There has been a lot of negativity (pun partially intended)
around film lately. Prophets of doom
have been heralding the end saying film is on the decline and we all need to
stock up before we can’t get it anymore.
But it seems to me there are some positives going on and I thought we
would focus on them for a while to cheer us all up a little in these dark days.
Firstly yes, Fuji have discontinued Velvia 50 in a few
formats and now Kodak have just discontinued TMAX 3200 but to be honest I don’t shoot
large format so the Velvia discontinuance doesn’t affect me (for now
anyway) and I don’t like TMAX 3200 anyway.
Now I know some of you reading this may use these films and i'm not
saying i’m glad they are gone or anything – just saying I don’t use them. The TMAX cancellation I can understand – it wasn’t
selling well so they cut it because it was becoming too costly, fair
enough. The Velvia is a little strange
however because most of us will know that Velvia 50 is pretty much legendary –
there is nothing like it out there.
Since Fuji announced the discontinuance there has been no end of
petitions to stop it from occurring – let’s hope the people in charge at Fuji listen. But let’s just think about why films get cancelled. When it comes down to it photography
companies are still companies. They make
a product and sell it, when it doesn’t sell well enough they stop making
it. Maybe we as consumers are partly to
blame – with the rise of EBay it is so easy to just buy second-hand and
out-dated films on the cheap; but if we aren’t buying new films from stores
then the companies making films are going to suffer. Just a thought to bear in mind.
Anyway, I promised positivity didn’t I! Well, first of all amid all the ambiguity of what’s
going on with Kodak I recently saw a message on a forum from Ilford who simply
said their films are selling strong, there is plenty of stock and they are going
to keep making emulsions. I must confess
it was so refreshing to hear a company come out and simply state exactly what
was happening. I’m a huge fan of Ilford
films and papers so to me this was great news.
More positive news came to me this morning when I received
an email from AG Photographic. They are
a UK – based company that (in my opinion) consistently offer very competitive
prices on all their products and offer superb customer service. The email I received stated that they have
just opened an on-site lab offering a range of services including C41, E6 and
black & white development and wet printing.
Now we hear of labs shutting all the time and large stores like Asda and
Boots slowly stopping their film development so this news is most welcome. It’s great to see that those of us who still
shoot film are putting back into the industry and supporting stores like AG and
companies like Ilford. If we keep doing
that I don’t see any reason why film production should cease for a long time.
Also think about companies like Lomography. Although not everyone’s favourite you have to
agree that they are promoting film usage to a younger generation and getting
them started. Speaking personally my
first camera was a Lomography Diana F+ camera and I still use it even now. That camera got me into film in a big way and
even though I use a medium format SLR most of the time now and do all my own
darkroom work I will never forget that it was down to the Lomo movement that I
first got into film.
Another positive that shows there is still a dedicated user-base of analgoue materials are such internet forums as www.apug.org and www.fadu.org. These are forums dedicated to film/paper/darkroom work and there are thousand of subscribers putting up hundreds of new posts every day. Even photo sharing sites such as Flickr have film photography groups brimming over with enthusiastic contributors. There is a strong analogue photography community and it is reassuring to know that there are so many who continue to support the industry by shooting film.
So even though there is some bad stuff going on in the
industry these days try to remember the good – new labs are opening, companies
like Ilford are still going strong and “new blood” is taking up film
photography with every passing day.
I know i'll always
shoot film. For me digital processing will
never top standing in a darkroom and watching your image appear on a print.
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