The end is near..

[dr5chrome]

..do not know the validity of this..

http://www.thephoblographer.com/2013/06/12/kodak-is-ending-the-product-of-its-acetate-film-base/

 

[nickrapak]

It is true, but further reports state that the base will be made by other companies and provided to EK.

 

[Brian C. Miller]

And Kodak has YEARS of stock in warehouses. So that means at least two years worth.

 

[wildbill]

there are a few threads already started on this subject:
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Rick A]

Enough doomsday crap already.

 

[faustotesta]

I'm more than happy to reply to this bad new with the announcement of an Italian company (www.filmeferrania.it) who may resume production of color stuff.
Here is their announcement Dead Link Removed

 

[semi-ambivalent]

Enough doomsday crap already.

Damn straight.

 

[clayne]

Enough doomsday crap already.

Seriously. Enough.

 

[Pioneer]

Thanks for Posting

I disagree. Rather than sticking my head in the sand and ignoring all the news if it seems bad I would rather know about it. I do not believe that film is ready to die anytime soon but I would like to have all the facts. I do agree that the incessant speculation that accompanies some of the facts that are posted can be very tiring, but I would rather deal with that then be uninformed.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

I'm more than happy to reply to this bad new with the announcement of an Italian company (www.filmeferrania.it) who may resume production of color stuff.
Here is their announcement Dead Link Removed

I'm sorry. I couldn't help but notice this:

"And which formats? We have the equipment to finish film in almost all photographic and motion picture formats: 110, 120, 126, 127, 135, 220, Super 8, Double 8, 16mm, 35mm and 70mm..."

220?

Really?

Really, really?

:w00t:

Ken

 

[clayne]

I never got people's issues with 220, it's a solid format that really excels in event type settings where one doesn't want to keep changing films all the time.

Anyway, there's already another thread on this acetate thing and it's a non-issue.

 

[Ian Grant]

Don't forget Kodak discontinued making chemistry a few years ago, so when the Kodak made stuff runs out . . . . . . . . buy the Champion chemistry made for Kodak in the same plant

Ian

 

[pcsaba1981]

Instead of talking of doomsday, I have an offtopic question to you.

I want to try out your dr5 process this year with one or two rolls. Which film do you recommend to try first to get some nice results? Any further recommendation?

 

[madgardener]

Don't forget Kodak discontinued making chemistry a few years ago, so when the Kodak made stuff runs out . . . . . . . . buy the Champion chemistry made for Kodak in the same plant

Ian

Does Champion produce an E-6 or C-41 process at home kit that doesn't use blix?

 

[bvy]

The source they cite is a dead link.

 

[batwister]

Italy? Film? 'Ferrania'? I think they'd have better luck marketing cigarettes.

But since there are more entrepreneurs about than rats at the moment, it's only a matter of time before somebody gets on top of the film issue. Good on Ferrariana for getting the ball rolling. They have an idea, if not a very catchy name.

EDIT: I think Feckit would be a good name for a film.

 

[Ian Grant]

Does Champion produce an E-6 or C-41 process at home kit that doesn't use blix?

I don't think so. They made the Photocolor/Paterson 3 bath kit which was superb, the blix never caused a problem.

Ian

 

[DREW WILEY]

Why not just crawl into a hole and die, before it's too late.

 

[Rick A]

Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow may never come. I read that in the Bible, so....
And to quote my childhood hero: "what, me worry?"
Again I say, enough doomsday crap.

 

[batwister]

Again I say, enough doomsday crap.

It's not 'doomsday' crap, it's real life crap. Modern Americans should learn the difference.

 

[DREW WILEY]

As long as I can remember some favorite film or paper disappeared from the market. Seemed to happen just about every time I learned to master that particular product. Nothing's new. ... just Murphy's law. Make intelligent choices and realize that no matter what you do, you'll
just have to adapt anyway. I've sometimes overreacted myself, and before the stockpile of my favorite film or paper in the freezer was ever
used up, a better product came along anyway. Create a vacuum and someone will eventually fill it. But if you really want to scream doomsday,
guess we could always bring up the ole Cold War scenario - a nuke world war, and then all your film and paper will be fogged anyway, and
you won't need a safelight in the darkroom, cause you'll glow yourself. ... and all those cute digi cellphone devices won't work either, but
for once nobody will care, cause they'll all be dead.... unless a asteroid collision kills us all off first... or an Ebola epidemic, or a bacterially
contaminated pizza.....

 

[omaha]

One of those rather trite sayings (that seem to be all the rage on Facebook) comes to mind: "Worry doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength."

One can choose to worry, or not. I can't see that doing so makes any difference. The world is going to do what the world is going to do.

As for this particular worry, I see only two courses of action: You can stock up on materials. You can evangelize.

I'm telling you, there are countless digital photographers out there who are just waiting to try film, but they don't know where to start. They don't know that film and processing are still available. They don't know of the ridiculous bargains out there on outstanding used film cameras. They don't know of the amazing image quality film is able to produce.

There are all kinds of people who are convinced that their latest Nikon DSLR represents the ultimate photographic expression. They don't know any better. Its what the marketing machine has told them.

The truth (as I see it, anyway) is that photography has been on a 100 year march away from better and toward easier.

In the last 24 hours, I've used my Nikon D7000 and my brand new used Agfa Isolette III.

Everything about the Nikon is easier: Flawless auto-exposure. Flawless auto-focus. See-in-the-dark ISO capabilities. Zillion frame-per-second shutter rate. Stores thousands of images on one chip.

And yet it ultimately can not match the image quality of my old 120 format cameras.

There are people who would make that choice...the choice to leave behind the convenience and automation of today's cameras in exchange for the quality, deliberateness, and elegance of film. If they only knew...

 

[PKM-25]

Omaha,

Agreed with everything you say, I hear it on a near-daily basis while out shooting paid work. I think the big problem is that never in the history of photography has the influence of marketing through hype been as powerful as it is with the digital and internet age. Film and related materials does not have that kind of budget so it is up to us, the current film user to promote it ourselves and keep suggesting companies like Ilford and the Kodak UK Pensioners to do the same.

But it will never match the massive line of bull the digital companies feed the world, so while we can't win them all, hopefully we will win enough...

 

[omaha]

Something simple that I've started doing...talk about your film photography on Facebook. Post images you created. Talk about your cameras. Talk about the film you use.

Who knows. Maybe you can spark an interest in someone.

If nothing else, the feedback I've gotten has been very encouraging. Lots of people express surprise that film is still available. Just letting them know that it is is something worth doing.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Nothing has changed in principle, just in cultural intensity. It used to be that every time you opened a Natl Geographic there was an ad there
for the very latest Canon or Nikon with all the silly automated bells and whistles that a person just had to buy to take effective film pictures.
The consumer electronics industry still operates on the same propaganda basis. ... but nowadays if you give your kid a kitten or puppy for
Christmas instead of some two thousand dollar blipping beeping electronic toy, social services will probably take your kid away and charge
you for cruelty. Gotta have, just gotta have it.... Heck... we've been given at least four big TV's as hand-me-downs in the last two year by
people who just had to have something even bigger. None of them worked very long anyway... just like all these other consumer gadgets. Gotta keep the idiots spending if the techies want to keep their own jobs .... but for non-ergonomics and sheer junkiness, it would be hard
to surpass the present generation of consumer cameras... about the only truly tangible thing they gave you was an owner's manual as thick
as a phone book.... now they put even that on disc or online .... and it takes about a month of reading to learn how many functions you need to turn off before you can actually take a picture. But do people even know how to read anymore?