I wouldn't worry about it. They still make horseshoes.
Maybe that will leave only the most dedicated non-digital photographers to use large format, collodion process.
Film's appeal to me is the entire process and my control over it, from choice of film to processing and printing in a darkroom. What will kill film for me would be the lack of photographic printing paper, which will probably go first given the number of film users who just scan and (maybe) make inkjet prints.
Wait, let me get out my dwell meter and points file.I wouldn't worry about it. They still make horseshoes.
Most places around NYC have eliminated manned toll booths. You pay with a mounted E-Z Pass on your windshield. Or they send the bill in the mail capturing your license plate by camera and you pay a much higher fee by mail-in check for the pleasure of crossing the George Washington Bridge or Lincoln Tunnel into NYC. Well, it;s the only way to get to B&H from NJ.
The production of good 35mm and Med Format cameras started to die off in the early to mid 2000's and when they are worn out and cannot be repaired, or the price of film increases because the quantity being produced makes it phenomenally expensive, even the most dedicated film user will give up. Not because they want to, it will be availability of cameras coupled with the prohibitive cost of film
Save money and move back to New York City.
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Actually, they just raised the bridge and tunnel tolls by $1 and the highways by 3%. It's cheaper to pay the shipping fees from B&H.
Wait, let me get out my dwell meter and points file.
Is the New Jersey sales tax less?
Yes. Even more savings not to drive to NYC. Sales tax: 8.875%=NYC 6.625%=NJ
We have lots of folks coming here from Wyoming for the same reason.
Someone I know quite well, who shall go unarmed, lives in a high sales tax state and when this person buys a very expensive item, particularly one that is lightweight, it is shipped to me and then I ship it back to them. I suppose that’s a type of tax laundering.
Not only are we a non-sales tax state, we do not have vehicle inspections and once one is 10 years old, registration is permanent. All toys receive permanent registration from new: boats, motorcycles, 4-wheelers, etc.
If you order from Photographers Formulary, which is across the state from where I live, you shouldn’t have to pay tax, or do you?
I wouldn't worry about it. They still make horseshoes.
I would like to see the industry analysis which draws some to the conclusion that "it's just a fad"
or "Fuji want to sell off their film division".
For the obvious reason that nobody can predict the future, this analysis is never going to be presented. Neither is a 100% reliable analysis that tells the opposite. So for all intents and purposes, this is a moot point.
Given Fuji's habits of communicating with the outside world, claims like these are impossible to substantiate and can only be regarded as wild guesses. It's inconceivable that anyone in the west, or even in Japan, has insight into the intentions of FujiFilm HQ with their respective divisions up to the moment they make a decision and start implementing it. This extends to Fuji subsidiaries in the west; even they don't know what'll happen to them. This is the daily reality of being part of a Japanese multinational. I've seen this from the inside (not Fuji, different company). It's a pretty consistent picture.
@koraks you are correct that only time will tell. What does bug me is when someone confidently says "It is a fad". Because there's clearly little, if any, evidence that it's a fad.
What I see on the ground is demand for colour film especially continuing to increase beyond supply. But my crystal ball doesn't tell me for sure that'll continue tomorrow.
Younger people are more rebellious. They want to make their own mark. So that could account for so many of the young taking up film.
Older people are more settled. I went to my grandson's first birthday party a week ago. I was the only one there taking pictures (ahem, digital) with a real camera. The rest used their cellphones including my daughter and son-in-law who bought a real DSLR camera when he became a father. But they weren't even using it.
The thought they'd go beyond DSLR to film just doesn't make sense for them. They're busy raising a child. I did buy my daughter an Instax for her birthday a couple of years ago which she loved for about two weeks but don't think she's used it since.
Younger people are more rebellious. They want to make their own mark. So that could account for so many of the young taking up film.
Older people are more settled. I went to my grandson's first birthday party a week ago. I was the only one there taking pictures (ahem, digital) with a real camera. The rest used their cellphones including my daughter and son-in-law who bought a real DSLR camera when he became a father. But they weren't even using it.
The thought they'd go beyond DSLR to film just doesn't make sense for them. They're busy raising a child. I did buy my daughter an Instax for her birthday a couple of years ago which she loved for about two weeks but don't think she's used it since.
This is just down the road from me, the location of Custer's Last Stand.
"Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument intends to move to a fully cashless fee system and only accept credit card, debit card, mobile or electronic payments for entrance and permit fees by November 1, 2022."
I could wrap my head around the reasoning behind enforced contactless transactions during the height of the pandemic. But it’s a little frustrating to not be able to use cash for the smallest, simplest purchases even now—and it’ll likely continue to get worse.
What makes me think it's not a fad is the amount of people younger than me that view film positively. Gen-X and to an extent older millennials can't fathom why anyone would subject themselves to film again. Gen Z and Alpha think it's the cat's meow and love the stuff.
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