What would a "life-time supply" of film and paper be?

Does anyone have any idea of just how much film, chemistry, and paper it would take to constitute a life-time supply for an average APUGer? How much freezer space would it require? What would the dollar amount be for making such provisions?

Personally, I wouldn't mind a law that would compel Kodak to continue to make certain films and papers for a certain period of time so as to protect the substantial investments of US citizens. If Tamron/Bronica can be required to provide 7 years of "authorized repair service" for the cameras and lenses it no longer makes- then why can't Kodak be required to perform a similar act of decency? (I point to Kodak because it's a US company)

But barring any sort of fair and logical legislation by our fearless and all-knowing leaders, I am curious as to what it would cost in terms of dollars and space to provide oneself a reasonable supply of analog photographic materials.

Any ideas?

Changeling1 said:

Does anyone have any idea of just how much film, chemistry, and paper it would take to constitute a life-time supply for an average APUGer? ...

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I think the problem would be that you could never define an "average" APUGer. We've got pros, amateurs that shoot a lot and amateurs that shoot rarely. Then there are the different formats and variations, and ...

Also, I doubt very seriously whether one could legislate a manufacturer to continue producing a product. But, as usual, I could be wrong ...

Cheers

Would you really want to live in a country where the government had the power to require one to continue to manufacture something it no longer wanted to manufacture? What else would such a powerful government be tempted to force on the public?
juan

security equipement

juan said:

Would you really want to live in a country where the government had the power to require one to continue to manufacture something it no longer wanted to manufacture? What else would such a powerful government be tempted to force on the public?
juan

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Security equipment in many of the developed countries running anti-terrorism campaigns, is something that's been rather forced by the authoritative power. You know the security cameras are manufactured by the names that familiar to us: Nikon, Pentax, Kyocera, etc. I'm sure these companies are happy making profits off this opportunity, though. And it's nothing new.

juan said:

Would you really want to live in a country where the government had the power to require one to continue to manufacture something it no longer wanted to manufacture? What else would such a powerful government be tempted to force on the public?
juan

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I do, and I like it.

repair

Changeling1 said:

If Tamron/Bronica can be required to provide 7 years of "authorized repair service" for the cameras and lenses it no longer makes- then why can't Kodak be required to perform a similar act of decency?

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Are they required to do so? Under what condtion? I doubt if there's any act for that matter. They may run the after-care service for a certain period of time, but when they run out of the materials for repairing, that's the end. You never know what they have in stock for how long. Then you have to look for unauthorized repair service anyway.

[re: requiring manufacturers to provide spare parts and repair service for 7 years after a model is discontinued.]

firecracker said:

Are they required to do so? Under what condtion? I doubt if there's any act for that matter.

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I can't speak to cameras or lenses specifically, but in the US, this is definitely true of some products, such as cars, IIRC. I don't recall the exact time frames involved or other conditions, though. I believe the reasoning is that you don't want manufacturers to be able to get out of providing warranty repairs with the excuse that they've run out of spare parts. I don't know if similar laws exist in other parts of the world.

not sure what a lifetime supply of film is ...
i guess i would have to venture a guess and suggest a 8x8x16' storage container filled 1/2 with film and 1/2 with paper would be a lifetime supply

http://www.pods.com/storage/size.aspx

Lifetime supply? Well, if you were jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge, which is 119 ft. from the road to the water at the center point, and you had a camera that could shoot 5 fps, I calculate that you could get about 13 or 14 shots off before hitting the water. With a Graphic using a press shutter and a Grafmatic, only about 2 or 3.

Lifetime supply? I guess it would depend on how old you are at the outset. At my age, I may well have a lifetime supply already.

I have shot a life time of film already. I am looking for more. If you are not going to use yours then send all your film my way. BTW, 4x5 and larger are the formats I use.

Gary

Depends how long you expect to live, I'd guess.

At my peak consumption rate from the last three years, I'd go through about 100 rolls of 120 in a year, on average, about half that much 35 mm, and a couple hundred sheets of 9x12 cm or 4x5, but that rate was already constrained by budget when my budget was much healthier than it is now. If I could devote full time to photography, I'd probably at least triple those numbers -- and my wife might completely forget that we have two bathrooms, and call the police to report an intruder if we happened to meet in the hall.

Now, my family tends to be long-lived, though I'm a bit less healthy than some of them; I might reasonably expect to remain healthy enough to lug cameras around for another 40 years or so.

That suggests that (if I could reasonably expect it to keep that long), around 12,000 rolls of 120 B&W, 275 100 foot bulk rolls of 35 mm B&W and a couple hundred cassettes, and around 200 boxes of sheet film would probably last me the rest of my life. Heck, that'd all fit in a single "3 body Mafia freezer" unit.

I'll be able to get coffee forever, and I can make washing soda from baking soda if necessary, or use lye for alkali -- come to it, I could make up one of the old inorganic developers based on ferrous sulfate, acetic acid, and grain alcohol, so I'll be able to develop. Swimming pools don't look likely to go away, so I'll be able to find hypo, even if I have to buy it by the hundredweight (and there are other fixers -- potassium cyanide may be hazardous, but it fixes film, and fast). And I can dilute vinegar for stop bath (no, not with a cyanide fixer).

I think the term "lifetime" would probably pertain more to the life of the product and not the user. Even if you bought 50,000 rolls of your favorite film and the same amount of paper who knows if the film and paper would even produce acceptable results decades down the road. I guess I could use 30 year old film if I had to, but I doubt if the image quality would be that great. You could always store it in lead lined bags in the deep freeze but I doubt many people would go to such great expense of money and space. Thats why I haven't stock piled large numbers of Tech-pan, Polymax or APX 100 in 120. I find it depressing to prolong the misery of knowing that one day these things will be no more and each exposure is a count down to the end! I'd rather be done with it quick and find a replacement and once all the replacements are gone then I'll find another hobby.