Maybe Film is Dead AAARRRGGHHH (longish)

Graham Fountain wrote:

OK, I don't want to admit it, I don't want to believe it, but I'm
almost starting to think it has happened, that film is dead.

Sad, isn't it?

I find I can achieve more, easier now than I could with film but do get
a bit nostalgic for the old days sometimes. I haven't had a darkroom in
many years but still get a warm fuzzy feeling whenever I smell photo
chemicals. :-)

--
-Mike

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

OK, I don't want to admit it, I don't want to believe it, but I'm almost
starting to think it has happened, that film is dead.
I've been very busy with work lately, so I haven't been out shooting much,
and hadn't recently taken much notice of what I had in the fridge. This week
I am on leave, so decided to go out and do some shooting - try to capture
some autumn colours while they're around etc. Go to the fridge and I have
nothing left in colour, only B&W films, so off I go to my friendly local
camera place where I've bought all my film in the past. My bottle of B&W dev
is almost empty so thought I'd grab a bit of that too.

Walked into the shop and it's all different - lots of empty spaces, and
where they used to have a big shelf full of various films, it's now all
photo frames. Where they used to have a shelf full of B&W home developing
and printing gear, it's now all bags for digital cameras. It is about 4
months since I was last in there, and back then they seemed to have heaps of
film and developing stuff. Asked the bloke behind the counter, and he
showed me a little basket with a 50% off sign on it, that had a couple of
packs of Ilford 5x7 paper, and a bottle of fixer - that was all they had
left of all their home developing/printing. Asked about getting some colour
film - in the hope of picking up some velvia, sensia or reala (in that
order). He shows me another basket of film 50% off - there are a couple of
rolls of velvia and a few other chromes in 120, but nothing in 35mm. The
only 35mm film they have now is Kodak Gold, and Fuji Superia 400 - the same
crap I can get in the supermarket, although I can get 3 packs in the
supermarket for the same price they sell 1 roll for. He suggested 2 other
shops - I don't like either of these other 2 shops because when I've dealt
with them in the past they've been ******s (trying to push C41 B&W film down
my throat because they can process it). Both of these other stores pretend
to be Pro shops - one is a shopfront for the biggest local studio
photographers, and the other has "pro" in their name. So reluctantly I go
into these - neither of them sell any chrome films, and once again, neither
of them sell anything other than the supermarket films, at 3-4 times the
price of supermarket film. (One even had a pack on the shelf that had an
exclusive offer for one of the supermarkets that they'd crossed out with a
marking pen - obviously they just buy it at the supermarket then resell it).

I hate to say it, but it certainly seems to me that if you can't buy decent
film in a city of 100,000 people, that maybe, just maybe, film did die
sometime in the last few months. I don't want to, but it looks like I'm
going to be forced into using less film and more digital - just because of
the availability of film. I know I can still buy it off the net, but that
will mean planning what I want more closely - gone are the days of being
able to pick up a roll of something unusual if I have an unusual need crop
up.

Starlord wrote:

Film is NOT dead, even in the wal-mart today I saw a good bunch of
film. Anyone who thinks film is dead is most likly dead themselves.

Maybe not dead, but it was coughing up blood last night. :-)

--
-Mike

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Graham Fountain wrote:
OK, I don't want to admit it, I don't want to believe it, but I'm
almost starting to think it has happened, that film is dead.
I've been very busy with work lately, so I haven't been out shooting
much, and hadn't recently taken much notice of what I had in the
fridge. This week I am on leave, so decided to go out and do some
shooting - try to capture some autumn colours while they're around
etc. Go to the fridge and I have nothing left in colour, only B&W
films, so off I go to my friendly local camera place where I've
bought all my film in the past. My bottle of B&W dev is almost empty
so thought I'd grab a bit of that too.
Walked into the shop and it's all different - lots of empty spaces,
and where they used to have a big shelf full of various films, it's
now all photo frames. Where they used to have a shelf full of B&W
home developing and printing gear, it's now all bags for digital
cameras. It is about 4 months since I was last in there, and back
then they seemed to have heaps of film and developing stuff. Asked
the bloke behind the counter, and he showed me a little basket with
a
50% off sign on it, that had a couple of packs of Ilford 5x7 paper,
and a bottle of fixer - that was all they had left of all their home
developing/printing. Asked about getting some colour film - in the
hope of picking up some velvia, sensia or reala (in that order). He
shows me another basket of film 50% off - there are a couple of
rolls
of velvia and a few other chromes in 120, but nothing in 35mm. The
only 35mm film they have now is Kodak Gold, and Fuji Superia 400 -
the same crap I can get in the supermarket, although I can get 3
packs in the supermarket for the same price they sell 1 roll for. He
suggested 2 other shops - I don't like either of these other 2 shops
because when I've dealt with them in the past they've been ******s
(trying to push C41 B&W film down my throat because they can process
it). Both of these other stores pretend to be Pro shops - one is a
shopfront for the biggest local studio photographers, and the other
has "pro" in their name. So reluctantly I go into these - neither of
them sell any chrome films, and once again, neither of them sell
anything other than the supermarket films, at 3-4 times the price of
supermarket film. (One even had a pack on the shelf that had an
exclusive offer for one of the supermarkets that they'd crossed out
with a marking pen - obviously they just buy it at the supermarket
then resell it).
I hate to say it, but it certainly seems to me that if you can't buy
decent film in a city of 100,000 people, that maybe, just maybe,
film
did die sometime in the last few months. I don't want to, but it
looks like I'm going to be forced into using less film and more
digital - just because of the availability of film. I know I can
still buy it off the net, but that will mean planning what I want
more closely - gone are the days of being able to pick up a roll of
something unusual if I have an unusual need crop up.

That is sad, and injurious in a way; fortunately, the increased
utility and quality of digital means it doesn't have to be /entirely/
disabling.

--
Frank ess

Film is NOT dead, even in the wal-mart today I saw a good bunch of film.
Anyone who thinks film is dead is most likly dead themselves.


--
There are those who believe that life here, began out there, far across the
universe, with tribes of humans, who may have been the forefathers of the
Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. Some believe that they may yet be
brothers of man, who even now fight to survive, somewhere beyond the
heavens.


The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Sidewalk Astronomy
www.sidewalkastronomy.info
The Church of Eternity
http://home.inreach.com/starlord/church/Eternity.html
AD World
http://www.adworld.netfirms.com/


"Graham Fountain" wrote in message

Well I've got over 100 rolls of film and 4 working cameras and a snapfish
accout and right now well over 500 prints online. It's far from being dead
in my book. They'd have to pry the film camera out of my dead hands.


--
There are those who believe that life here, began out there, far across the
universe, with tribes of humans, who may have been the forefathers of the
Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. Some believe that they may yet be
brothers of man, who even now fight to survive, somewhere beyond the
heavens.


The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Sidewalk Astronomy
www.sidewalkastronomy.info
The Church of Eternity
http://home.inreach.com/starlord/church/Eternity.html
AD World
http://www.adworld.netfirms.com/


"Mike Warren" wrote in message
...
Starlord wrote:

Film is NOT dead, even in the wal-mart today I saw a good bunch of
film. Anyone who thinks film is dead is most likly dead themselves.

Maybe not dead, but it was coughing up blood last night. :-)

--
-Mike

Graham Fountain wrote:

Personally, I don't want to have to spend $5k Australian on a 5D,
just so that I can still achieve the same quality that I have been
able to get for the last 20 years.

Why? It's a win win situation for everyone important. The camera
manufacturers get to make a new model every 5 minutes and the shops get
to sell you a new 5K camera every two or three years.

Oops, forgot the sarcasm tags.

--
-Mike

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Starlord" wrote in message
. ..
Film is NOT dead, even in the wal-mart today I saw a good bunch of film.
Anyone who thinks film is dead is most likly dead themselves.
I don't want it to be dead - I'm still primarily a film shooter. My post was
a gripe that in a city of 100,000 people, which is not a small city by
Australian standards, I cannot buy anything except supermarket film. Yes I
can walk into a Big W which is the aussie equivalent of Walmart, and see a
big shelf full of film - but sadly it is a big shelf of Kodak Gold 400, Fuji
Superia 400 and some crap that says "Agfa Vista" on the outside of the box,
but is a long way from being the Agfa Vista that I used a couple of years
ago.
The thing that has surprised me with digital taking over from film, is that
digital has replaced the films that digital can't emulate. What I mean by
that is - these supermarket films that I can easily buy, are absolute crap
compared to what even the cheapest digicams can do. A typical 4MP consumer
camera that sells for $100-$150 in Australia (probably less in USA) will
outperform supermarket films by a long shot. Yet good Slide, C41 and B&W
films are rivalled only by the very best of the current crop of DSLRs. One
would expect then that the good films would have held on in the market
place, while the supermarket films would have died - what I am seeing here
is the exact opposite. It may be different in other parts of the world.
Personally, I don't want to have to spend $5k Australian on a 5D, just so
that I can still achieve the same quality that I have been able to get for
the last 20 years.


--
There are those who believe that life here, began out there, far across
the universe, with tribes of humans, who may have been the forefathers of
the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. Some believe that they may
yet be brothers of man, who even now fight to survive, somewhere beyond
the heavens.


The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Sidewalk Astronomy
www.sidewalkastronomy.info
The Church of Eternity
http://home.inreach.com/starlord/church/Eternity.html
AD World
http://www.adworld.netfirms.com/


"Graham Fountain" wrote in message

Exatca, Exa, 2 Topcon Super D's, Pentax k1000, and two or three usa made olf
rangefider 35mm cameras from the 50's and a freezer full of film. That's
what I have and use, oh ya I forgot my 100ft roll of B/W film too and not
all that frozen film is print, a good number is also slide film. And I live
in a town in the high mojave desert of calif next door to Edwards AFB where
the shuttle can land and there's still lots of film being shot and done
here, maybe in your backwards place they've forgotten the use of film, but
even up at the supermarket they use their new 1 hour machine and print a
good number of prints after delping the film every day. So here in the good
old USA, film is not dread, not by a long shot.


--
There are those who believe that life here, began out there, far across the
universe, with tribes of humans, who may have been the forefathers of the
Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. Some believe that they may yet be
brothers of man, who even now fight to survive, somewhere beyond the
heavens.


The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Sidewalk Astronomy
www.sidewalkastronomy.info
The Church of Eternity
http://home.inreach.com/starlord/church/Eternity.html
AD World
http://www.adworld.netfirms.com/


"Graham Fountain" wrote in message
...

I don't want it to be dead - I'm still primarily a film shooter. My post
was a gripe that in a city of 100,000 people, which is not a small city by

In article
,
"Graham Fountain" wrote:

One would expect then that the good films would have held on in the
market
place, while the supermarket films would have died - what I am seeing here
is the exact opposite.

the market place is made up of your mom & pop's with their old brownie
cameras who don't understand what a pixel is. the pro's have shifted to
digital years ago.

welcome to 2007.