Fujifilm Price Increased Announced: April 2014

[PKM-25]

it is amazing that there are more Photo Weeks in large cities around the world than ever before. there is a real interest in photography. maybe some of you should go to the month long toronto photo fair or photo new orleans; photo l.a. etc etc.

Yep, there are some great festivals, I attend several year on year and you get to meet some really passionate people. But those people, us, we, niche man, seriously niche. If I thought for a minute that I was wasting my time in continuing in my career because there is no hope for photography, I would stop right now.

But it is because I believe black and white film and silver printing will damn near emerge as the last man standing decades from now, I am 100% committed. Color film, on it's way out, high end digital to the masses, on it's way out. The casual happy-snapper using anything but a phone to make and share photos, also, on it's way out.

In 10-20 year's time, there will still be photo festivals, but they will be different if not less numerous and smaller...but more to the point. And that really is the point here in this transformation, photography kind of gets to start over again and make the point that it is not about gear, software, materials, it is about passion, vision and talent.

The *big* players brought photography to the masses and the masses held no loyalty to them. So those who are truly committed to the art and the craft of what photography can bring are once again the focus of who is left in the realm of the once big players. And we are all going to shrink together like a bunch of cashmere in the dryer, it will play out like it is supposed to, we only have so much control over it...

I still have a pretty good feeling about it though...

 

[markbarendt]

Our household Windows PC hasn't been booted up in 6 months!

Mine gets booted on average about every 60 days for something. Invariably it then has to update windows, Java, Norton... I turn it on an hour or so before I'll need it just so it can get its housekeeping done.

 

[eddie]

I still have a pretty good feeling about it though...

Me, too.

 

[ambaker]

Forty years ago, as I was complaining about a bunch of changes at work, I was told "The only constant in life is change.", get ready for it and use it to your advantage.

Change is accelerating. If you look at how long it took to get from the horse to the locomotive, to the car, the plane, the sound barrier, the moon... The increase in the rate of change is plain to see.

The state of the art technology I struggled to master 40 years ago is now museum material.

The technology I mastered 20 years ago, is useful only as a reference, or for story telling. It is gone as well. The technology of 10 years ago, we are preparing to replace next fall. In 2016 the last will be gone, as likely will I.

Yes we will be that oddity that others will remark upon. Usually beginning with, "Guess what I saw today...?".

I do believe that enough will be interested enough, that our analog dreams will continue on. Just as old cars continue to be restored, old cameras will find those who will love them and use them. Even if it is not for the everyday commute to work.

If the price increase is what it takes to make film available tomorrow, then it may be a cheap investment.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

[...]But it is because I believe black and white film and silver printing will damn near emerge as the last man standing decades from now, I am 100% committed. Color film, on it's way out, high end digital to the masses, on it's way out. The casual happy-snapper using anything but a phone to make and share photos, also, on it's way out.

Prove that to me.

 

[Curt]

Mine gets booted on average about every 60 days for something. Invariably it then has to update windows, Java, Norton... I turn it on an hour or so before I'll need it just so it can get its housekeeping done.

I agree Mark, I feel the same about my PC. I can't simply boot up and go, instead it goes through a loading checking, updating mode. With my iPhone it's press the button and go. I'm finally going to add an iPad. I was thinking about getting a notebook but the thought of another windows machine without any "apps" isn't very exciting. When I asked what software comes with it the sales guy said none, just the operating system.

On the subject of Fuji and Acros, I enjoy using the 120 roll film in my Fujinon GA 645 zi. I just drop a roll in, pull the leader across, and close the back. It advances the film to the first frame, reads the code and sets the speed etc.. It's nice for travel.

 

[markbarendt]

Prove that to me.

A survey of two:

_____

My wife this weekend started doing exactly what PMK-25 is suggesting.

She went to the Lu San Chinese gardens and instead of taking her D90 she pocketed a Rollei 35 LED and her smart phone and used them in tandem. She had great fun guessing at the exposure settings and how to get the DOF she wanted since the meter doesn't work and she doesn't have a meter app on the phone. One of her comments after she got home was that she wished she had had B&W in the Rollei instead of color.

Lest you think I pushed her a bit, our jobs have had us in 2 different cities, 1200 miles apart for almost a year.

_____

A fun gent I've attended two Large Format workshops with uses an 8x10 and an iPhone, both for serious artistic photographic work. The subject matter and intent of the work these tools are used for is very different, but both sets of work are very interesting and artistic.

 

[xtolsniffer]

My own opinion, and it is just an unqualified opinion, is that transparency is the difficult one to place in the current market. The old uses of the slide show and the fast and easy previews for publication have been largely superseded commercially by digital projection and digital image storage and transmission. It's hard to do anything truly traditional with it apart from develop it, and the kits are hardly cheap for small volume use. Black and white seems to have enough of a traditional support base to survive, and anyone with a basic ability to buy and weigh chemicals can develop and print it. Colour print I hope will hang on with enough people who want the ability to take pictures and have the lab place quality prints in your hands without having to spend hours sorting prints on a computer and uploading them. Personally I use them all, and still do slide shows but even I find I take less and less transparency material over time, and then I mostly scan it. As prices get higher I find I tend to spend more time with black and white and colour print as I feel that the output justifies the cost, which is something I find harder to justify with transparency, though I would still cry for days if Velvia were to disappear (again).

 

[ME Super]

I know what you mean about the Velvia. I could probably get by with negative film and show scans on the TV, but there's nothing like a projected slide. Yeah, I'm one of those guys that projects film. I've shot Velvia 100 before, and recently shot my first roll of Velvia 50. Between the two, I like the Velvia 50 better, though it does not scan as well as the 100 or the Provia. I love the inky blacks of Velvia 50.

But my main film is Provia 100F. I presently have a roll of Wittner Chrome 200D in the camera that I'm trying out, to see if I like the film and hopefully it won't be yellow like the Rollei CR200 I shot. And the new Ferrania is supposed to be releasing an E-6 product soon. Apparently they've resurrected one of the research coating machines and are going to use it as a production machine. This development (pardon the pun) alone raises my hopes for E-6, because hopefully they'll be able to coat in small quantities that the market can sustain. I fear that Fuji may not be able to scale down enough to keep producing the films we love in a profitable fashion, which means they will be discontinued.

 

[PKM-25]

I have 100 sheets of RVP in 4x5 in the freezer and I am not going to touch it until I have a set of concepts and subjects lined up that will make people's heart's stop. It's great in 35mm, amazing in 120 and downright surreal in LF....

 

[RattyMouse]

I have 100 sheets of RVP in 4x5 in the freezer and I am not going to touch it until I have a set of concepts and subjects lined up that will make people's heart's stop. It's great in 35mm, amazing in 120 and downright surreal in LF....

I wish I could see in person a LF piece of slide film. That must look amazing.

 

[xtolsniffer]

I wish I could see in person a LF piece of slide film. That must look amazing.

I've seen some fashion 10"x8" transparencies from the 1970's and they were absolutely stunning. I've had quite a discussions as to the size of print at which you can notice the difference between different formats, but these just blew everything out of the water, and at normal viewing distances too. Amazing.

 

[Fixcinater]

I wish I could see in person a LF piece of slide film. That must look amazing.

Last visit to the swap meet got me some 5x7 negs and 3x4 transparencies. They do look amazing. Mountain scenes and portraits, colors like you wouldn't believe. Makes 35mm slides look mini-a-ture!

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

I wish I could see in person a LF piece of slide film. That must look amazing.

Thirty-three years ago a Kodachrome slide on the lightbox was amazing to me. Then comes exposure to a diverse number of formats. Not all that different really from a 6x6 or *7; for somebody who has never seen an LF sheet on the lightbox, it can be quite a revelation, yes — but the expense of processing (e.g. E6) has turned many away from LF. Too many sheets that I have viewed have been ruined by poor choice of compositional metrics or exposure. But after a long while of viewing many, many formats, there difference between the smaller (MF) and larger format is essentially very modest and hardly worth the big expense now. In Australia, almost all of the professional photographers who worked up through large format over the last two decades producing calendars, posters, books, greeting cards etc. have migrated to digital (Hasselblads). It's pretty difficult getting sheet films processed in many interstate towns e.g. those in Tasmania and turnaround is dead-slow.

 

[anikin]

I wish I could see in person a LF piece of slide film. That must look amazing.

RattyMouse, PM me with your mailing address. I'll mail you one...

 

[markbarendt]

RattyMouse, PM me with your mailing address. I'll mail you one...

First hit is free?

 

[anikin]

First hit is free?

Shhhhhh. Quiet here.

 

[AstroZon]

Please Fuji, bring back Fujifilm 100. I will pay an extra buck per roll. Just bring it back.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Please Fuji, bring back Fujifilm 100. I will pay an extra buck per roll. Just bring it back.

What? How many years are we going back with that stuff? :confused:

 

[RattyMouse]

I just bought 10 rolls of Reala 120 today for $100. Damn it Fuji, cant you make a profit with this film? Are you that dumb?

 

[Pioneer]

I just bought 10 rolls of Reala 120 today for $100. Damn it Fuji, cant you make a profit with this film? Are you that dumb?

I don't really think it is a buyer's market any longer. If you really want it you'll buy it. Otherwise you have to take your picture taking to the other side.

 

[RattyMouse]

I don't really think it is a buyer's market any longer. If you really want it you'll buy it. Otherwise you have to take your picture taking to the other side.

I can't buy it if Fujifilm wont make it (Reala).