35mm: where to from here?

All this recent deciding on whether to swap some of my Nikon lenses for a
Leica M6 and Leica lenses had me a bit concerned over the future of 35mm
film processing. Will it still be around? Will I be able to purchase and
process it anywhere?

I spoke to a friend of mine who owns a Konica mini-lab close to where I
work and asked him if he has seen any considerable diminishment of his
film processing work (i.e. enough to consider ditching film processing as
a service). His answer was an unequivocal NO.

Most of the pros using his lab still shoot film, especially the wedding
photographers and while he doesn't sell a lot of 35mm cameras anymore,
there are still many people out there using their P&S cameras to take
snaps and have prints made from them. Enough to keep his processing
business thriving. What we fail to see as photographers who are on the
leading edge of the digital revolution, is that there are millions and
millions of people behind us, many of whom see no point in owning a
computer, let alone a digital camera. They are perfectly happy to use
their 35mm P&S cameras at parties, Xmas, etc.

A common gripe amongst those leading people who own digital cameras and
who use them prolifically, is that they just don't find the time to print
the photos they take. It's inconvenient to take your memory card to a lab
and have prints made. Then, if the print is lost in the future, there is
no negative to have a re-print made. Many of them are going back to using
their 35mm cameras when they want permanency.

This mirrors my experience with digital photography exactly. I hate the
work involved with it and it's why I have reverted to using 35mm for my
personal photography. My main concern in doing so was a fear that 35mm
would fall by the wayside in the digital age.

It was good to hear from somebody who deals with these things on a daily
basis and who believes that there is still a future for 35mm film.

What's the story at your local lab?

--
Be careful what you wish for.

Roxy d'Urban writes:
All this recent deciding on whether to swap some of my Nikon lenses for a
Leica M6 and Leica lenses had me a bit concerned over the future of 35mm
film processing. Will it still be around?

Yes. You can even still buy glass plate film.

Will I be able to purchase and process it anywhere?

If you mean "anywhere" (i.e. "is there anywhere I can get this film
processed?") the answer is yes. If you mean "everywhere" (will there
be minilabs in every drugstore like now), hmmm, there will probably be
some in every town for a fairly while, but fewer than now.

What's the story at your local lab?

Local camera store minilabs are taking a beating even though they do
digital prints. Pro labs are surviving, I guess. I don't know anyone
who shoots film in any serious way any more. I occasionally print
digital shots on my home inkjet printer and haven't yet taken any to a
store to be printed, though I might try that.

"Roxy d'Urban" wrote in message
news
All this recent deciding on whether to swap some of my Nikon lenses for a
Leica M6 and Leica lenses had me a bit concerned over the future of 35mm
film processing. Will it still be around? Will I be able to purchase and
process it anywhere?

I spoke to a friend of mine who owns a Konica mini-lab close to where I
work and asked him if he has seen any considerable diminishment of his
film processing work (i.e. enough to consider ditching film processing as
a service). His answer was an unequivocal NO.

Most of the pros using his lab still shoot film, especially the wedding
photographers and while he doesn't sell a lot of 35mm cameras anymore,
there are still many people out there using their P&S cameras to take
snaps and have prints made from them. Enough to keep his processing
business thriving. What we fail to see as photographers who are on the
leading edge of the digital revolution, is that there are millions and
millions of people behind us, many of whom see no point in owning a
computer, let alone a digital camera. They are perfectly happy to use
their 35mm P&S cameras at parties, Xmas, etc.

A common gripe amongst those leading people who own digital cameras and
who use them prolifically, is that they just don't find the time to print
the photos they take. It's inconvenient to take your memory card to a lab
and have prints made. Then, if the print is lost in the future, there is
no negative to have a re-print made. Many of them are going back to using
their 35mm cameras when they want permanency.

This mirrors my experience with digital photography exactly. I hate the
work involved with it and it's why I have reverted to using 35mm for my
personal photography. My main concern in doing so was a fear that 35mm
would fall by the wayside in the digital age.

It was good to hear from somebody who deals with these things on a daily
basis and who believes that there is still a future for 35mm film.

What's the story at your local lab?

--
Be careful what you wish for.

I use both a DSLR and 35mm. Right now I'm using the 35mm farrrrrr more, I
find it more rewarding. I'm processing my B&W, E6 and C41 films at home, and
providing I can continue to buy the chemicals, I don't see why I can't
continue to do this for many years to come. At the moment I'm only printing
B&W at home, and scanning colour negs and slides to print digitally if
required. This keeps cost to a minimun also.
After all, B&W has hardly changed in 50 years but you can still buy
everything needed to process and print it, without a computer in sight.

......And I "moved" from digital to film, having become interested in
photography through digital. I'd like to try Medium Format next!

Alan.

In article ,
Roxy d'Urban wrote:
All this recent deciding on whether to swap some of my Nikon lenses for a
Leica M6 and Leica lenses had me a bit concerned over the future of 35mm
film processing. Will it still be around? Will I be able to purchase and
process it anywhere?

I spoke to a friend of mine who owns a Konica mini-lab close to where I
work and asked him if he has seen any considerable diminishment of his
film processing work (i.e. enough to consider ditching film processing as
a service). His answer was an unequivocal NO.

C-41 is supposed to be not all that dificult to do yourself. And even
E-6 can be doen at home.

A common gripe amongst those leading people who own digital cameras and
who use them prolifically, is that they just don't find the time to print
the photos they take.

Well, I can't affort to have every frame printed professionally, and
consumer prints are not upto my standards. I just scan everything, make
digital index prints (9 photos on a 20x30cm). And then I print the
best frames at 20x30cm or bigger.

It's inconvenient to take your memory card to a lab
and have prints made.

That's why they invented the Internet. :-)

This mirrors my experience with digital photography exactly. I hate the
work involved with it and it's why I have reverted to using 35mm for my
personal photography.

In my experience, shooting print film requires much more (digital) work
than shooting digital. High-res scans are basically to only way of judging
shooting techniques and the quality of the film. Many frames that look
good on a 10x15cm print are not all that great when printed at a larger
size.

My main concern in doing so was a fear that 35mm
would fall by the wayside in the digital age.

35mm will live as long as long as enough people keeping shooting 35mm film.


--
That was it. Done. The faulty Monk was turned out into the desert where it
could believe what it liked, including the idea that it had been hard done
by. It was allowed to keep its horse, since horses were so cheap to make.
-- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 12:27:27 +0200, Philip Homburg wrote:

It's inconvenient to take your memory card to a lab
and have prints made.

That's why they invented the Internet. :-)

Still requires the end user to do some work, though.

This mirrors my experience with digital photography exactly. I hate the
work involved with it and it's why I have reverted to using 35mm for my
personal photography.

In my experience, shooting print film requires much more (digital) work
than shooting digital. High-res scans are basically to only way of judging
shooting techniques and the quality of the film. Many frames that look
good on a 10x15cm print are not all that great when printed at a larger
size.

I disagree partly with this statement. In my view the work is transferred
to the lab. Most of the good labs have a scanning service and the people
doing the scanning tend to be knowledgeable about the film types they come
across, etc. In most cases I am using either Fuji Chromes or Kodak negs.
We don't get too many exotic type films in this neck of the woods.

My main concern in doing so was a fear that 35mm
would fall by the wayside in the digital age.

35mm will live as long as long as enough people keeping shooting 35mm film.

Hear, hear. Shoot a roll today.
--
Be careful what you wish for.

A common gripe amongst those leading people who own digital cameras and
who use them prolifically, is that they just don't find the time to print
the photos they take. It's inconvenient to take your memory card to a lab
and have prints made. Then, if the print is lost in the future, there is
no negative to have a re-print made. Many of them are going back to using
their 35mm cameras when they want permanency.

They never heard of DVD? Would they throw their negatives away? No. Why
through away their digital counterparts?

--
Mark Lauter

Photos, Ideas & Opinions
http://www.marklauter.com

Paul Rubin wrote:
Roxy d'Urban writes:

All this recent deciding on whether to swap some of my Nikon lenses for a
Leica M6 and Leica lenses had me a bit concerned over the future of 35mm
film processing. Will it still be around?


Yes. You can even still buy glass plate film.


Will I be able to purchase and process it anywhere?


If you mean "anywhere" (i.e. "is there anywhere I can get this film
processed?") the answer is yes. If you mean "everywhere" (will there
be minilabs in every drugstore like now), hmmm, there will probably be
some in every town for a fairly while, but fewer than now.


What's the story at your local lab?


Local camera store minilabs are taking a beating even though they do
digital prints. Pro labs are surviving, I guess. I don't know anyone
who shoots film in any serious way any more. I occasionally print
digital shots on my home inkjet printer and haven't yet taken any to a
store to be printed, though I might try that.

I keep a folder named "to print" on my PC.
Whenever, there is around 100 pictures in it, I burn them on a cd and
have them printed in a lab.
I had around 500 pictures printed last summer.

Paul Rubin wrote:
Roxy d'Urban writes:

All this recent deciding on whether to swap some of my Nikon lenses for a
Leica M6 and Leica lenses had me a bit concerned over the future of 35mm
film processing. Will it still be around?


Yes. You can even still buy glass plate film.


Will I be able to purchase and process it anywhere?


If you mean "anywhere" (i.e. "is there anywhere I can get this film
processed?") the answer is yes. If you mean "everywhere" (will there
be minilabs in every drugstore like now), hmmm, there will probably be
some in every town for a fairly while, but fewer than now.


What's the story at your local lab?


Local camera store minilabs are taking a beating even though they do
digital prints. Pro labs are surviving, I guess. I don't know anyone
who shoots film in any serious way any more. I occasionally print
digital shots on my home inkjet printer and haven't yet taken any to a
store to be printed, though I might try that.

I keep a folder named "to print" on my PC.
Whenever, there is around 100 pictures in it, I burn them on a cd and
have them printed in a lab.
I had around 500 pictures printed last summer.

A common gripe amongst those leading people who own digital cameras and
who use them prolifically, is that they just don't find the time to
print
the photos they take. It's inconvenient to take your memory card to a
lab
and have prints made. Then, if the print is lost in the future, there is
no negative to have a re-print made. Many of them are going back to
using
their 35mm cameras when they want permanency.

They never heard of DVD? Would they throw their negatives away? No. Why
through away their digital counterparts?

Throw darn it... throw.

Anway, even if local film processing disappeared there would likely be
places to send out for quite a while to come.

--
Mark Lauter

Photos, Ideas & Opinions
http://www.marklauter.com

A common gripe amongst those leading people who own digital cameras and
who use them prolifically, is that they just don't find the time to
print
the photos they take. It's inconvenient to take your memory card to a
lab
and have prints made. Then, if the print is lost in the future, there is
no negative to have a re-print made. Many of them are going back to
using
their 35mm cameras when they want permanency.

They never heard of DVD? Would they throw their negatives away? No. Why
through away their digital counterparts?

Throw darn it... throw.

Anway, even if local film processing disappeared there would likely be
places to send out for quite a while to come.

--
Mark Lauter

Photos, Ideas & Opinions
http://www.marklauter.com