Fujifilm to discontinue FP-100c-Petition to contune???

[Kshaub103]

The last FP-100C units will be shipped out sometime in the spring of 2016. This is very sad news for all pack film shooter leaving us to pay outrageous prices for expired film. B&H has raised its prices from 10.99 to 12.99 and is currently out of stock but coming soon. Many site have also raise prices and all my local store are all out.

http://petapixel.com/2016/02/29/fujifilm-putting-end-fp-100c-peel-apart-instant-film/

Original article

If u like this film sign the petitions on Change.org here is the link.

Dead Link Removed

suport film

 

[BrianShaw]

There's been a thread on this already. To distinguish your unique contribution to the discussion you might consider changing the title to include the phrase "petition to continue..."

 

[Roger Cole]

Signed.

 

[amellice]

signed

 

[Diapositivo]

Signed

 

[Kirks518]

Signed.

I hate to think that the only instant film that will be available in the future will be from Impossible Project...

 

[Prof_Pixel]

Signed.

I hate to think that the only instant film that will be available in the future will be from Impossible Project...

There will still be Fuji Instax Film (basically Kodak Instant Film)

 

[Kirks518]

I'll clarify - the only pack instant film for the 100 - 450 series cameras and the like.

 

[Roger Cole]

There is also New 55 (though EXPENSIVE!)

In the other thread someone linked to a Facebook page showing a project building a back to take Instax Wide on a Polaroid model something-I-forget and maybe for 4x5s eventually. That would be awesome if it comes about for right now it's a pipe dream with some vague possibility to it.

 

[Roger Cole]

No if to it. Fuji HAS discontinued it.

Unlike any other film company I know of, though, Fuji HAS brought some previously discontinued products back due to demand. Since this thread is about a petition asking them to do that, your best bet is to sign it. I wouldn't hold my breath, but with Fuji it may be POSSIBLE (if the machinery hasn't been sold/dismantled/smashed, which is all supposition at this point.)

 

[Ricardo Miranda]

Signed.
Shall we stay Positive?

 

[mweintraub]

You'd think that they'd have the machines and IP available for sale instead of just killing it!

 

[mooseontheloose]

You'd think that they'd have the machines and IP available for sale instead of just killing it!

I'm sorry, but what? Even if they were up for sale, who's going to buy them? New55 and Impossible have their hands full and pockets empty. Kodak? Ilford? Rollei? If not a film manufacturer with experienced people on hand to help make it work, who's going to buy the machines, ship them across the world and hopefully be able to recalibrate them (oh yeah, and buy the land and figure out whatever environmental controls/issues need to be dealt with), find the talent, find new sources for materials, and put up never-ending amounts of cash for years on end in hopes that it might start making a profit after all that? Assuming, of course, that the peel-apart crowd is still around, have kept their cameras, and are still interested in shooting the film after what will probably be at least a few years of no access?

The only way for this film to survive/be resurrected is if Fuji still has the machines and decides, someday, one day, to start production again. (Again, 99.99% not going to happen, but much more realistic than thinking some foreign business can come in and save the day.) I'm sorry to be so blunt, but I think people need to be realistic - not only in terms of Fuji as a film company discontinuing a minor, but well-loved product, but also in terms of how business/culture works in Japan compared to the west. (Not that I want to vilify Fuji - Kodak and Polaroid did the same thing, announcing the end of a product when basically they had already shut down the film lines and were running out of stock.)

If people really love instant film, they need to either bite the bullet and stock up on as much film as they can, no matter what the cost, and/or move on and support other film products that do have the very real and strong support of their manufacturers. Yes, Impossible and New55 film is expensive and still not quite the product(s) they were meant to replace, but they have dedicated people who have put a whole hell of a lot on the line to bring them back to the film fans. If they can start generating real profits maybe they could start looking at other film types/sizes (again, not something that would (if it ever could) happen again soon, but you know...)

 

[pentaxuser]

but also in terms of how business/culture works in Japan compared to the west. (Not that I want to vilify Fuji - Kodak and Polaroid did the same thing, announcing the end of a product when basically they had already shut down the film lines and were running out of stock.)

/QUOTE]

I agree with your argument but curious as to what the differences are in the business culture that might or will impact on a Japanese company's actions compared to companies in the West which is a very large and quite diverse place.

Thanks

pentaxuser

 

[dugrant153]

Let's place all of our treasured images on unstable media that requires transferring to a new and similarly unstable medium every 5-10 years (or just as unreadable without a special media reader that was outdated in the same time span) . Yesssssss....

Petition signed. And (Instant) PRINT THOSE PHOTOGRAPHS.

 

[OptiKen]

A million $$$ would have influenced Fuji far more than a million signatures will.
The issue isn't how many people want Fuji to continue making the film. Rather it is how many people are BUYING the film.
Sign, wish, and hope all you want but money talks to business far more than 'good will' or sentimentality.

 

[lloyd darkrooms]

A petition? Money talks! If you really wanted the film to be manufactured, buy it up! Show the distributors that there is a demand. Next get out in the streets and shoot it and sell the shots to customers.

I am only one guy and I try to buy as much of it as I can for use in my photographic work. Slide printing, image transfers, multi exposures, event/club photography, street portraits. It is a powerful and consistent medium. BUT like anything else including our wonderful large format sheet film down to 35mm...if we cannot sell the products or services to consumers, then we cannot buy the products from the manufactures. I do not want the iPhone or next digital imaging device to win as much as the next guy but I do not believe INSTAX Cameras will ever sell in volume with high profit margin like the iPhone. The average person will only want to own one camera at a time, MAYBE two.

Now we are professionals and look at this in different manner. I personally own many fp100c imaging devices. Where are the professional instax cameras? The Polaroid Passport camera, the 600se, the Mamiya Universal, Daylab and Vivitar slide printers, Crown Graphic. The list goes on and on. I have dedicated a good 5 years of my photographic work to perfecting the application of fp100c.

The medium (instant film) can be affordable and well marketed to the millennials and those looking to simplify their photography by leaving the complications of digital. When was the last time you saw an ad for FP100c? Never! But they do advertise INSTAX. The two formats should walk hand and hand, not fight against each other. There are a ton of how-to videos and content on instagram #fp100c but this is a small market when compared to that of INSTAX. The fujifilm fp100c and instax film are the potential cash cows and the cameras last for years as we can see my Crown Graphic and Polaroid 600se still work. How do we turn this around? A petition is not a business plan.

 

[lloyd darkrooms]

Fuji is a publicly held company if this is such a big deal, let's make the call to our friends on wall street and have them sell off the stock!

 

[lloyd darkrooms]

Instant film can be a robust medium! NOT just a toy!

 

[lloyd darkrooms]

Why doesn't somebody call Fujifilm Japan and get an exec on the phone!

 

[lloyd darkrooms]

I am setting up a podcast and live caller line to get our message out!

 

[Diapositivo]

A petition? Money talks!
[...]
A petition is not a business plan.

I agree, but a petition is also "free", might be enourmously successful thus driving attention by Fuji management about a possibility, the managers who decided to discontinue this film might be gone by now, somebody else might think differently also helped by a petition, and a petition can help spread the gospel for film reaching not those who are the "target" of the petition but those who are involved by others in the "petition" mechanism.

Think about the success that CAMRA, Campaign for Real Ale, had in changing the trend of beer making in the UK. Money talks, but also campaigns are important, they can raise "awareness" and they can help the world. Sometimes that works or helps.

 

[lloyd darkrooms]

Not enough people know that fp100c exists! I meet photographers and enthusiasts all the time who tell me "I have a Polaroid Land Camera, I didn't know I could get the film." On the streets of NYC outside BnH with Louis Mendes or while working at World Wide Foto in Miami. NOW the problem is, the cameras that exist that are compatible with the fp100c have more than likely not been serviced in years. It is a professionals film and the average joe will not get the quality they may be expecting on first try. Loading the cameras, cleaning the rollers, measuring the light, etc. Where is the simple camera to sell to consumers like the Instax line that uses FP100c and is consistent? When the flash exposure, focus, and ambient lighting is right, FP100c LOOKS AMAZING. The design can look retro like the Land Cameras but function reliably like the Instax models. There is a hole in the market! Where is our modern consumer grade camera for fp100c and a professional grade instax camera.

We did a seminar at Adorama in NYC and I passed around some original fp100c/b and fp3000b45 prints I had in my bag. Many folks complimented the quality of the shots and could not believe it was captured on a 1940's press camera! People want to go back, they are sick of the complications. I see a money maker here.

 

[skorpiius]

Petition is 13 signatures away from 10,000

 

[gorbas]

Ok, Funny, I'm 10.001st to sign this petition