Report: Film still available

On 2/18/2009 8:21 AM Beefy LaSleep spake thus:

Gee, for the San Francisco Bay Area, I would think film not to be a
problem. I travel the area a lot, so getting to Palo Alto is easy,
and Keeble & Schuchat is one of the biggest/professional stores
around. I haven't shot in a while (uh, the economics of
buying/processing film), but I think they're well stocked.

I've got an even better "real" photo store nearby, my favorite Looking
Glass Photo on Telegraph in Bezerkeley; not as big as Keeble, but minus
the snobitude. They seem to be doing fine; of course, they sell a lot of
digital stuff these days, but they still have a completely-stocked
darkroom section, plus lots of film (including sheet film in their freezer).

I get film at Target because it's a lot cheaper.


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- lifted from sci.electronics.repair

Beefy LaSleep wrote:
Gee, for the San Francisco Bay Area, I would think film not to be a
problem. I travel the area a lot, so getting to Palo Alto is easy, and
Keeble & Schuchat is one of the biggest/professional stores around. I
haven't shot in a while (uh, the economics of buying/processing film),
but I think they're well stocked.

And a bit pricey. Not to mention rude, arrogant and service adverse.

Last time I went to look for Velvia at San Jose Camera & Video (I
dunno, they're a usually well stocked store, but often rather rude in
there!

Must have gotten inspiration from Keeble & Shuchat.

I have to say, however, that K&S' equipment rental business (other side
of the street) is very professional, helpful and polite.

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Alan Browne wrote:
Beefy LaSleep wrote:
Gee, for the San Francisco Bay Area, I would think film not to be a
problem. I travel the area a lot, so getting to Palo Alto is easy, and
Keeble & Schuchat is one of the biggest/professional stores around. I
haven't shot in a while (uh, the economics of buying/processing film),
but I think they're well stocked.

And a bit pricey. Not to mention rude, arrogant and service adverse.

Last time I went to look for Velvia at San Jose Camera & Video (I
dunno, they're a usually well stocked store, but often rather rude in
there!

Must have gotten inspiration from Keeble & Shuchat.

I have to say, however, that K&S' equipment rental business (other side
of the street) is very professional, helpful and polite.

In SF, 'Photographer's Supply' is apparently still in business, though I
haven't been there is probably 15 years.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/photographer...an-francisco-2

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam

"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote in message
...
Bill Graham wrote:
I still shoot slide film in my F5......I haven't seen anything digital
yet
that compares with the brilliant colors I get. But, the handwriting is on
the wall, and I know that it's only a question of time before film
disappears altogether.....

Disappears altogether? I doubt it. Eventually film will join those things
that people used to use and now only a few hobbists use, but is still
avalaible. For example, morse code keys, leaded gasoline (or at least
an additive to make it), home canning supplies, vacuum tubes, and so on.

With the reduction in disposable income worldwide, they will dimminish in
"for the heck of it" demand, but some people will stick with them, and
others
will take them up as ways of conserving money.

What will "kill" film, is a cheap digital camera that produces results
close enough to film that people will no longer buy film. Why pay $5 a
roll for film, when you can get a digital camera for $10? With cell phone
cameras, and kid's digital cameras (although to pricey and poor quality)
already out there, it's going to happen soon.

Compared to 40 years ago when I was a teenager, when you could get 3 or
4 types of black and white film in 4 or 5 sizes and 3 types of color film
in any drugstore, supermarket, etc. film has dryed up and gone away. But
dissappear altogther? Not for a long time.

Geoff.


Taking this thread a bit sideways... Recently, a fashion designer contacted
me about using my studio, specifically my high-key studio. He would do his
own shooting on digital for his website and promo literture. While he was
shooting in that studio, I was able to shoot some experimental and sample
portraits in my other studio with his models. His models were all young
(legal age of course) and had only ever worked with digital shooters,
machine-gunning to hopefully get a good shot. They had never worked with a
film photographer who would direct and pose them, making small adjustments
to a foot, a hand, a sleeve, or a collar; then take one shot and move on to
another pose or set. By the end of the day, the models had a appreciation
for the difference between film and digital.

Contrasting Mr Mendelson's next-to-last paragraph: what will "kill" digital
(or at least give it a kick in the -ahem-) is people losing their photos due
to the failure of their storage medium, whether it be faded inkjet printed
pictures, failed hard drives, online storage companies that go under without
notice, or CD's that get scratched. I've talked to people who have
experienced these things, and while they still have their digital camera or
cell phone camera, when it's an 'important' picture, they pull out the old
film camera.

I agree that film still has a lot of life to it.

"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote in message
...
Bill Graham wrote:
I still shoot slide film in my F5......I haven't seen anything digital
yet
that compares with the brilliant colors I get. But, the handwriting is on
the wall, and I know that it's only a question of time before film
disappears altogether.....

Disappears altogether? I doubt it. Eventually film will join those things
that people used to use and now only a few hobbists use, but is still
avalaible. For example, morse code keys, leaded gasoline (or at least
an additive to make it), home canning supplies, vacuum tubes, and so on.

With the reduction in disposable income worldwide, they will dimminish in
"for the heck of it" demand, but some people will stick with them, and
others
will take them up as ways of conserving money.

What will "kill" film, is a cheap digital camera that produces results
close enough to film that people will no longer buy film. Why pay $5 a
roll for film, when you can get a digital camera for $10? With cell phone
cameras, and kid's digital cameras (although to pricey and poor quality)
already out there, it's going to happen soon.

Compared to 40 years ago when I was a teenager, when you could get 3 or
4 types of black and white film in 4 or 5 sizes and 3 types of color film
in any drugstore, supermarket, etc. film has dryed up and gone away. But
dissappear altogther? Not for a long time.

Geoff.

This may all be true, but when the only way to get it is to purchase it by
mail order from specialty shops at some ridiculous elevated price, then it
will be effectively, "dead", or at least dead as far as I am concerned.
Right now, I can still get it in most drug stores, and Wal Marts and the
like. My camera, for example, is very convenient because it uses double A
batteries, which are easily available almost anywhere. But this convenience
will be nullified when there is no more film available anywhere in town, and
I have to order it from some weird collector somewhere.

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
.com...
This report is likely to only be of interest to those still shooting
film (i.e., what this newsgroup is *supposed* to be about).

Being out of slow-speed color print film, went to Target[1] yesterday
with hopes that they'd still have film.
************************************************** ************************
Digital has some problems that I'm seeing already. One, while we who are
discussing it are using computers, some people don't like computers or
printing out pictures with a printer. They may only take a few rolls per
year and they will just give up on photography or get a disposable film
camera. As has been mentioned, storage is still not something that people
do. Many photos are taken with cell phones but are not preserved on a CD.
Ask people about archival CD's and they ask, What's that? I remember many
times in the pre-digital days when a woman at work would bring in a whole
bunch of photos of her grandkids to pass around. You don't see that any
more. Yes, they show you one picture on their cell phone that is the size
of a postage stamp and that is it. The fad will die out someday and people
will return to film. Ric.

On 2/18/2009 6:10 PM Ric Trexell spake thus:

[...] I remember many times in the pre-digital days when a woman at
work would bring in a whole bunch of photos of her grandkids to pass
around. You don't see that any more. Yes, they show you one picture
on their cell phone that is the size of a postage stamp and that is
it. The fad will die out someday and people will return to film.

One wonders if film company CEOs aren't thinking exactly the same thing
and hedging their bets, just in case ...


--
Personally, I like Vista, but I probably won't use it. I like it
because it generates considerable business for me in consulting and
upgrades. As long as there is hardware and software out there that
doesn't work, I stay in business. Incidentally, my company motto is
"If this stuff worked, you wouldn't need me".

- lifted from sci.electronics.repair

On Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:15:39 -0500, Alan Browne
wrote:



And a bit pricey. Not to mention rude, arrogant and service adverse.

Last time I went to look for Velvia at San Jose Camera & Video (I
dunno, they're a usually well stocked store, but often rather rude in
there!

Must have gotten inspiration from Keeble & Shuchat.

I have to say, however, that K&S' equipment rental business (other side
of the street) is very professional, helpful and polite.

With that in mind, and as I say I often get around the Bay mostly from
Palo Alto-Hayward, south to Monterey-Salinas, Santa Cruz, and all of
Silicon Valley in general. What's your recommendation for a store with
the kinds of films like Velvia, along with personnel who are kind
enough to thank you for your business??

In article , Ric
Trexell wrote:

The fad will die out someday and people will return to film.

it's not a fad.

In article , Ken Hart1
wrote:

Taking this thread a bit sideways... Recently, a fashion designer contacted
me about using my studio, specifically my high-key studio. He would do his
own shooting on digital for his website and promo literture. While he was
shooting in that studio, I was able to shoot some experimental and sample
portraits in my other studio with his models. His models were all young
(legal age of course) and had only ever worked with digital shooters,
machine-gunning to hopefully get a good shot. They had never worked with a
film photographer who would direct and pose them, making small adjustments
to a foot, a hand, a sleeve, or a collar; then take one shot and move on to
another pose or set. By the end of the day, the models had a appreciation
for the difference between film and digital.

nothing about digital prevents someone from taking their time and there
were bulk film backs for power shooters.

Contrasting Mr Mendelson's next-to-last paragraph: what will "kill" digital
(or at least give it a kick in the -ahem-) is people losing their photos due
to the failure of their storage medium, whether it be faded inkjet printed
pictures, failed hard drives, online storage companies that go under without
notice, or CD's that get scratched. I've talked to people who have
experienced these things, and while they still have their digital camera or
cell phone camera, when it's an 'important' picture, they pull out the old
film camera.

that's not a flaw of digital, that's just being lazy. plenty of people
have lost film to mold, heat, natural fading, fire, flood, theft, etc.


it's very easy to make a backup of a digital image and unlike film,
every copy is *identical*. plus, they can be stored in multiple
locations, making loss nearly impossible.