Can you tell me how this younger generation uses film? Do they carry cameras with them when they are out and about? Do they share prints with friends? I never see any film cameras in the hands of anyone, young or old, so the film revival seem ephemeral to me.
I can tell you that way back in 2015 I was in D.C. and was counting the youngsters with film cameras. I saw a nice smattering of K1000s and a few Nikons. More recently at Niagara Falls I spotted a gent with a Pentax Auto 110 among others. Center Island in Toronto I chatted with a fellow lugging around a Hasselblad of some sort and here and there are kids running around with point and shoots. The ones I bump into are generally hobbyists who've graduated from entry level DSLRs. I can tell you that the local camera shop can't keep Portra in stock and their dark room chemistry rotates pretty quick. Xtol is always gone by the time I get there and the choices are growing every time I stop in.
Most don't use darkrooms or process themselves, they send off to lab and share the scans on Instagram.
To be honest though I'm the only one I know in my circles who shoots film. Cameras are still very popular as many of my peers or younger don't use smart phones. I've had my photos published in papers and magazines, both digital and film.
Before I began sending film to a lab, young workers at stores that still processed film looked at me as if I were a dinosaur incapable of comprehending digital technology. Other people who see me with a film camera give me a puzzled look, probably thinking the same thing.
I never see anyone with an actual camera, digital or otherwise. Yet I was outside in the neighborhood this afternoon making photos with a Nikon F from 1964.
Anyway, I'm highly interested in the reintroduction of Ektachrome and will definitely be using it.
I get the 'ol 'They still make film?' and if I'm lucky 'Hey, ya know I've got one kicking around in a closet. Want it?'
That's how I got my Pen EE3, Bronica S2, K1000, C3, 500n and many more cameras. Sometimes I get film, sometimes I get negatives. People know me and gladly handover cameras if they know they'll get used. I use them on the job and it really gets a smile, nothing like the photog fiddling around with a cranky piece of equipment. I get teased in good nature but they're blown away when they see the scans or my prints. It set me apart from the pack of hungry photographers locally. Kids are proud to state that I shot their Bar Mitzvah portrait on film, it's becoming a boast.