Yep, I had an Exa II with f/3.5 50 mm and f/4 135 mm (that didn't quite focus to infinity; don't recall which way it was off). I got it used at a camera store in Portland, Oregon, with Christmas money, at age 14. By the time I was starting to get a handle on it, the shutter started acting up -- wasn't fully capping after a shot, so I'd get a bright line at the top of each print that had to be cropped off. Lost out on a yearbook photographer position because of that -- never mind that from one test roll the editors wound up using six of my photos in the yearbook. The guy with the brand new Nikkormat only had twice that many, and he shot film supplied by the yearbook all year.

Traded the Exa II for a Kodak Reflex II; when the shutter started sticking in that I traded it for a Rollei 35 that I still have.

But before the Exa II, I had a Brownie Hawkeye Flash in fifth, sixth, and seventh grades, and upgraded to Pony 135 (Model C, IIRC) in 8th grade, 1972.

 

[pbromaghin]

Wow. You guys had real cameras. All I had was an Instamatic 100 or Mom's Brownie Hawkeye. We were a small school in a high-poverty, rural area and only 2 guys from 6 grades had their own SLR. . The Principal controlled a Pentax K1000 and a Yachica Mat tlr for the school paper that you could check out if you were REALLLLYYY trusted. But then, any hobby that did not include the use of alcohol, gasoline, or gun powder was considered unfit for a man.

 

[pentaxuser]

You owned an Exa II in high school? You were lucky. My camera was a very basic 620 camera, no focus adjustment, no shutter adjustment, not aperture adjustment. It wasn't even a basic Kodak box camera

This feels a bit like a new start to the famous Monty Python "4 Yorkshire men" sketch

pentaxuser

 

[Donald Qualls]

So how did that 620 handle in the snow while you were walking five miles uphill both ways?

 

[Agulliver]

So how did that 620 handle in the snow while you were walking five miles uphill both ways?

Probably better than some complex electro-mechanical all bells and whistles camera.

 

[Huss]

Probably better than some complex electro-mechanical all bells and whistles camera.

I have never owned anything that had bells and whistles. I don't think I've ever owned a whistle.