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Thread: film is gone

  1. #21
    Beverly Hills, California
    Join Date
    Feb 2000
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    Beverly Hills, CA
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    1,108

    film is gone

    Just on what Kodak's CEO says, you can tell he does not understand people and how they relate to photography. He seems like an imbecile. Kodak needs to definitely dump him. I doubt he knows the order to develope film if you stuck the developer, stop, and fix in front of him.

  2. #22
    Big Negs Rock!
    Join Date
    Mar 2000
    Location
    Pasadena
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    1,188

    film is gone

    Having been to building 19 at Kodak. And knowing the size of the film rolls that they coat. And knowing that the sliting, cut machines are all automated. It's an easy thing to make film in that building! If the CEO is talking about film being dead, look at his back ground. It's all a matter of how much profit, not that there is a profit. I know for a fact that the Motion Picture Imaging division of Kodak is the highest profit division of them all. There is a profit, but it is enough? I don't know. This is where smaller companies buy the facilities and make the product. If all the workers are brought into the profit/loss equation, and participate, I'm sure there's money to spare -- especially since the CEO makes about 425 times the salary of the floor worker. (That's where the pension funds have gone and medical too. Someone pays for the CEO, and other top execs salaries -- usually the workers.)

    MW
    Mark Woods

    Large Format B&W
    Cinematography Mentor at the American Film Institute
    Past President of the Pasadena Society of Artists
    Director of Photography
    Pasadena, CA
    www.markwoods.com

  3. #23

    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Posts
    783

    film is gone

    > Sorry, doomsayers. There are still and will continue to be more sheet films available than any of us will ever use.

    Well Steve I sure hope your right.... I too think film will be around in one fashion or another for quite some time, but that would only raise the next logical questions..... at what price, what lead times, process chemicals, process costs, etc. etc. When a market crashes, it crashes fast.

    As an example, film recorders were big business till about 1998, then digital projection came into play....... I remember reading, there was about 13 makers of film recorders that year, now down to 2, other then a few stragglers holding on to a few extra parts till they are exhausted. The entire industry collapsed in less then 5 years.

    A Screen Rep told me Screen USA sold about 400 drum and flatbed scanners per year in USA..... in the last 2 years, they have avg. less then 3 per year. Heidleberg I beleive stopped making scanners around 2001.

    The point being, these markets crash so hard, sometimes its hard to pick up the pieces and continue. In our case, I beleive the advancement of quality and price of the 40 MP+ digital backs is what will dictate how well the pieces can be picked up from the film market. Since the first 40 MP backs are just hitting the market, the LF community is equal to where the 35mm film market was in about 1999 when the CAnon D30 hit the market. If the high end progresses at the same rate the low end did (I doubt it) then doomsday will come faster then any of us imagined. On the other hand, if the volume of these high MP backs remains low and no breakthroughs in technology is had, I feel we are safe for at least 5 more years.

    Personaly, if I was just entering photography in a big way, I would NOT enter the film market with the current climate. However, those of us with a ton of film cameras / lenses, we have a big incentive to ride the wave.....mainly the exhorbitant cost of digital gear and accessories. The switch to digital isn't so easy for view camera users, as most of us would need sharper lenses and different camera systems, other then the small well suited 4x5 cameras.

  4. #24

    film is gone

    After contemplating and experiencing the whole gamut of emotions I'm sure we've all been experiencing this past year...here's the way I see it:

    1. Not long ago every camera on the planet shot film
    2. Huge companies postured themselves to supply that film
    3. Digital came along and rapidly swept nearly all film camera users away leaving these companies high and dry
    4. Vulnerable for the obvious reasons, these companies are crumbling like a sand castle hit by a wave
    5. Nitch group of film users remain (even though they're a little scared :-)
    6. Film/silver printing is now truly becoming an alternative process (who'd of thought it'd happen so quick?)
    7. Small nitch companies are born to supply their demand (who knows, maybe kodak could spin itself off into a compact powerful nitch company built from the ground up with a strategy for satisfying a demand the size of ours.)
    8. Hand made photos appreciate in value and become even more desirable.
    9. All is beautiful (cue birds chirping)

    Is it scary? Yes. After-all, kodak is synonymous with photography. It's no wonder there's a panic as we watch it fall apart at the seams. Is it bumpy? Yes. We are in the midst of a transition period. But, as long as the demand is there, the supply will be too. We will be able to make our treasured hand made silver prints from negative for as long as we demand!

    Keep the faith baby!

  5. #25
    www.thinknegative.com.au
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Sydney, Australia
    Posts
    38

    film is gone

    ""...And they will be able to correct problems like red eye when they snap the picture, not after the fact.""

    - so all this technology just for that? red eye? the guy needs his head read...

  6. #26

    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Eugene, Oregon, USA
    Posts
    50

    film is gone

    Hi Bobby. My sentiments exactly. Keeping the faith...

  7. #27

    film is gone

    Time for another survey to see how many people actually use the the forum. Or they could just count the answers.

    Hope Steve Simons is right.

    I see the problem as pros using 90% of film and they are going digital. That doesn`t leave much left.

    I keep saying to stop buying stuff in yellow boxes NOW. Others make good products and they better get support or they are gone too. Every dollar you give to yellow is a dollar they use to finance digital.

  8. #28

    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Posts
    102

    film is gone

    Yeah, yeah, and the sky is falling according to someone named Chicken Little. I guess the Yankee Army will be marching into Richmond again this morning, so just go ahead and panic everyone. If you want film, paper, and developers try Anthony Guidice's Defender Photographic at www.defenderphoto.com.

  9. #29

    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    2,955

    film is gone

    Please correct me if I am wrong, most pros have switched to digital backs, since the price is not prohibitive for them. Most amateurs have not, since backs competitive with LF, such as the 40MP, are $30,000.

    It's anyones guess what a 40MP back will sell for in ten years: $10,000; $3000; who knows. But I imagine most amateurs will not be buying one for at least five years.

    So I imagine the demand for sheet film will remain fairly stable for at least the next five years.

  10. #30

    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    No. Virginia
    Posts
    364

    film is gone

    Now I know it's not the same thing. What Steve says about someone else coming in and picking up the divisions...But...Twenty five years ago AMF owned Harley-Davidson and they ran it into the ground. The brass were bean counters that knew less than nothing about motorcycles. The Harley people pooled their money, bought the company, the rest is history.

    Far feched? Maybe, but I can dream can't I? Someplace in that company or just retired, are a bunch of oldtime film lovers who know more about film than the rest of the film world combined.

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