Is the film craze dead?

[Don_ih]

At the time I thought APS was too advanced for snap-shot crowd and too limiting for the rest. I still think it was either too much or too little, so the audience it would satisfy simply did not exist to support it.

That is pretty much exactly right. It offered features that the average consumer didn't need and the negative size was too small to satisfy professional users (for the most part). But it would've been pretty cool if they'd done it with 120 film....

 

[BrianShaw]

Back on subject then

I think buyers are more astute today about cameras and wait to either get a deal or exactly what they are looking for. While there are still buyers who just want to get film camera, the number of better educated ones has grown and ironically (perhaps) slowed down buy-anything-film movement. I'd call it saturation of new-to-film ownership has grown.

At the same time, last 3 years have not been gentle to predicting anyones' future, so it's a bit of a chance some need to take on spending on something they don't necessarily need.

But I am not sure sales have actually visibly slowed down.

If Kodak would bring back Kodachrome... then film camera sales would soar beyond all belief!

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

If Kodak would bring back Kodachrome... then film camera sales would soar beyond all belief!

I'm not too sure about that. Photographers who admire and have shot Kodachrome and want to shoot film, are already shooting using Ektachrome and other emulsions. These who never shot film might not be so impressed with Kodachrome vs Ektachrome or vs. Fuji Velvia for that matter. SO I can't see them taking up film just because Kodachrome is available.

 

[Hassasin]

If Kodak would bring back Kodachrome... then film camera sales would soar beyond all belief!

In that time we will be having a "Kodachrome craze" thread, but I'd rather take substantial reduction in prices & better availability of what we have before Kodachrome is back.

 

[Don_ih]

If Kodak would bring back Kodachrome... then film camera sales would soar beyond all belief!

They can sell it with a home development kit, consisting of 29 glass jugs of chemicals and a 250 kg machine....

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

In that time we will be having a "Kodachrome craze" thread, but I'd rather take substantial reduction in prices & better availability of what we have before Kodachrome is back.

Kodachrome is not E6 developed. It's a special film and process for manufacturing and for developing. I doubt Kodak will ever consider running that line again even assuming they still have the equipment.

 

[Hassasin]

Kodachrome is not E6 developed. It's a special film and process for manufacturing and for developing. I doubt Kodak will ever consider running that line again even assuming they still have the equipment.

I am fully aware what Kodachrome was, and never cared much for it. But I will make a promise, once we get good blackk and white film back to 2$ per roll, then I will support the return of Kodachrome. In fact I would then buy it myself.

 

[Don_ih]

once we get good blackk and white film back to 2$ per roll

That will be post armageddon, when rat steak will cost $1000 an ounce and no one wants pictures of anything.

 

[Cholentpot]

Kodachrome is not E6 developed. It's a special film and process for manufacturing and for developing. I doubt Kodak will ever consider running that line again even assuming they still have the equipment.

I'd put my money down on them bringing back the name. No question at all. They'll rebrand and E-6 emulsion that is tweaked to look like Kodachrome and call it Kodachrome-E or something. There is way to much history and money tied up in that name for them to sit on it and not use it.

Within 5 years there will be a new film called 'Kodachrome'. Everyone over 50 will kvetch and whine about it and kids will be snapping it up and proclaiming how awesome it while all the fogies tell them not to have fun.

 

[Hassasin]

I'd put my money down on them bringing back the name. No question at all. They'll rebrand and E-6 emulsion that is tweaked to look like Kodachrome and call it Kodachrome-E or something. There is way to much history and money tied up in that name for them to sit on it and not use it.

Within 5 years there will be a new film called 'Kodachrome'. Everyone over 50 will kvetch and whine about it and kids will be snapping it up and proclaiming how awesome it while all the fogies tell them not to have fun.

In that case they need to partner up with Lomography, seems like your formula would make a perfect match.

But personally I don't think they will go that far and butcher history.

 

[Cholentpot]

In that case they need to partner up with Lomography, seems like your formula would make a perfect match.

But personally I don't think they will go that far and butcher history.

Kodachrome II

 

[Roger Cole]

Cover charges I have mostly seen only in Europe where tipping is not an obligatory 20% regardless of the service.

Tipping is neither obligatory as such (I HAVE not tipped, when service was truly awful, but I'm generally a generous tipper) nor is it ever obligatorially 20%. I do tend to tip 20-25% because I've known plenty of people who worked extensively as wait staff and sympathize.

I prefer tipping to the restaurant charging more. Some wait staff can make a very good living if they're good at it and in the right restaurant, and poor service can also be "rewarded" accordingly.

I will also often pay the meal cost on my card but then leave the tip in cash.

What I DON'T like is the assumption I should tip for things like pick up to carry out. If all you do is turn the payment terminal my way or hand me an ipad don't expect much if any tip.

 

[Don_ih]

What I DON'T like is the assumption I should tip for things like pick up to carry out. If all you do is turn the payment terminal my way or hand me an ipad don't expect much if any tip.

In a lot of restaurants, tips are pooled and split among the wait staff, counter staff, cooks, and cleaners - whoever isn't management but is working that shift. So, you pick up an order and the only thing that's different for anyone who works there is the fact that you weren't served at a table. Everything still needed to be prepared and packed. That's the reason for the expectation.

 

[Roger Cole]

That's the thing with sales taxes in the US. They're only added to final sale price which the buyer pays. There are no taxes added at each level of manufacturing and distribution like VATs. Sales taxes vary from state to state and imposed by them. There is no Federal sales tax other than things like excise taxes, gasoline taxes, etc.

There are also, or at least have been in the two states I've lived in, local sales taxes. They are generally very similar but not identical so the sales tax can vary a little even from a shop on one side of a street versus the other if the other is in a different county. Here in Georgia we can have a SPLOST - Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax - to finance certain government programs if approved by election referendum by local voters. In Georgia the local sales tax applies to groceries but the sate sales tax does not. So grocery sales tax (food items, anyway) is maybe 2.5% or so, versus 6% or so on everything else. Back in Tennessee where I grew up and lived until I was 40, both state and local sales tax applies to EVERYTHING, including food and labor. I was shocked when I got a bill for car repairs in Georgia, thought they didn't charge me the right tax and mentioned it, they looked at me like I was crazy and said, "no sales tax on labor" and I looked at them in shock and said, "really?" AND in Tennessee that state+local usually nowadays totals over 9% and closer to 10%, where here in Georgia it's about 6% BUT Tennessee has no state income tax and Georgia does. Tennessee also makes up for the lack of income tax with all kinds of other taxes. If you haven't stayed in the state before a hotel bill will shock you the first time. Voters will approve hotel tax more easily because locals don't pay it.

It all just really depends on where you live.

 

[Roger Cole]

In a lot of restaurants, tips are pooled and split among the wait staff, counter staff, cooks, and cleaners - whoever isn't management but is working that shift. So, you pick up an order and the only thing that's different for anyone who works there is the fact that you weren't served at a table. Everything still needed to be prepared and packed. That's the reason for the expectation.

I understand it, and I do tip some, but not the 20-25% I do for table service. I also usually tip the latter in cash. What they do with it after that is their concern.

 

[Roger Cole]

VAT is charged on the increase in value of the transaction as it moves between sellers. SO, there may be VAT paid one raw materials by a manufacturer (that is recouped), but the VAT will be higher on the manufactured item. If there is another middle-man involved who marks the item up (a distributor, perhaps) that additional value is essentially what is being taxed. And so on to the final purchaser, who pays VAT on the total price of the item.

That makes my head hurt, and the more I read it the less clear it is.

Don't say that it's confusing here because the tax is added at the register.

I really didn't understand that. I mean I do in principle, "the tax is on the increased value" but not how it's recouped or whatever. But that's ok. I don't really need to.

 

[Roger Cole]

And in each case, the entity charging the VAT only needs to remit to the government the net VAT for the period in question. That being the difference between what VAT they charged during that period, and the VAT they paid out. So if during the first quarter of 2023 your business was charged $30,000.00 in VAT but during the same quarter you charged your customer $40,000.00 VAT you only need to remit $10,000.00 for that quarter.
For seasonal businesses, it isn't unusual for the government to end up owing VAT to businesses during some parts of the year.

Ok, now that makes sense of it.

 

[Mike Lopez]

I'd put my money down on them bringing back the name. No question at all. They'll rebrand and E-6 emulsion that is tweaked to look like Kodachrome and call it Kodachrome-E or something. There is way to much history and money tied up in that name for them to sit on it and not use it.

Within 5 years there will be a new film called 'Kodachrome'. Everyone over 50 will kvetch and whine about it and kids will be snapping it up and proclaiming how awesome it while all the fogies tell them not to have fun.

Several years ago I was on a Paul Simon kick (I still love the guy, but at that time I was on a bender, I guess). My daughter, who was about 8 years old at the time, tried to repeat the lyrics to a song I had just listened to (you know where this is going...). And she said "Mama don't take my coated chrome away!"

Think of the children. How will they ever learn proper musical history if Kodachrome doesn't re-enter the lexicon?

 

[Cholentpot]

Several years ago I was on a Paul Simon kick (I still love the guy, but at that time I was on a bender, I guess). My daughter, who was about 8 years old at the time, tried to repeat the lyrics to a song I had just listened to (you know where this is going...). And she said "Mama don't take my coated chrome away!"

Think of the children. How will they ever learn proper musical history if Kodachrome doesn't re-enter the lexicon?

Graceland era.

Paul is one of the few that topped his original hit career with his post work.

We still have a national park though.

 

[abruzzi]

I want Kodachrome back just so I can see Cinestill try to sell home K14 developing kits.

EDIT: And Kodachrome Basin Park is a Utah state park, not national. (I visited last year, and shot a roll of Ektachrome there--since that was the best I could do.)

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I'd put my money down on them bringing back the name. No question at all. They'll rebrand and E-6 emulsion that is tweaked to look like Kodachrome and call it Kodachrome-E or something. There is way to much history and money tied up in that name for them to sit on it and not use it.

Within 5 years there will be a new film called 'Kodachrome'. Everyone over 50 will kvetch and whine about it and kids will be snapping it up and proclaiming how awesome it while all the fogies tell them not to have fun.

You could very well be right. A little creative marketing is all that's necessary. Plus, ICE during scanning will work with E version as it doesn't work with the original Kodachrome.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Kodachrome II

I think there was a Kodachrome II. How about Kodachrome 2.0 in keeping with modern technology.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

There are also, or at least have been in the two states I've lived in, local sales taxes. They are generally very similar but not identical so the sales tax can vary a little even from a shop on one side of a street versus the other if the other is in a different county. Here in Georgia we can have a SPLOST - Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax - to finance certain government programs if approved by election referendum by local voters. In Georgia the local sales tax applies to groceries but the sate sales tax does not. So grocery sales tax (food items, anyway) is maybe 2.5% or so, versus 6% or so on everything else. Back in Tennessee where I grew up and lived until I was 40, both state and local sales tax applies to EVERYTHING, including food and labor. I was shocked when I got a bill for car repairs in Georgia, thought they didn't charge me the right tax and mentioned it, they looked at me like I was crazy and said, "no sales tax on labor" and I looked at them in shock and said, "really?" AND in Tennessee that state+local usually nowadays totals over 9% and closer to 10%, where here in Georgia it's about 6% BUT Tennessee has no state income tax and Georgia does. Tennessee also makes up for the lack of income tax with all kinds of other taxes. If you haven't stayed in the state before a hotel bill will shock you the first time. Voters will approve hotel tax more easily because locals don't pay it.

It all just really depends on where you live.

That's similar to NYS. NYC and the City of Yonkers have their own sales tax added to the State sales tax and then the counties have theirs. They got you coming and going.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I understand it, and I do tip some, but not the 20-25% I do for table service. I also usually tip the latter in cash. What they do with it after that is their concern.

I'll often leave the change returned in the tip cup on the counter for counter sales in places like Dunkin' Donuts or a sandwich or bagel shop.

 

[foc]

here are various pages on the internet that say that the print quality of disc film was let down as lots of photofinishers wouldn’t upgrade their enlargers as Kodak wanted them to.

I don't this is really true because at the time of its introduction in 1982, if a lab wanted to process and print Disc then they had to invest in the equipment. The minimum this would entail is a special rack for Disc film on C41 dip & dunk machines (not a huge investment) and then the carrier for Disc on the volume printers (this was a bit of an investment) Any Disc carriers that I saw were well made and had good optics.

The format was capable of good quality in the right hands but like, in general, 110 was of poorer quality than 126. Disc was of poorer quality than 110.

I think with the demise of the Disc format, the consumer changed over to 35mm (the growth of simple point & shoot) and later to a small extent APS.