There is no way film is dead

[gsgary]

New scanner coming out OpticFilm 120 | Introduction | Plustek

 

[ann]

cool, no listing for availability in the US tho

 

[Helen B]

It's supposed to be coming out in September. The Plustek rep claims that the tested resolution (not just the claimed resolution) and DMax are higher than those of a Nikon 9000, and the price will be around $2000 - but it isn't fixed yet. It looks like it could be a very good scanner, and it will scan 6x12 in one pass, which the Nikons don't do. Shame that the marketing person from Plustek (the one who wrote the copy in the link) doesn't know that it scans 120 film, not 120 mm film.

If it even part-way lives up to the pre-release perfomance reports, I think that the existence of this high resolution, versatile scanner will help to make film more attractive.

 

[o hey tyler]

Film isn't dead. It's just dying slowly.

Interesting story: The product photos on their site are shot with a Digital Medium Format camera.

 

[gsgary]

Film isn't dead. It's just dying slowly.

Interesting story: The product photos on their site are shot with a Digital Medium Format camera.

One British company that will not let it die is Ilford, if American schools and colleges where the same as UK it would never die, they have taught over 1000 lecturers about darkroom procedures in their workshops and in September they are going round to junior schools to encourage an interest in b+W photography

 

[pixmedic]

developing your own photos is an art unto itself. Film will never die because as long as there are people with the desire to develop film, someone will make it.
it might get more expensive to do, or more difficult to find the products you need, but film isn't dying.
bicycles didn't die because motorcycles were invented.
cooking from scratch didn't die because the microwave was invented.

 

[o hey tyler]

cooking from scratch didn't die because the microwave was invented.

Keeping all your perishables in an ice box died because the refrigerator was invented.

 

[Derrel]

New scanner coming out OpticFilm 120 | Introduction | Plustek

COOL! I looked at the photos and the specifications...looks like it'll be a nice piece of kit. I do hope the price ends up being "fair and reasonable", and not sky-high. Film scanners are an equipment category where the manufacturers of the better products never really allowed their offerings to hit the "commodity-level" price points that made so many other electronics devices so affordable and widespread. Like CD burners, once $1,000, then slowly dropping to $400, and then...BOOM! available everywhere for $59 to $99. Flatbed scanners were artificially kept high-priced for a long time too...for literally years...but today??? Heck, $49 or so, for a decent one that works...and not the $699 they were 12-15 years ago.

Since this upcoming model is from Plustek, I think we have a chance that it will be at least somewhat affordable!

 

[Tuffythepug]

This is excellent news in light of the fact that yesterday I purchased a used Bronica ETRS 645 to get back into shooting film again. This product looks good; hope it's reasonably priced for those of us who are operating on a shoestring as it is.

 

[Helen B]

As I said, it's supposed to be in the $2000 range.

Good scanners need to have precision mechanical and high resolution optical components, so 'dirt cheap' is not easy. Bear in mind that Nikon 9000s are selling for $4000 and upwards now, and an Eversmart Supreme flatbed will still fetch $10,000 if refurbished. I sold my 9000 a while ago for $3800. Plustek say that the 120 is more than a large version of their 35 mm scanners - they built it to outperform the Nikon 9000.

 

[Derrel]

As I said, it's supposed to be in the $2000 range.

Good scanners need to have precision mechanical and high resolution optical components, so 'dirt cheap' is not easy. Bear in mind that Nikon 9000s are selling for $4000 and upwards now, and an Eversmart Supreme flatbed will still fetch $10,000 if refurbished. I sold my 9000 a while ago for $3800. Plustek say that the 120 is more than a large version of their 35 mm scanners - they built it to outperform the Nikon 9000.

I missed your earlier post Helen....$2,000 for THAT level of performance??? zOMG--that would be AWESOME! Right now, used scanners are going way up in price, so a brand-new Nikon 9000-class (or better!) machine at 2k? Yippie!

 

[pixmedic]

cooking from scratch didn't die because the microwave was invented.

Keeping all your perishables in an ice box died because the refrigerator was invented.

not really.. fridge is just another cold box. cold by new means, but a cold box none the less

 

[gsgary]

developing your own photos is an art unto itself. Film will never die because as long as there are people with the desire to develop film, someone will make it.
it might get more expensive to do, or more difficult to find the products you need, but film isn't dying.
bicycles didn't die because motorcycles were invented.
cooking from scratch didn't die because the microwave was invented.

There will always be coffee for developing

 

[Corto]

Interesting story: The product photos on their site are shot with a Digital Medium Format camera.

So what, You expected the hipster production assistant to even know what a MF film camera is? (Besides a Holga)

 

[PlanetStarbucks]

cooking from scratch didn't die because the microwave was invented.

Keeping all your perishables in an ice box died because the refrigerator was invented.

And yet somehow, vinyl records didn't. Mostly because a core group of people recognize the qualities of analog recording and know that they can never really be reproduced digitally. The icebox died because it was an inefficient and poorly designed way of storing goods. Film isn't inefficient...just harder to work with.