Film photography predictions for 2015

Xmas · Dec 29, 2014

They might stay in instant but I'd stock up on Acros...

Richard S. (rich815) · Dec 29, 2014

Xmas said:
They might stay in instant but I'd stock up on Acros...

Nah, there's too much B&W market in Japan, I think they'll keep at least one black-and-white emulsion.

RattyMouse · Jan 1, 2015

wombat2go said:
What is the future of my favorite: Fuji Pro 160ns 120 ?
I see it still on Fuji web site but at stores in USA either not available of very expensive ($75) for a 5 roll pack.

I like this because I seem to get consistently good results and it is easier to get onto the spiral than the Kodak ones.

Fujifilm discontinued 160NS earlier this year. Supplies are drying up so costs are going up as well. This film has not been made for quite some time.

benjiboy · Jan 1, 2015

I'm not foolish enough to make predictions, because mine are inevitably wrong.

Sal Santamaura · Jan 1, 2015

wombat2go said:
What is the future of my favorite: Fuji Pro 160ns 120 ?
I see it still on Fuji web site but at stores in USA either not available of very expensive ($75) for a 5 roll pack.

I like this because I seem to get consistently good results and it is easier to get onto the spiral than the Kodak ones.

Stock up at a good price ($27.78 at the moment) here:

http://www.japanexposures.com/shop/film-analog/160ns-120-5-pack.html

Xmas · Jan 1, 2015

Richard Sintchak (rich815) said:
Nah, there's too much B&W market in Japan, I think they'll keep at least one black-and-white emulsion.

yes but I'd have expected neopan 400 to have had more volume but it went first...

Richard S. (rich815) · Jan 1, 2015

Xmas said:
yes but I'd have expected neopan 400 to have had more volume but it went first...

Perhaps. But I think their thinking was Acros can be pushed with better results than Neopan 400 can be pulled? That along with some probable accounting reasons. Come to think of it this reminds me to try pushing some Acros. I still have Neopan 400 so have not tried it. Love them both.

Xmas · Jan 1, 2015

Accounts don't think so either

Resellers refused to take Neopan 400 or
fuji finished the last master roll

Take your pick.

You are lucky I did not get to my shop in time. Only got one damaged 120 of 400 left.

StoneNYC · Jan 1, 2015

Richard Sintchak (rich815) said:
Perhaps. But I think their thinking was Acros can be pushed with better results than Neopan 400 can be pulled? That along with some probable accounting reasons. Come to think of it this reminds me to try pushing some Acros. I still have Neopan 400 so have not tried it. Love them both.

My guess is that because Neopan400 wasn't available in sheet film sizes, people who shot Tri-X and TMY-2 and HP5+ weren't about to switch and try to balance using two different films depending on format, that combined with TMY-2's popularity chose to drop the lesser selling film, much like E100G was dropped by kodak because of Velvia50/Provia100f

Compete in what you're strongest at, they learned not to try and be EVERYWHERE unlike EFKE who didn't learn that and paid the price.

I miss Neopan400 and I'm beginning to lament EFKE IR820 now that I've had a taste...

Ricardo Miranda · Jan 1, 2015

unlike EFKE who didn't learn that

You are being unfair there.
The films made by EFKE were all B&W in the low ISO spectre: 25, 50 and 100. Plus the unique 2 IR films and the 100 in 127 format.
These were films that didn't have much competition.
They stopped for other reasons.

Only last year, was a 25 and a 100 ISO B&W films introduced to replace the ones lost.

StoneNYC · Jan 1, 2015

Ricardo Miranda said:
You are being unfair there.
The films made by EFKE were all B&W in the low ISO spectre: 25, 50 and 100. Plus the unique 2 IR films and the 100 in 127 format.
These were films that didn't have much competition.
They stopped for other reasons.

Only last year, was a 25 and a 100 ISO B&W films introduced to replace the ones lost.

My analogy wasn't clear, that's my fault. What I meant was they were competing in markets that didn't have enough demand for their films. The 25 ASA and IR films were AWESOME but there wasn't a market for it (not big enough to sustain) that's why they folded. Neopan400 is a great film, IMO better than HP5+ or Tri-X but fuji knows it's still not selling enough to make it worth continuing. EFKE didn't see that, they were awesome for continuing to make films like the IR and 127 but there's a reason the other people pulled out. That's what I mean, seeing which films are worth selling even if it's hard to cut them loose.

If Kodak has to kill a film, the first film they will kill this year will be Portra800, the next would be TMX because there's too much competition with the other great 100 speed films out there.

Just like ilford killed Delta400 in sheet film. Too much competition with TMY-2, if kodak ever totally folds, you know that Delta400 will IMMEDIATELY be produced in sheet film, guaranteed.

miha · Jan 2, 2015

Fotokemika stopped because their ancient coating plant broke down essentially. Not for other reasons.

StoneNYC · Jan 3, 2015

miha said:
Fotokemika stopped because their ancient coating plant broke down essentially. Not for other reasons.

And WHY did it break down and WHY was it so ancient...? Because the money wasn't there to update/fix it...

ME Super · Jan 3, 2015

I predict that the most accurate predictions about film photography in 2015 will be made in December 2015 or January 2016.

I predict that Fuji will discontinue at least one film entirely in 2015. Hopefully it won't be an E-6 film, as they're only making 3 of those now.

miha · Jan 3, 2015

StoneNYC said:
And WHY did it break down and WHY was it so ancient...? Because the money wasn't there to update/fix it...

Sure, but the reason is not because there was not market for their films as you implied in your previous post but because of their total lack of strategy, they didn't even have a web page! Their films and papers were sold under various brands since the 80's and they didn't care, they've just kept making materials and got less and less for them, till they ran out of gas.

StoneNYC · Jan 3, 2015

miha said:
Sure, but the reason is not because there was not market for their films as you implied in your previous post but because of their total lack of strategy, they didn't even have a web page! Their films and papers were sold under various brands since the 80's and they didn't care, they've just kept making materials and got less and less for them, till they ran out of gas.

*shakes head* strategy and marketing are all part of the market... Ugh, whatever, they are gone.

miha · Jan 3, 2015

StoneNYC said:
*shakes head* strategy and marketing are all part of the market... Ugh, whatever, they are gone.

*shakes head* there was a market for their films and papers.

StoneNYC · Jan 3, 2015

miha said:
*shakes head* there was a market for their films and papers.

BUT NOT A BIG ENOUGH MARKET... For them to repair their machines or facility or even to fix the roof from leaking, cmon man, that's not a market... That's like saying there's a market for my photography... Sure I sell some, but I'm not surviving off of it...

NJH · Jan 3, 2015

Its hard to rationalise why a company would ditch a general purpose 400 speed B&W film with great tonality and sharp grain but continue a with a more techy 100 speed B&W film. Sorry but I just smell something a bit fishy in all this with Fujifilm, the announcement came only a handful of months before the use by date on the last batch (August 2014). This means they stopped making or decided to kill it off as much as 4 years ago if the dates on recently bought HP5 are anything to go by (late 2018)! As Xmas says if one likes Acros stock up on it as I just can't trust a company that quietly kills off films in this way. For my own photography I am moving to Ilford films for B&W.

StoneNYC · Jan 3, 2015

NJH said:
Its hard to rationalise why a company would ditch a general purpose 400 speed B&W film with great tonality and sharp grain but continue a with a more techy 100 speed B&W film. Sorry but I just smell something a bit fishy in all this with Fujifilm, the announcement came only a handful of months before the use by date on the last batch (August 2014). This means they stopped making or decided to kill it off as much as 4 years ago if the dates on recently bought HP5 are anything to go by (late 2018)! As Xmas says if one likes Acros stock up on it as I just can't trust a company that quietly kills off films in this way. For my own photography I am moving to Ilford films for B&W.

My boxes of 8x10 Velvia50 and 8x10 Acros100 say 2016....

RattyMouse · Jan 3, 2015

NJH said:
Its hard to rationalise why a company would ditch a general purpose 400 speed B&W film with great tonality and sharp grain but continue a with a more techy 100 speed B&W film. Sorry but I just smell something a bit fishy in all this with Fujifilm, the announcement came only a handful of months before the use by date on the last batch (August 2014). This means they stopped making or decided to kill it off as much as 4 years ago if the dates on recently bought HP5 are anything to go by (late 2018)! As Xmas says if one likes Acros stock up on it as I just can't trust a company that quietly kills off films in this way. For my own photography I am moving to Ilford films for B&W.

Neopan 400 had a LOT of competition. Tri-X, TMAX 400, HP5+, and Delta 400. Acros really has no competition when you consider the reprocisity charatceristics.

I wish I got a chance to shoot Neopan 400 in 120 size before it disappeared.

Photo Engineer · Jan 3, 2015

There is quite a story to the implosion of EFKE that is not relevant here except for one point which coincides with that of Ferrania. All of the photo engineers were getting old, and it was difficult to recruit new ones for a field that was perceived as difficult to learn and waning in popularity (analog films). In the face of one fact, the aging of an already elderly staff, EFKE closed its doors.

And, BTW, this has been posted here before and on the EFKE web page.

PE

miha · Jan 3, 2015

StoneNYC said:
BUT NOT A BIG ENOUGH MARKET... For them to repair their machines or facility or even to fix the roof from leaking, cmon man, that's not a market... That's like saying there's a market for my photography... Sure I sell some, but I'm not surviving off of it...

You shout a lot lately Stone. They had big enough market* (they were very small) and they were selling all that they could produce but the revenue was small for the reasons mentioned before. PE also enlightened an important aspect often overlooked.

*I had acquaintances that visited their factory store regularly in Samobor and the store was often empty as everything was sold abroad as soon as it was produced. I don't live far from Croatia and speak their language, Yugoslavia, remember

Ektagraphic · Jan 3, 2015

I just have a gut feeling that the company making the little yellow boxes is going to see some big changes, whether they decide to call it quits, or decide that they are going to make modifications to continue producing.

Richard S. (rich815) · Jan 3, 2015

StoneNYC said:
*shakes head* strategy and marketing are all part of the market... Ugh, whatever, they are gone.

They live on in my freezer....

Film photography predictions for 2015

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