Glenn Kroeger
3-Oct-2004, 20:31
For someone who shoots LF E6 films, it is the best of times, it is the worst of times! The simultaneous availability of Velvia 100F, Provia 100F and Astia 100F in Quickload is great, but I worry about the future.
I assume that landscape and fine-art photography cannot support the perpetual availability of these films, and that studio product and food photography and commercial architectural photography have provided the volume demand to support the production of these products. While small companies, like Efke, can clearly maintain the supply of B&W sheet film for artistic use, it is not at all clear that E6 products can be supplied by any companies other than Fuji and Kodak. My two local professional E6 labs are both experiencing precipitous drops in the demand for E6 processing, particularly in MF.
It seems obvious that C41 emulsions and processing will survive for quite a long time given the volume of amateur use, but availability of color negative film in sheet sizes is already poor. So where does LF color go?
In the studio, scanning backs make sense. For a landscape photographer like me, it seems that trends in architectural photography might be the best guide to the future of landscape photography.
Since I am not an architectural photographer, I can't clearly envision that future. It appears that 36mm x 48mm digital chips are the convergence for MF digital. I can't see the economics of a larger single-shot chip ever leading to its manufacture, let alone affordability. (Assuming these attain the pixel density of Canon's recently announced EOS 1Ds MkII, they should top out around 33MP. That's about 140 pixels/mm which corresponds to a Nyquist of about 70 lp/mm. That would seem a pretty good match to lenses for that format. That would produce about 5000 x 6800 pixels, a 25x34 inch print at 200 dpi.)
Is this my destiny? I cannot imagine critical focusing with movements at this image size. And none of the current MF systems support movements, so I assume this leads to small view systems like Linhof 679 or Arca-Swiss?
I hope I am wrong, and that availability of E6 sheet film and processing will outlive me. But I have nightmares that my future consists of a used Canon EOS 1Ds body and a 24mm TS lens.
Any informed insight on the dynamics of the E6 film market or emerging trends in architectural photography would be appreciated.
I assume that landscape and fine-art photography cannot support the perpetual availability of these films, and that studio product and food photography and commercial architectural photography have provided the volume demand to support the production of these products. While small companies, like Efke, can clearly maintain the supply of B&W sheet film for artistic use, it is not at all clear that E6 products can be supplied by any companies other than Fuji and Kodak. My two local professional E6 labs are both experiencing precipitous drops in the demand for E6 processing, particularly in MF.
It seems obvious that C41 emulsions and processing will survive for quite a long time given the volume of amateur use, but availability of color negative film in sheet sizes is already poor. So where does LF color go?
In the studio, scanning backs make sense. For a landscape photographer like me, it seems that trends in architectural photography might be the best guide to the future of landscape photography.
Since I am not an architectural photographer, I can't clearly envision that future. It appears that 36mm x 48mm digital chips are the convergence for MF digital. I can't see the economics of a larger single-shot chip ever leading to its manufacture, let alone affordability. (Assuming these attain the pixel density of Canon's recently announced EOS 1Ds MkII, they should top out around 33MP. That's about 140 pixels/mm which corresponds to a Nyquist of about 70 lp/mm. That would seem a pretty good match to lenses for that format. That would produce about 5000 x 6800 pixels, a 25x34 inch print at 200 dpi.)
Is this my destiny? I cannot imagine critical focusing with movements at this image size. And none of the current MF systems support movements, so I assume this leads to small view systems like Linhof 679 or Arca-Swiss?
I hope I am wrong, and that availability of E6 sheet film and processing will outlive me. But I have nightmares that my future consists of a used Canon EOS 1Ds body and a 24mm TS lens.
Any informed insight on the dynamics of the E6 film market or emerging trends in architectural photography would be appreciated.