The reality of the world is that the film, chemistry, paper, etc
makers are for profit companies. As long as there is a profit to be
made there will be someone who'll make it. I do believe that the selection
will decrease as the market for it contract.

Phil Glaser wrote:
: Some of this may be old news to some of you, but I just found this
: story about Kodak reducing manufacturing capacity and laying of 15,000
: employees: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinv...dak-cuts_x.htm
: The story poses some interesting questioins about Kodak's future

: Meanwhile, NPR did a piece this weekend on the "digital revolution":
: http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1616953.

: The prologue to the NPR story on their website says that ". . .
: Eastman Kodak will stop selling photographic film . . ." This
: statement is obviously an exageration and misrepresentation of the
: trend in the market and at Kodak, but it does get me thinking about
: what it will be like over the next decade or two as digital eclipses
: film as the medium of choice for most amatures and for many areas of
: professional photography. The economics of it are such that, as
: digital equipment prices fall, film will become the more expensive
: option even at today's equipment and material prices. Digital probably
: already is the least expensive in a certain range of quality (I mean:
: if you can do with low resolution and don't need to do a lot of
: creative manipulation [requiring photoshop], digital is definitely
: already cheaper).

: So how will it be to procure film in the next 10-20 years? Can we
: imagine a day where Kodak sells little if any film? What about
: companies like Ilford and Agfa and Fuji? Sure, they will stay in
: business because the demand for film will probably always be
: sufficient to make it a niche market. But will reduction in demand
: lead to an increase in prices for film, so that, even with cheap
: darkroom equipment and film cameras around, film could become a lot
: more expensive than digital? Will there be fewer choices? Will film
: manufacturers continue to innovate? Or will it be the opposite: will
: film innovate even more to compete with digital?. . .

: --phil

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