Mark C wrote: > If you are going to get back into film then this is probably the time > to do it. > > I do not see film doing well in the long term. The modest resurgence in > film types and brands in the past few years is probably just a dead cat > bounce. Once the market shook out the surviving manufacturers were able > to retreat a little less, and put some new labels on the market. Some > facts that do not bode well for film - > > 1. Film prints of movies have declined drastically. This was a huge > driver of the film market. It is questionable whether consumer demand > for film can drive the market. > 2. Very few film cameras are still made. The second hand market will > support users in the short term, but without cameras that use film, the > demand for it will die. > 3. Its doubtful that the market demand will justify building new film > manufacturing facilities. Many existing facilities are quite old and > cannot be repaired, Efke abruptly stopped making film when their > decades old manufacturing facility reached the point where it was not > operable. > 4. The price of film now is much higher than in the past, and it will > continue to increase as demand drops. Higher price = less demand. > > I expect film will survive for a few more decades and that B&W film > will be last to go, with color transparency being the first to go. > Eventually, I would expect that hand coated glass plates will be around > longer than film, simply because hobbyists can make a plate with a > modest investment but film can only be made in industrial facilities > that probably will be cost prohibitive to build in the future. > > If the future is one of great prosperity where people have a lot of > disposable income and the trade in luxury goods is very high - well > then maybe film will survive.
>From time to time over the years, I've looked at film body prices. I got a fair price for my camera bodies when they went, but I note that prices are staying very buoyant. Now I have no idea if that is down to an increase in film use, or there is an increase in film body collection, for people who put them in display cabinets. Either way, there is still a market for them at reasonable prices. The film I like is available again, and decent processing is available too. I don't know if this is down to a short term trend for using film again (along with fixed geared bikes and beard wax), but as I found a box of old film camera accessories which I thought I'd long ago sold, it's just a matter of finding a film body and film of my choice. A small investment compared with a new DSLR. If I find I have missed it, and I like the results and other people do the same, I suppose it's possible that film may hang on a touch longer. Malcolm -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
