How much longer for 4x5 color film?

[Thom Bennett]

I know this may be a difficult question to answer but...

How much longer will Kodak and Fuji make 4x5 color film, both negative and transparency? At least five years? Less? Any good, solid facts available to answer this question? I'm thinking of dumping my 4x5 gear and strictly shoot larger formats in b&w and use (gasp!) digital for any color I need to shoot. Kind of thinking out loud.

Thanks,

Thom

[Oren Grad]

Any good, solid facts available to answer this question?

No.

[vinny]

17 days

[dsphotog]

Stock-up!

[Light Guru]

Any good, solid facts available to answer this question?

I'm sure that the people who have that information are under non disclosure agreements.

[Drew Wiley]

How much longer till Seven Eleven no longer sells corn dogs? How much longer till an asteroid hits the earth? I shoot LF
color film quite a bit and print it in the darkroom with a real enlarger. I'm not worried. Change happens. I'm not going to let all sorts of "what if" fears tamper with my work. I adapt, but that has been the case for decades. All the current digital goodies will go obsolete just as fast, maybe faster. Software gets outdated. Gadgets wear out. Manufacturers change.
What do you WANT to do? Otherwise, go examine the entrails of an owl, or consult some voodoo priestess down in the
swamp there somewhere.

[Tin Can]

@Drew LOL

[Thom Bennett]

"What do you WANT to do?"

Gather as much relevant information as I can so I can make an informed decision as to what is best for me.

[Drew Wiley]

Why are you doing this? What objective? Stock photography, personal images, what? Do you LIKE working with film or with
digital gear? Hard to make good images if you hate the workflow. Do you intend to scan the results, print them optically,
or do direct digital capture. Your personal taste and work preferences are every bit as integral to this as hypothetical end of
the world film scenarios. You could just as easily invest a ton of money in digital gear and find out twenty days later the
mfg is out of business and no longer backs up the warranty, or has technologically moved on to something else. Then if film,
you have a basic choice between chromes and color negs. One is dependent upon Fuji, the other largely on Kodak. The quality
of the current color neg films and printing papers is simply remarkable. All kinds of options out there. But NONE or them is
risk free, or safe from some form of obsolescence. What comprises "digital" today probably won't represent "digital" tomorrow.

[Steve Smith]

Ten years ago, it was about three years.


Steve.