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Thread: The comeback of film?

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  1. #1
    Marco Fantin
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    Aug 2014
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    The comeback of film?

    Hi,

    is film photography really coming back? Do you have any story to share? Either positive or negative?
    This thread is meant to collect some anecdotal evidence on the subject. Please feel free to contribute with any personal story of "feeling" about the topic. I would love to hear about that.
    My Youtube Channel - Darkroom and large format tutorials

  2. #2

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    El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula
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    Re: The comeback of film?

    For LF I never knew that film went away. For negative I shoot Portra or FP4+. For positive I still have a bit of Ektachrome but don’t shoot it anymore.

    How about you?

  3. #3
    Marco Fantin
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    Re: The comeback of film?

    I will keep it close to the topic of the title... I'll try. I started with film 12 years ago, in the full growth of digital. I am a chemist so the whole process is somewhat natural for me.
    I don't know if film is coming back, but for sure I know that digital is slowing down (if we don't factor in the cellphones). I have a Hasselblad that I don't use and goes up in value 10-20% every year, which tells me that there is some demand. Large format is still too expensive for digital, if you're not a telescope owner. But one day we will have widespread large format sensor, I think it is inevitable looking at the progress.
    Regarding the process, I think that film still makes sense for 90+% of non professionals, but many people love tech more than art. Also, 99% of teenagers probably don't know exactly what film is.
    These are my thoughts.
    My Youtube Channel - Darkroom and large format tutorials

  4. #4
    Mark Sawyer's Avatar
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    Stuck inside of Tucson with the Neverland Blues again...
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    Re: The comeback of film?

    Quote Originally Posted by marcookie View Post
    I have a Hasselblad that I don't use and goes up in value 10-20% every year, which tells me that there is some demand...
    Some of that may be owed to digital backs for Hasselblads. But yeah, film is being wiped out by new technologies like wet plate and Daguerreotype.
    "I love my Verito lens, but I always have to sharpen everything in Photoshop..."

  5. #5

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    Re: The comeback of film?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Sawyer View Post
    Some of that may be owed to digital backs for Hasselblads. But yeah, film is being wiped out by new technologies like wet plate and Daguerreotype.
    "New technologies" What cave have you been hiding in for almost 200 years?

  6. #6

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    Re: The comeback of film?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Noel View Post
    "New technologies" What cave have you been hiding in for almost 200 years?
    Pretty sure that's sarcasm Tim.

  7. #7
    Foamer
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    South Dakota
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    Re: The comeback of film?

    I shot only film (of course) from 1985 until 2005. Bought a Nikon digital camera in 2005 and shot no film until 2010. I then got possession of my mother-n-law's Kodak Brownie and thought what the hell, might as well try it. Shot a few rolls and loved it! I started shooting 4x5 again shortly after, this time I only shot b&w where before I was shooting only color. I began buying more old cameras and old lenses (and I mean really old, like 1850s!) I'm now also shooting the dry plates (love them) and am seriously looking into wet plate. I always take a film camera with me on trips along with the Nikon digital, and sometimes I go out and am only shooting film (or dry plates.) I'd say I'm using film about 40% of the time now.


    Kent in SD
    In contento ed allegria
    Notte e di vogliam passar!

  8. #8

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    Dec 2017
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    The Netherlands
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    Re: The comeback of film?

    Obviously I did shoot film, 135, medium and large format. Started digital, and occasionally I shot medium format (Mamiya gear C330, RB67 Pro S / SD). A few years back I collected images for a workshop. Worked digital mostly for more than 10 years, yet it turned out that the best images were shot on film. In the digital age, I was asked to do a wedding on film, which I still could and did. A few years back I got again into large format, now with the camera's I dreamed of decades ago (Sinar P2 4x5" and 8x10"). Landscapes are now mostly on film, as is architecture. Digital is for ease and speed, airshows. Love both formats. In my workshops, a 64"x80" print made from a drum scanned 8x10" film is breathtaking.
    I own the gear, but those don't make masterpieces. My everyday experience.

  9. #9

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    Re: The comeback of film?

    At one point nobody would have said that this 2018 film still would be manufactured. Ilford reports 5% growth in sales. Last Star Wars 8 and Mission Impossible 6: Fallout have been shot in film. Last James Bond film was shot in film when the predecing release of the franchise was shot digital...

    ... and we have a legion of top wedding photographers, the elite in that sector, that are making an amazing film usage, demonstrating to anybody that wants to see, the truth: film it's still a unique medium for making images.


    But we are still critically endangered, we are witnessing the Neopan's vile assassination (one of the greatests BW films ever !), we also have seen that Fuji discontinued color negative film in sheets. We hear worries about the future availability of Velvia/Provia sheets. New Ektachrome is not arriving....We also see that some manufacturers (Kokak and Fuji) fix high prices for sheets, discouraging LF newcommers...


    But what I also see is that newcomers to film show happiness in their eyes. This is a powerful new hope.

    https://photographylife.com/why-i-sh...g-photographer





    To me the challenge is to gather a film user's base that allows Kodak and Fuji think in the long term for color film.

    My guess is that current sales do allow to keep the color business running in the short term, but color film has refined high technology inside that requires skilled technicians and scientists, it looks that this kind of professionals are now scarce in the manufacturing sector, not only new developments are mostly halted but also, as time passes, it should be more difficut to handle the amount of knowledge that color film requires.

    So nothing will stop BW analog photography, but we need more photographers engaging the amazing film subculture to protect color film aganist future discontinuation.

    It is important that all of us make an effort to promote the film subculture, of course it's not about fighting digital, at all, digital it's amazing !.

    Film it's a unique tool that has a century long heritage in their back. It's a unique tool that allows a way to craft and a way to interpret light that has been refined by incredibly good artists and technicians, providing an amazing set of unique aesthetic and creative resources, I think that this has to be our message...



  10. #10

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    Jan 2007
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    Bend, OR
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    Re: The comeback of film?

    I exited in 2012 when the Kodak 5 liter E6 kits became scarce. I missed it for 6 years and am now back with the ability to get Fuji E-6 developing kits from Freestyle. I regret some of the stuff I sold as it is currently going for about 3x what I paid but I have a reasonable facsimile of my old kit in hand and as soon as the wildfires die down a bit will get out and use it on fall colors. Hopefully Provia and these kits will be around for some time to come- if not, Ill deal with their absence when that time comes.

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