Predictions - longevity of MF film

"Scott W" wrote in message
oups.com...
Norm Dresner wrote:
"Scott W" wrote in message
oups.com...

M wrote:
Where do you live?

I live in a small coastal city in Aus and a camera store sells 120 &
220
film and takes it for processing (although they send it to the
capital to
get it done). They say they are still doing stacks of film
processing
too.



In Hawaii on the Big Island. I believe any MF processing goes off
Island.

Yeah. And buying 120 film there is a tough problem too.

Norm

Yup, and shipping cost to and from here will kill you, if you don't
want to way for a long time.

My guess is the 1Ds Mark II pretty much killed off MF here.

Yes, MF is completely dead and they'll probably stop making the film in a
few weeks. That's why it's essential that all owners of MF gear start
dumping their equipment ASAP - otherwise they'll get nothing for all this
old junk. The problem I find is that this topical information is only
reaching the purveyors of internet groups like this one. That's why it's
essential that you spread the word to all those you know that are still
sitting on old obsolete MF gear. It is imperative that these people start
dumping their gear as quickly as possible - preferably on eBay with no
reserve and low starting bids.

I am a film lover who has recently bought a DSLR for general shooting but
wants to use film for my more serious shooting and am thinking of buying a
Pentax 67II. A bit of gear like this clearly will cost a packet and would
expect to last me many many years as it is solid and well built.

How long do you predict film will be (practically) available and affordable
for MF camera's as digital is starting to creep into MF camera's. I
personally think it will last many years maybe 20 -30, what do you think?

On Tue, 15 Nov 2005 02:31:09 GMT, "M" wrote:

I am a film lover who has recently bought a DSLR for general shooting but
wants to use film for my more serious shooting and am thinking of buying a
Pentax 67II. A bit of gear like this clearly will cost a packet and would
expect to last me many many years as it is solid and well built.

How long do you predict film will be (practically) available and affordable
for MF camera's as digital is starting to creep into MF camera's. I
personally think it will last many years maybe 20 -30, what do you think?


Just so happens I talked with a professional photographer at a
gathering the other day and he told me he thinks MF film will be very
difficult to find anywhere but specialized mail order suppliers within
10 years or less. Take that for what it's worth. I intend to keep
shooting it until it goes the way of 127.

M wrote:
How long do you predict film will be (practically) available and affordable
for MF camera's as digital is starting to creep into MF camera's. I
personally think it will last many years maybe 20 -30, what do you think?

You got at least 10 years ahead of you. After that, it's anyone's
guess.

Mine is that your dslr will be obsolete long before your 120 film
camera is.

"M" wrote:
I am a film lover who has recently bought a DSLR for general shooting but
wants to use film for my more serious shooting and am thinking of buying a
Pentax 67II. A bit of gear like this clearly will cost a packet and would
expect to last me many many years as it is solid and well built.

How long do you predict film will be (practically) available and
affordable for MF camera's as digital is starting to creep into MF
camera's. I personally think it will last many years maybe 20 -30, what
do you think?

Film will be around another 5 years at least, but in 10 the pickings may be
getting slim.

But that's OK. Digital is already nipping at 645's heels with the 5D, and 10
years from now, it's not clear that there'll be any point in MF.

For the nonce, though, 6x7 is better than digital can dream of, even scanned
with an Epson 4990.

The Pentax 6x7 is kind of a monster that has always frightened me off, but
the braver souls than I get wonderful images from it.

I'd recommend getting a used 6x7 to determine if you really like the idea.
The bargain grade 6x7's at KEH look like a lot of fun. One of those plus the
Epson 4990 would be around US$1000, not a ridiculous amount of money.

http://www.keh.com/shop/product.cfm?...rid=1260007 6

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

M wrote:
I am a film lover who has recently bought a DSLR for general shooting but
wants to use film for my more serious shooting and am thinking of buying a
Pentax 67II. A bit of gear like this clearly will cost a packet and would
expect to last me many many years as it is solid and well built.

How long do you predict film will be (practically) available and affordable
for MF camera's as digital is starting to creep into MF camera's. I
personally think it will last many years maybe 20 -30, what do you think?

Well where I live 120 and 220 film are pretty much a thing of the past.
We would have to ship them out to get them processed and I would be
surpised to hear if anyone is even selling 120 here.

As far as I know you can't even get 135 slide film processed here.

Scott

Where do you live?

I live in a small coastal city in Aus and a camera store sells 120 & 220
film and takes it for processing (although they send it to the capital to
get it done). They say they are still doing stacks of film processing too.


"Scott W" wrote in message
oups.com...

M wrote:
I am a film lover who has recently bought a DSLR for general shooting but
wants to use film for my more serious shooting and am thinking of buying
a
Pentax 67II. A bit of gear like this clearly will cost a packet and
would
expect to last me many many years as it is solid and well built.

How long do you predict film will be (practically) available and
affordable
for MF camera's as digital is starting to creep into MF camera's. I
personally think it will last many years maybe 20 -30, what do you think?

Well where I live 120 and 220 film are pretty much a thing of the past.
We would have to ship them out to get them processed and I would be
surpised to hear if anyone is even selling 120 here.

As far as I know you can't even get 135 slide film processed here.

Scott

M wrote:
Where do you live?

I live in a small coastal city in Aus and a camera store sells 120 & 220
film and takes it for processing (although they send it to the capital to
get it done). They say they are still doing stacks of film processing too.



In Hawaii on the Big Island. I believe any MF processing goes off
Island.

Scott

In article ,
David J. Littleboy wrote:

For the nonce, though, 6x7 is better than digital can dream of, even scanned
with an Epson 4990.

Surely nonces[1] would prefer digital? Less chance of the processor
reporting them to the police.

[1] http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nonce

"Scott W" wrote in message
oups.com...

In Hawaii on the Big Island. I believe any MF processing goes off
Island.

How strange. The most common Fuji and Frontier machines that routinely do
35mm also do 120 and 220. Seems that when people bought them, the 120/220
option was very reasonable.