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How long until governments shut down silver based film and paper due to pollution concerns?
At some point as digital image capture and non-silver based printing
continues to evolve I think it is reasonable to expect that various governments will eventually regulate out of existence the use of silver halide based photographic products. The production and processing of film and paper is a chemical and water intensive process which inevitably leads to some degree of real or imagined water pollution. There is historical precedence in CFCs and mercury. It seems only a matter of time until a bandwagon builds to first heavily regulate and then nearly eliminate the medium and methods we have grown used to. As the general public on one hand and professional photographers on the other continue the rapid migration towards digital capture and digital output there will be an ever smaller interest group attempting to defend the status quo. I imagine that the first thing to be attacked might be the small scale home and small business processor. The economic impact to the photo industry of requiring special licenses facilities to be able to purchase controlled substances is likely to come first. I am not saying that this is likely to happen next week, but over the next 5, 10 or 20 years it seems highly probable. Your thoughts ? John |
#2
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How long until governments shut down silver based film and paper due to pollution concerns?
On 3-Dec-2003, "John Horner" wrote: At some point as digital image capture and non-silver based printing continues to evolve I think it is reasonable to expect that various governments will eventually regulate out of existence the use of silver halide based photographic products. The production and processing of film and paper is a chemical and water intensive process which inevitably leads to some degree of real or imagined water pollution. There is historical precedence in CFCs and mercury. It seems only a matter of time until a bandwagon builds to first heavily regulate and then nearly eliminate the medium and methods we have grown used to. As the general public on one hand and professional photographers on the other continue the rapid migration towards digital capture and digital output there will be an ever smaller interest group attempting to defend the status quo. I imagine that the first thing to be attacked might be the small scale home and small business processor. The economic impact to the photo industry of requiring special licenses facilities to be able to purchase controlled substances is likely to come first. I am not saying that this is likely to happen next week, but over the next 5, 10 or 20 years it seems highly probable. Your thoughts ? As the use of silver decreases there will be less and less pressure to pick on photographers who continue to use it. -- Tom Thackrey www.creative-light.com tom (at) creative (dash) light (dot) com do NOT send email to (it's reserved for spammers) |
#3
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How long until governments shut down silver based film and paper due to pollution concerns?
I imagine that the first thing to be attacked might be the small scale home
and small business processor. Are you trying to start another run on silver-based photo products? Do you remember the time, I think it was the late 1970's, when the Hunt brothers in Texas cornered the silver market? The price of silver went out of sight. Kodak announced it would honor its then current catalog prices for 2 more months. I did an analysis of my use of all silver-based products over a 3-year period, then promptly ordered the equivalent of a 3-year supply of everything containing silver! As I recall, the price of a roll of B&W film tripled, but eventually came down some. Is it time to start keeping a 3-year supply on hand again? Best regards, David Hodge, at the top of the Chesapeake Bay. |
#4
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How long until governments shut down silver based film and paper due to pollution concerns?
John Horner wrote:
At some point as digital image capture and non-silver based printing continues to evolve I think it is reasonable to expect that various governments will eventually regulate out of existence the use of silver halide based photographic products. The production and processing of film and paper is a chemical and water intensive process which inevitably leads to some degree of real or imagined water pollution. There is historical precedence in CFCs and mercury. It seems only a matter of time until a bandwagon builds to first heavily regulate and then nearly eliminate the medium and methods we have grown used to. It's already happening to digital. You'll see it with batteries first. How long will digital cameras be allowed to use batteries? Then of course every digital camera is full of heavy metals they'll need to be treat like toxic waste. Of course home printing of digital images is a serious enviromental issue. We'll need to regulate home printers to the same standard that commerical photo labs are. How long can digital continue to get away with poisoning the enviroment? Don't know but can't be much longer. Nick |
#5
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How long until governments shut down silver based film and paper due to pollution concerns?
(1) Many artists' paint pigments are fairly toxic but have never been
banned. (2) There is also pollution from digital technology, especially when obsolete equipment (containing lead solder) is thrown away in landfills. Lead is more toxic than silver, and old computers contain lots of it. (3) As someone else pointed out, the rate of silver film usage is already plummeting; no regulation is needed. |
#6
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How long until governments shut down silver based film and paper due to pollution concerns?
Are you trying to start another run on silver-based photo products? Do you remember the time, I think it was the late 1970's, when the Hunt brothers in Texas cornered the silver market? The price of silver went out of sight. Kodak announced it would honor its then current catalog prices for 2 more months. I did an analysis of my use of all silver-based products over a 3-year period, then promptly ordered the equivalent of a 3-year supply of everything containing silver! As I recall, the price of a roll of B&W film tripled, but eventually came down some. I was a photography student at the time and noticed the price increases very much! Of course when silver came back down, the price of film and paper hardly budged on the downside. John |
#7
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How long until governments shut down silver based film and paper due to pollution concerns?
"Michael A. Covington" wrote in message ... (1) Many artists' paint pigments are fairly toxic but have never been banned. (2) There is also pollution from digital technology, especially when obsolete equipment (containing lead solder) is thrown away in landfills. Lead is more toxic than silver, and old computers contain lots of it. (3) As someone else pointed out, the rate of silver film usage is already plummeting; no regulation is needed. Just because regulation isn't needed does not mean that it will not happen . Johnj |
#8
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How long until governments shut down silver based film and paper due to pollution concerns?
Are you trying to start another run on silver-based photo products?
Do you remember the time, I think it was the late 1970's, when the Hunt brothers in Texas cornered the silver market? The price of silver went out of sight. Kodak announced it would honor its then current catalog prices for 2 more months. I did an analysis of my use of all silver-based products over a 3-year period, then promptly ordered the equivalent of a 3-year supply of everything containing silver! As I recall, the price of a roll of B&W film tripled, but eventually came down some. Is it time to start keeping a 3-year supply on hand again? Best regards, David Hodge, at the top of the Chesapeake Bay. You logic escapes me. 40% of the world silver demand is for film (including color film). Obviously, demand is dropping fast because of digital photography. Experts are predicting that silver prices will drop in the long term, or at best (for those in the silver business) remain stable. |
#9
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How long until governments shut down silver based film and paper due to pollution concerns?
Just because regulation isn't needed does not mean that it will not happen
. Johnj There is already regulation in many places about disposal of fixer, relating to the silver recovery before dumping in wastewater supplies. If the silver is removed from fixer, other B&W chemicals are rather benign (except for selenium toner). |
#10
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How long until governments shut down silver based film and paper due to pollution concerns?
Do you remember the time, I think it was the late 1970's, when the Hunt
brothers in Texas cornered the silver market? The price of silver went out of sight. As a result of that, we got TMAX films (less silver). If it makes you feel any better, the Hunt brothers eventually went bust. |
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