But he seems to report disaster constantly with such relish .
But he seems to report disaster constantly with such relish .Well, if the products are cancelled, then it is hardly fair to call him Chicken Little. He just reported a fact. Just as I can say that the analog industry is taking a real hit right now.
BTW, a week or so ago, Kodak laid off about 30 people in the film plant here due to decreased demand!
PE
Good points. Ilford benefits from being much more right-sized for the shrunken market and focused on monochrome only, but they also benefit from being very transparent and accessible. We asked for cool tone developer and a true IR film and Simon took it to the board and reported back. He had to report back "we can't do it, the market isn't big enough" but he heard our requests, took them up the line, and came back with a straight answer that didn't change three times in the next six months.
But he seems to report disaster constantly with such relish .
I'm buying, and shooting, way more than I have time to process. I have a backlog of 29 rolls, yes twenty-nine rolls, of black and white to develop, 22 in 120 and 7 in 35mm, plus maybe a half dozen sheets. And I have 12 rolls of color sitting here on my desk now ready to pack up and ship to Dwayne's. Exactly how much more should I buy? I'm a hobbiest. I shoot what I can afford and have time for (and way more than I actually have time to develop and print!)
Ok, ok. You're right. Many of us here buy plenty. I should have said not ENOUGH people out there like us.
BTW, here's my backlog stash. Each 4x5 holder with two negs, over 40 35mm rolls and almost twenty 120 rolls awaiting development. I usually develop 3-4 rolls a weekend. Problem is I often shoot 4-6 rolls! This weekend included. And Sunday is NOT over yet either!
View attachment 83996
Now, regarding sheet films.
The bulk of Kodak film is coated on 5 mil or thinner support. This is for the Motion Picture, 35mm and 120 markets. The 4x5 film is on special order 7 mil support. This is what drives up the costs, as I suspect that Ilford's product mix is more even and thus can be costed out more evenly.
There are other factors in this as well such as the very low demand for sheet film (which may rise as more people dig out their LF cameras and make plates).
B
PE
A master roll each month, Roger. Each and every one of us. And if any one of us can't hold that pace, misses just one month, then all the layoffs, the failed business models, the stock collapse, the bankruptcies, the patent debacle, the infrastructure demolitions, all of it, it's all our fault. Like it or lump it...
Ken
Damn! Never has my picture taking seemed so important. I don't think I can handle the pressure.
But he seems to report disaster constantly with such relish .
Ok, you have me beat! And if I developed even two rolls a weekend I'd not have a backlog. And I confess the only reason I have so much color awaiting a trip to Dwyane's is that my wife and I spent an entire week doing Mardis Gras in New Orleans. Partly that's just such a colorful place and set of events it called for color, but I also knew I'd never get around to processing it all if I shot much black and white! I did shoot some 645 Tri-X in St. Louis cemetery #1 though.
I suppose if you wait about 20 years when people start losing their digital photos due to crashed drives and deteriorating media, as well as engineered obsolescence on the part of the digital mafia, people might start coming around OR the digital industry will start paying attention to image longevity.
This reported decline in film use and the resulting discontinuation notices do not so much come from a further drive towards digital, but rather from a general decline in the overall photographic market. For those who didn't know, digital camera and accessory sales are hurting badly right now.
Several times I've had moms stop and ask if their kids (and sometimes not just the little ones) can look up under the cloth, just to see what's going on. One even pulled her car over to ask. I've never ever said no.
Ken
No worries. I seem to recall the number tossed around was something like only 35,000 rolls, give or take, of 135-36 per master roll. And that's only 48-49 rolls per hour, every hour.
We have faith in you...
Ken
Sharing one's passion is fun...
Digital is hurting because of camera phones which already produce results far better in far worse light than consumer cameras of my youth like the 126 Instamatic and (ugh) 110s. They are more than good enough for most people. It's not that fewer photos are taken as there are almost certainly more taken than ever before. It's just that most people don't need a single purpose camera to take the kind of photos they want anymore.
Anybody got a motor drive for an 8x10?
Again, I think it's a matter of complaicency on the part of the manufacturers.
I notice that more and more people become interested in photography because they have started taking photos with their phones. They want a real camera to take better pictures.
But for many people the learning curve from instagraming snapshots with presets, to editing raw files in Lightroom is too great. I've had to help quite a lot of people undrstand the workflow. Unfortunately, many of them think it's too much work.
That's one of the problems with analogue film today. Apart from a few pro labs, it'll take a couple of weeks to have a film developed. And the scans are usually very poor. Most people are not interested in investing time and money into developing or scanning at home.
I think the manufacturers really should take some steps to make life easier for the transition customers.
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