Re: The future of 35mm film

I have seen these arguments before but stayed out.

However the other day at work (the OR) i suddenly
realised that X-rays are still presented on (large)
film. This includes magnetic imaging and CT scans.
The film makers aren't going to let that market go.

I see a long life for silver based images simply
because of the guarantee that they will be readable
many years from now, unlike, perhaps, digital.

Digital formats change regularly and one is left
wondering if the pictures of today will still be
seen so easily as some of the 100yo family shots I
have here.

Just a thought
Murray


Scott W wrote:

Colyn wrote:

On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 00:45:39 -0400, Franz <linz1954@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:



My question is this, is the purchase of a new high end 35mm camera a smart
move at this point in time. Will I be able to get film for the life of the
camera in realistic terms, lets say for the next 10 years?
Please do not tell me that I should go digital, I have a canon digital rebel
which is quite useful, but I still prefer film. I love film, I know film,
and I want to think I can continue to shoot film for years to come.



10 years down the road film will still be readily available so there
is no reason to not buy..

There are far too many film cameras in widespread use to discontinue
film.



Just as there were far too many turntables to ever stop making LPs.

Or too much software for CPM computer for them to ever stop being made?

Or what about PDP 8 computers, lot of people said they would be around
forever.

So far the film cameras out there have not been able to slow down the
crashing film market.  I keep wondering how you run a bussness where
you are lossing 30% of you market a year.  Telling the film
manufacturers that you really like film and so they have to keep making
it will likely fall of deaf ears.

Kodak is going to milk film for a few more years and then likely drop
it.  I know Kodak has made statements in the past about standing by
film, but they made the same statements about B/W photography, right up
to the day they announced they would stop making B/W paper.

It is not enough that people are willing to buy film, you have to be
able to make a continued profit selling it.

Here is Kodak's take on the whole thing, hard to get a warm fuzzy
feeling from this.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Perez, who joined Kodak from Hewlett-Packard Co. in 2003, took over as
CEO this year. At a company that has retained some executives for
decades, he is seen as a relative outsider, an executive steeped in
consumer electronics instead of chemical processing.

At the meeting in an auditorium in Manhattan, he predicted that Kodak
would no longer rely on film by 2008, when it would generate $3 billion
to $4 billion in sales compared to about $14 billion in digital sales.
Last year, about $5.5 billion of Kodak's $13.5 billion in revenue came
from digital photography.

"There are lot of experts out there in the decline of film," and Kodak
isn't going to try to predict when it will disappear, Perez said. But
by 2008, "we either have a truly successful digital company, or it
doesn't matter how long film is going to last."
------------------------------------------------------------------


With the great prices on used 35mm cameras why buy new? 

Scott

.

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