Which colour film do you think will die out first?

[tim atherton]

A purely practical question - which form of colour sheet film do you think is most likely to start dying out first...? (especially 8x10) - Print or Transparency

Already in transparency Agfa APX II is gone. The likes of Astia are special order only?

Thoughts

[Jim Galli]

Kodak's :>))

[tim atherton]

very funny Jim.

Also, it serves me right for not lookign at print film that much, but after seeing a photo by Ricard Avedon in the latest NYorker, I only just realised you can get Portra 400 in 8x10 - doh!

[David A. Goldfarb]

I think Joel Meyerowitz has also been shooting mainly Portra in 8x10".

[tim atherton]

Maybe it's just too much crystal ball gazing, but I guess I'm trying to figure out which of the markets that use these types of films is going to go digital big time soonest (I would think landscape/documentary people like Meyerowitz and Misrach - who have already lost their favourtie VPS and adjusted to new emulsions, are a microsopic part of whatever market there is).

So who's still using colour materials in volume - architectural photographers? Fashion? Auto brochure shooters?

I suppose behind this is the feeling that even if Kodak and/or Ilford dump or cut back on B&W there are still likely to be smaller scale producers picking up the specialised market. But colour is another story.

tim

[Eric Rose]

You could always learn to hand color like they did in the old days before color. I use NPS 4x5 exclusively for color so I hope it stays around for awhile.

[Ted Harris]

Tim,





I, like you, worry about the rapid decline of choices in the 8x10 world. I just looked and while it feels like choices are diminishing daily I found 5 Color negative choices, 9 transparancy choices (excluding duplicating films) and 10 black and white offerings. I jsut did a quick check of one of the major mail order suppliers looking at what is supposedly in stock. Who knows waht the reality is? I suspect the story is much grimmer once you go to order.





I also suspect that there will be a wide range of 4x5 transparancy film available long after the 8x10 choices are down to one or two. Same for black and white emulsions in 8x10.





Frustrating but I am not ready to sell my Phillips 8x10 yet.

[James Driscoll]

chrome....talk to anyone working in a large city in the photo world and you will see that everyone (with the exception of product and architecture) has switched over to neg film. All of the fashion, portrait, and editorial, and travel photographers have switched.In some cases the photo editors are actually demanding Neg. film for its more "sub-dued" look. The big catalog shooters are going to digital in droves...I don't even think any major large catalog is still shot with film. Here in NYC...MOMA, and the MET have gone digital for all of their in house shooting (not a small thing...the MET has something like 12 full time photographers) and we now have publications that are shot entirely digital...shooting product that used to demand chrome. (eg:Lucky)

In NYC, 8x10 is going through a period of re-birth commerically. But it is 160NC and 400NC that is being sold by the case to portrait and fashion guys in NYC.

Of course there are still guys shooting chrome....of the "biggies" Richard Burbridge still shoots tons of velvia in 4x5 and 8x10 for his portraits, and there are "old-timers" who still like working with the material. Plus E6 service in NYC is 2.5 hours C-41 is usually 24 hours.

[Jim_3565]

I know that the National Gallery of Art uses Ektachrome 64T (EPY) to catalogue the collection, which will eventually be searchable in its entirety on the web. However, I also know that a move to scanning digital backs for everything is in the works. I'm sure my beloved EPY is not long for this world.

Since it is available in Readyloads, however, I'm hopeful that Kodak will discontinue those first and at least give me a little warning.

[John Cook]

The most vulnerable films seem to be:

(1) Anything larger than 35mm. The larger, the more in danger.

(2) Anything made by Kodak or Agfa, both of whom are determined to get out of the film business. And soon!

(3) Anything not easily nor quickly developed, such as Kodachrome.

(4) Anything the novice, casual family happy-snappers aren't using. There are many more amateurs than professionals - they drive the market.