Lack of affordable new cameras = death knell for film photography?

[BrianShaw]

Please send whatever drugs you are taking or smoking. I need them.

I hear it help with photographic creativity!

 

[reddesert]

People talk too much about gear, especially bloggers and youtubers who need to generate some concern to get clicks.

I'm more worried about having enough time to make pictures, and secondarily about the continuing access to film, than about running out of working cameras. I bought a Nikon F in 1985 after my first SLR died. It was "old" then - 15 years old. I still have it, and I would be lucky to have enough free time to take enough photos to wear it out before I reach my own expiration date.

As several people have pointed out, a manufacturer of DSLRs could also make film SLRs with many of the same parts, mostly needing to tool up a film transport mechanism. (Early DSLRs, of course, were derived from film SLR bodies.) Some large format cameras are suitable for semi-cottage industries and Kickstarters, but I think people trying to kickstarter a 35mm slr are delusional about the engineering required. If someone would kickstarter a device that answered my work emails so I could go out and take more photos, that would be pretty cool, though.

 

[AndyH]

I did the very same, but with the Canon F-1 Original and just about all the FD primes. Still trying to get a clean 85mm f/1.8, but I just don't think I need to, but the G.A.S reflect keeps the impulse going. I've managed to keep away from building out the F2 kit as I previously planned. Nikkor glass is cost too much more than FD glass.

I'm entirely happy with the earlier Nikon lenses, but dang, those FD lenses were some fine glass.

Andy

 

[roblopes]

I'm entirely happy with the earlier Nikon lenses, but dang, those FD lenses were some fine glass.

Andy

Minolta MC and MD glass is selectively nice. Not all the glass is as good as an entire kit like Nikkor and Canon FD. I've resisted the Pentax glass and that's probably a big mistake, but I really can't find a Pentax body that I can get attached too. There was one that I tried hunting down for a few weeks and gave up, the Pentax SV Black. The Olympus OM caught my eye, but I just can't seem to get the body and lenses in decent shape.

I've leaned really heavy on the fully mechanical side and steer away from electronics all together. All the built in meters I have in my mechanical SLR's work really well. Hopefully they outlast me. If not, I have a handheld meter.

 

[Old_Dick]

I hear it help with photographic creativity!

It also helps with autonomic neuropathy, psoriatic arthritis and chemo side effects. Just to name a few.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I can't figure out for the life of me why FujiFilm or Kodak doesn't produce any new film cameras.

I suppose if I produced gasoline and the auto industry stopped making gasoline engines, I'd consider making my own vehicles.

To be fair, the film camera market crashed and there's definitely a resurgence going on for the past few years. Maybe Fuji will throw us a bone and produce a new medium format camera our way. Doesn't have to have all the bells and whistles, just some knobs and an accurate shutter.... Not asking for much.

At least Ilford tossed out a reusable film camera...

Dual Film slots would get people's attention, just sayn' (sarcasm people)

Simple logic tells us that there is now demand for new film cameras and no profit to be had. PERIOD.

 

[4season]

What's "affordable"? Japan Camera Hunter suggested that people should expect to pay somewhere in the $1000 range for decent newly-developed compact camera today (and yet people grumble about the $480 price of Lomography's LC-A 120!)

BTW, there is a Kodak-branded reusable camera out there simply known as "Kodak M35".

 

[ChristopherCoy]

I don’t believe I’ve met anyone in a very long time that has even a remote interest in buying a new, not previously owned, film camera. I think I’m the last person on the face of this Earth who did so... about a decade ago.

I have my eye on an F6. B&H has Nikon refurbished units for $1899. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week or month, but soon.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

I don't like opinionated videos like this. It's kind of like telling a cancer patient they're going to die. If you believe they are going to die, or know they are going to die, why wouldn't you just buy them a pizza and some balloons and let them enjoy their last days?

Will film photography die? Maybe. Will there come an end to the film camera supply? Perhaps. But what good does it do to dwell on it?

I more or less write this for myself, because voicing it makes me feel better and takes the worry that videos and opinions like these incite in me.

 

[warden]

Anyone agree?

Nah, we're good here.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

What's "affordable"? Japan Camera Hunter suggested that people should expect to pay somewhere in the $1000 range for decent newly-developed compact camera today (and yet people grumble about the $480 price of Lomography's LC-A 120!)

BTW, there is a Kodak-branded reusable camera out there simply known as "Kodak M35".

Affordable means mass produced these days and in the past.
I still have BH catalog with film SLRs and it is not a vintage catalog. Not expensive SLRs. Nikon and Canon stopped to mass produce cheap, good SLRs simply because they were not selling. For obvious reason.
To make small batches of cameras to support current and future film market it is immposiblle to make them cheap.
This is why it makes more sense to pay 240 for serviced used Rolleicord, instead of made in China LC-A 120 new junk.

 

[Horatio]

Nah, we're good here.

That seems to be the consensus. Having spares and back-ups is good. AFAIK, Kodak Brownies are still plentiful.

 

[warden]

That seems to be the consensus. Having spares and back-ups is good. AFAIK, Kodak Brownies are still plentiful.

Indeed that is true! I have an old Brownie Autographic that has been in my family since it was new, and 105 years later I still use it to make tiny contact printed snapshots. It's too much fun.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

Indeed that is true! I have an old Brownie Autographic that has been in my family since it was new, and 105 years later I still use it to make tiny contact printed snapshots. It's too much fun.

That makes me want one of those.

 

[darkosaric]

BTW, there is a Kodak-branded reusable camera out there simply known as "Kodak M35".

There is also Ilford/Harman version, looks much cooler

And Ilford makes awesome new pinhole cameras.

 

[Luckless]

Furthermore the kickstarter could not copy any design details without patient violations.

There are no patent violations to be enforced against any camera technology released since even the end of the 90's...

The oldest technology still protected would be cameras from the early 2000's. And even those are going to start dropping off in a few more months.

 

[abruzzi]

I can't figure out for the life of me why FujiFilm or Kodak doesn't produce any new film cameras.

Manufacturers of new equipment invariable are competing against not only other manufacturers of similar equipment but the used market of gear, but most don't have to deal with the flood of abandoned equipment the way film equipment has been abandoned by the general population. That flood of equipment has made an excellent condition Nikkormat FT2 at $75 overpriced. No manufacturer could compete at that price. Since the pool of cameras is still large, very few competing "consumer" type cameras are still made. Gradually the used cameras will die off, and assuming interest in film remains constant or greater in the future, prices of used cameras will increase. Maybe, when the price of the used market increases (and general condition of whats available used decreases) to a point where it becomes economically feasible, manufacturers may come back.

* A quick comment on large format cameras. I know there are numerous manufacturers of LF cameras still making them new, but it seems to me that most of the LF cameras, due to both size and design, are more akin to something that could be built by a master craftsman with a well appointed workshop. A Nikon F6 requires an industry with the ability to design and fabricate parts of significant complexity and tolerance. Even an F or F2 is far beyond the engineering complexity of an Intrepid, or even a Technika. This (IMO) is why we still see LF cameras manufactured, but very few SLRs.

 

[4season]

To make small batches of cameras to support current and future film market it is immposiblle to make them cheap.
This is why it makes more sense to pay 240 for serviced used Rolleicord, instead of made in China LC-A 120 new junk.

38mm Rolleicord Automatic is very, very rare; rarer than Kiev-90, Leica Luxus, Red Flag 20 or Hansa Canon.

 

[Alan Gales]

Please send whatever drugs you are taking or smoking. I need them.

What's wrong, Sirius? You don't want a 3D printed Plasticblad?

 

[Huss]

I have my eye on an F6. B&H has Nikon refurbished units for $1899. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week or month, but soon.

I'd buy a like new used one for 1/2 that.
I actually did - twice! Then sold one because I didn't need two..

FYI Nikon USA still services them.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

I'd buy a like new used one for 1/2 that.
I actually did - twice! Then sold one because I didn't need two..

FYI Nikon USA still services them.

Wonder if they still service the F5?

 

[roblopes]

Wonder if they still service the F5?

https://www.nikonpro.com/ProductList.aspx

Under Film Cameras:
F6
F5
FM10
FM3A

Points qualified towards NPS membership requirements. Wonder if that means they still service all of them. I thought I read the F5 is no longer serviceable by NPS somewhere.

 

[blockend]

I don't like opinionated videos like this. It's kind of like telling a cancer patient they're going to die. If you believe they are going to die, or know they are going to die, why wouldn't you just buy them a pizza and some balloons and let them enjoy their last days?

Will film photography die? Maybe. Will there come an end to the film camera supply? Perhaps. But what good does it do to dwell on it?

I more or less write this for myself, because voicing it makes me feel better and takes the worry that videos and opinions like these incite in me.

Very few contributors are suggesting film photography is on its last legs. In many ways film is healthier than it has been for the last ten years. The discussion is about the viability of a new 35mm or medium format in a market flooded with used versions for low prices. Personally, I'd wager on the life expectancy of an elderly Nikkormat Copal square shutter against a generic shutter from who-knows-where in a camera start up, no matter how shiny and new. And there's the rub. There may be a place for a sophisticated 35mm film camera using the latest AF technology, but its market would be limited to well-heeled completists who could afford to pay a premium. In a camera market predicated on more, better, faster, who wants to fire up a production line of Canon FTbs and Minolta SRTs for £1000+ when you can have a good one for a hundred?

 

[jgoody]

Seems to me there are plenty of great choices for film cameras at reasonable prices. If I didn't have a "good stash" already I would certainly not have a hard time finding a few great film cameras in whatever format tickled my fancy. The fact that they were almost a mass market item and now are for a more specialized interest group means that there's a great supply of old film cameras. Yes my OM1 shutter was unrepairable but I picked up an OM2 and OM2n (good to have a spare!) for a very reasonable price. And in those "old days" things were built better. I am sure that most of my old film cameras will outlast my digital camera.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Please send whatever drugs you are taking or smoking. I need them.

What's wrong, Sirius? You don't want a 3D printed Plasticblad?

No, and I would rather be floating on Cloud 9 than dealing with the CoronaVirus.