I s anyone else prowing tired of all the "death of film" comments and threads anymore. At this point, I don't care what Nikon or Kodak are doing. I am not at all upset about the way things are going, I am more angry at just how obtuse the entrie general public seems to be about these things. A few facts off the top of my head;
- used LF gear is virutally non-existant around here - it gets snapped up too quick. 4x5 enlargers get sold within a couple of weeks, and two the main large format stores in Toronto have - between the two of them , well ONE used LF lens and ONE used 4x5 camera - and that's it. If film is "dead" who's buying all this stuff?
- AZO may be "dead", but you know, I've been shooting B&W for almsot 25 years, and to the best of my recollection, even when every local camera sotre stocked wet darkroom supplies, AZO was still a special order item. The only time I ever saw AZo on the shelf is when a local camera store ordered a box extra too much on a special order;
- LF photography is between pro and artist use, IMO, and that's a good thing. Give you an example - there's a company called Lee Valley Tools here in Canada, specializes in expensive woodworking tools. In short, if you wan tto spend $100 on a single Chisel, this is the place to do it. about 6 stores in the whole country, plus mail order. The one here locally is about 5 minutes drive due north of a Wal-Mart, and yet, when you go intot hat small, speciality sotre, you always have ot take a number to get service, they are that busy, year round.
- the part that really drives me nuts is how transparent the motivation to "make film dead" is for large companies. Put it this way - i have film cameras - 35mm, 120 and 4x5, some as old as 50 years, that are completely useable, and in some cases, litterally as good as the day they were bought brand new. By compaison, my 4 year old digital camera is junk.
Think about it people, think about it, yes digital si great, I use it too, but the number one, primary reaosn digital is pushed so ahrd is because unliek film cameras, there is no way in hell that 50years from now *anybody* is going to say "this digital cmaera is a good as today as it was brand new 50 years ago." They are not going to say it 25 years from now, 10 years fomr now, maybe nto even 5 years from now. I have a 6 year old laser printer that is "no longer supported" even though there is not a single thing wrong it it. That's exactly why the large companies are pushing digital.
Wake up people and smell the coffee - it's not conspiracy, it's basic, common sense marketing 101 - build a product that is oboslete, even if it still works, inside 5 years, and you will make a lot more money than a product that is still useable after 50 years.
My apologies for flying off the handle and ranting so, but after the past week fo film is gone, Nikon is gone, etc, etc, I've just about had it. The whole internet if full of these stories, but it's like the old story of the Emporer's New Clothes, everybody knows what's going one, but is afraid to say it out loud. Why?
One last thought - my daughter missed her school pricutres due to illness, so my wife trook her this past wekend to a local superstore, and had some portriats doen there. One 8x10, 2 5x7 and a sheet of wallet sized prints - all very good - less than $10 cdn, including taxes for everything. Pretty cheap, eh?
This same weekend, through word of mouth only, some people who know i have a 4x5, and want a me to shoot and engagement picture for them with it, because it will be "something special", something different than the "other places do." The fact that I will be a lot more money that the department supertore isn't the issue - it's the percieved value of work done with a LF camera as opposed to the digital "everyone else is doing."
I really, really think the future looks superb for all LF work. Right now, we are in the middle of changing times and changing markets, and change always hurts, for better or worse. If we hang tight. ride the storm out, it's gonna be good, very good. So please, no more doom and gloom, okay? Let's try and find a way to make things work, make the future brighter, instead of waiting for the apocalypse to come?
As for Kodak and "film is gone", fine, go ahead, think that way, becasue that's exactly the reason I was in my darkroom last night loading up 25 film holders with Forte Pan 400 instead of Tri-X.
joe
(again apologies for the full ranting mode, haven't had my 6 cups of moring coffee yet.
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