Jim, Ilford will always have problems while the management/skivvies or whatever they're self opinionated employees are called. They even alienate film users in their home market. The future lies in the east!
Pete.
Jim, Ilford will always have problems while the management/skivvies or whatever they're self opinionated employees are called. They even alienate film users in their home market. The future lies in the east!
Pete.
Oh my! What a long, strange thread this has been!
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
Clay will have to speak for himself, but I can certainly live with it.
My 6.5x8.5 Ebony/Lotus adventure was embarked upon with full understanding that I'd be paying a high price for the nonrecurring costs. Even at that time, Hiromi was unwilling to lower his quote per camera for quantity 2 -- there was another person (not Clay) who was considering ordering simultaneously. I'm not sure what annual order volume might convince Ebony to eliminate "custom" status and reduce price to the vicinity of what it charges for an SV810. Perhaps Ian Wilson might be able to share that with you off line.
The greatest reaction I have to all this recent 6.5x8.5 activity, including Fotoman holders and possible Chamonix cameras, is elation. All you folks are going to be purchasing film! That will keep me and a Rotatrim from having to cut down 8x10 in the dark for many years' worth of Ilford special order periods. It might even convince Simon Galley to offer 6.5x8.5 Delta 100 next time.
Yeah, I can live with it. Even if you were suddenly able to get an Ebony for less than the cost of one of its 4x5s!
anti-Canadian issue??? Now that's the funniest thing I've heard all day. You Yanks are soooo jealous, aren't ya?I'm not even going to touch the anti-Canadian issue ...
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/andy8x10
Flickr Site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/62974341@N02/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.oneill.artist/
My lab still prints by hand and by Durst Lambda on to all sorts of traditional media.
I have a 11x14 mint condition Deveere colour enlarger just waiting to print some 11x14 negs.
We are actually increasing the size of our darkrooms to accomodate large mural prints , funny we are getting more and more requests and right now I am in the middle of making 30 mural tritoned prints for our exhibition and promotion needs.
Andre Laradeo*Dmax* has joined with me here in Toronto to produce very large hand and digital fibre murals as well as colour. We are working from film and files daily onto various wet processes.
We also print large format Epson inkjet but I do prefer the wet prints over the ink, but with that said I would for specific projects nothing beats the ink print.
Film based printing is a shrinking market for sure but if one has a strong enough sphincter and the guts to hold onto the wet side of things the work gravitates to the last labs standing.
We just purchased a 40x60 hot press for the larger prints and combined with an 40x60 auto mat cutter we are able to make a profit with silver mural prints.
Being in Toronto helps as the rent is bearable compared to the larger markets, and you do need a lot of space to be competent fibre mural printing.
I do consider colour hand prints from artist who are serious and willing to go the distance in producing a show.* it definately is harder to make hand prints vs lambda prints* but we do both for our client base.
I know of at least 10 labs still willing to work on an enlarger as well as a laser device, this may change as the owner/operator moves on in years , but right now I think there are a lot of options.
I have been working my whole professional life to be able to do this and am extremely happy to be doing so now and in the future.
One thing that has not changed for us, I definately prefer to work with the Artist face to face rather than FTP as lunch bag letdown, or our inability to read the artist vision via the internet is a real pain in the ass. Working this way really takes a lot of patience and wilingness to figure out how we work together over long distances. So unfortunately for long term relationships between printer/photographer a visit to Toronto is vital at some point.
*Only in Canada you say*
Film is not dead.
I view recent reports that film sales have leveled off at 25% of what they were at their peak as a positive sign. This reduction of film market may not be enough for the business model of a huge corporation like Kodak, but it is a great opportunity for smaller companies.
We have seen a number of competitors surface in recent years. It is true that some of the film emulsions like Technical Pan and Kodak's IR sheet surfaces have disappeared. But in fact, we still have many times the film and paper choices than we had 50 years ago.
More and more serious photographers are venturing into large format. I, myself, returned to the fold about 6 years ago after a hiatus of 40 years. Baby-boomers who want to do fine art photography in their retirement are buying large format equipment. A sheet of 8x10 has surface area similar to a 36-exposure roll of 35mm film, so even if the LF photographer only exposes 2 or three sheets at a time, there is a better return for the manufacturer than selling a roll of 35mm for 36 exposures.
I currently have an 8x10, three 4x5s, and two 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 cameras. Prices on ebay for the lenses and cameras that I purchased five or six years ago have nearly doubled.
In a View Camera interview with Ron Wisner, I believe, he mentioned that annual sales had doubled (2003 to 2004 IIRC). Elsewhere, there has been mention that the number of LF camera manufacturers worldwide has doubled over the past 10 years.
Three years ago I could not find 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 sheet film from anyone. The only manufacturer, Ilford, had ceased production. Now Ilford's HP5 is back, Efke is producing it in three different ISOs as is ARISTO.edu.
These are all indicators that the LF market is growing, not diminishing.
Despite the difficulty of obtaining film, paper, and chemicals locally, I believe that the growing interest in LF photography will keep film alive for years to come.
al
http://www.forstoringsateljen.se/
I had an "e" too many in the name. Swedish and Norwegian are just different enough to be confusing...
Bookmarks