I'm psyched about film!

[Dikkie]

Right here in Brussels, a couple of new analog labs opened in the past years. To sell vintage, second hand, as well as new analog cameras.
Film, development,... workshops, group street photo walks, ...
And no it's not just for the hipsters. These are just normal fine people. And they learn the young generation how to work with it, develop,...

They add postal boxes in universities and other public places, where people can drop their film.
Film gets developed, scanned and directly sent digitally by e-mail (unless you want prints).

It's a bit like the change in music record shops, CD's versus vinyl.
At this moment I know more shops where I can develop photo films than shops where you can buy CD's. And there are more vinyl shops than CD shops.

Be careful with threads about film... admins are doing everything they can to close topics promoting non-digital photography:

why won't film just die already?!

I was casually browsing the eBay and noticed that old film cameras are commanding ridiculous prices. an old Olympus Muji II going for $200, Yashica T4 (zeiss) trading for $400...and the Contax T4 (my old love) going for $1500 to $2000. Why are people still clinging on to film in the age of far...

www.thephotoforum.com

Is film based photography still viable, to include darkroom?

Been out of photography things for too many years. Is film based photography still viable, to include darkroom fun? I have most of the things, even to include a Beseler 45 MXT enlarger with a condenser head, which I would have killed for back in the day. All I had then was an Omega C760 with...

www.thephotoforum.com

 

[Grandpa Ron]

Right here in Brussels, a couple of new analog labs opened in the past years. To sell vintage, second hand, as well as new analog cameras.
Film, development,... workshops, group street photo walks, ...
And no it's not just for the hipsters. These are just normal fine people. And they learn the young generation how to work with it, develop,...

They add postal boxes in universities and other public places, where people can drop their film.
Film gets developed, scanned and directly sent digitally by e-mail (unless you want prints).

It's a bit like the change in music record shops, CD's versus vinyl.
At this moment I know more shops where I can develop photo films than shops where you can buy CD's. And there are more vinyl shops than CD shops.

Be careful with threads about film... admins are doing everything they can to close topics promoting non-digital photography:

why won't film just die already?!

I was casually browsing the eBay and noticed that old film cameras are commanding ridiculous prices. an old Olympus Muji II going for $200, Yashica T4 (zeiss) trading for $400...and the Contax T4 (my old love) going for $1500 to $2000. Why are people still clinging on to film in the age of far...

www.thephotoforum.com

Is film based photography still viable, to include darkroom?

Been out of photography things for too many years. Is film based photography still viable, to include darkroom fun? I have most of the things, even to include a Beseler 45 MXT enlarger with a condenser head, which I would have killed for back in the day. All I had then was an Omega C760 with...

www.thephotoforum.com

There may be several technical reasons why pros and serious amateurs prefer film. But as a hobbyist I find that film is fun.
Film puts you in the game, you decide what chemicals you want to try mix for the film negatives you are trying to create. To take a light sensitive piece of plastic, blend the necessary liquid compounds, manipulate them through a time/temperature process to produce a working negative, may sound mundane to some. But the feeling of successfully completing the process is hard to beat. Printing the negative is yet another world. You soon find that it is not just a negative of a print. It is warehouse of images waiting to be cropped, isolated, shaded and turned into a piece of art. It can be addictive. Plus, there is something tangible that is lost when viewing an image on a monitor, verse holding it in your hand and passing it among friends.

 

[cgw]

Be careful with threads about film... admins are doing everything they can to close topics promoting non-digital photography:

That's pathetically false. A zombie thread from 2018 got locked yesterday since there had been no meaningful responses for seven years. That's not prejudice--just good site housekeeping.
Your argument may be relevant to Brussels but not necessarily elsewhere. Pros kept the pro film labs open for the rest of us. When they dropped film for digital across N. America, the countdown clock started ticking.
I live near Toronto(pop. just over 7 million)where labs steadily vanished from 2010-ish to only a couple now--none of them full-service pro labs with tight C-41, E-6 and b&w lines using top-shelf processing equipment. What survives outside those are tiny Fuji Frontier/Noritsu-minilabs or garage JOBO labs whose quality is highly variable.
I can only argue that for all your tired cheerleading for a film "revival," I've yet to see an accompanying explosion of new full service photo labs. Film is a residual market now.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

Film had been a residual market since the advent of a convenient digital camera, so what. Digital is digital, film is film. Is an apple better than and orange, is a cake better than pie? You may as well ask, "How many angels can dance on the head of pin," and unsolved argument from the Middle Ages.

Folks still restore Model T fords. I suppose because there is nothing that matches the feel of driving one. Digital is the methodology that replaces film, but it still does not deter those who practice wet plate photography. I suppose it is because nothing compares to the look and nuances of a wet plate image.

Film is here and will be here as long as there are those who are willing to use it. Digital is digital, it is not the same as film, but who cares. If the film folks enjoyed the digital look, they would shoot digital. I suppose many do, just for the shear convince of it. The esoteric differences between digital and film mean nothing to the general public. To the film aficionado they mean enough to keep it going. It is not a competition; it is an opinion.

 

[cgw]

Film is here and will be here as long as there are those who are willing to use it.
And that's the rub, Grandpa. Kodak consumer film's survival is liked to the survival
of cine film. If that shrinks further it's certain the survival of photo film will be iffy.
As you've noticed prices keep rising. Ever wonder why? Kodak never publishes data
about physical output. "Peak film" was over 20 years ago. Fewer rolls at ever-increasing
prices? Not a recipe for survival. Shoot all you can while you can! But don't pretend the
production of film is somehow decoupled from shareholders' expectations.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

The price of non-conformity is increased cost. The photography market has welcomed digital with open arms. Film is a niche market.
Kodak had no reason to stay in a business market that is not profitable. But someone will.

You can still buy a new 1880's style birch bark canoe. Oldtown still sells their centuries old wood and canvas canoes. You can still buy mirrors and lenses to make your own optical telescope or just have one made for you. Do you need a spark coil for and antiques car? there available. How about a handmade split bamboo fly rod to replace your ultra-modern carbon fiber rod. Film is no exception; your favorite film may soon be a thing of the past; so, either you adapt to the available offshore product or horde large volumes or go digital.

The point is, if you want it, someone will make it or something similar, though not exactly the same. Even odd size sheet film is available, though they may require a special run. We all know the downside, increased cost. Which puts these items into the hobby category or use by a professional who requires a specific method.

I have a collection of old ham radios and code sending keys; they are gorgeous pieces of chromed steel, ceramic insulators, and furniture grade wood housings. But compared to the performance of today's plastic wonders, they are as obsolete as a buggy whip.

Technology waits for no one.

 

[Dikkie]

That's pathetically false. A zombie thread from 2018 got locked yesterday since there had been no meaningful responses for seven years. That's not prejudice--just good site housekeeping.

That's the general problem with forums. People always have to restart new threads, as admins close down older threads.
This way it often happens that one topic appears 5 times as a new thread, as the others get closed.
On many forums, there's a golden rule that says: "use the search function first before opening a new thread", to avoid creating a thread that already exists.
Well if you follow that rule, and you continue posting in the original older thread (instead of creating a double one), it gets closed... and so you have to start a new one. (facepalm)

Your argument may be relevant to Brussels but not necessarily elsewhere. Pros kept the pro film labs open for the rest of us. When they dropped film for digital across N. America, the countdown clock started ticking.
I live near Toronto(pop. just over 7 million)where labs steadily vanished from 2010-ish to only a couple now--none of them full-service pro labs with tight C-41, E-6 and b&w lines using top-shelf processing equipment. What survives outside those are tiny Fuji Frontier/Noritsu-minilabs or garage JOBO labs whose quality is highly variable.
I can only argue that for all your tired cheerleading for a film "revival," I've yet to see an accompanying explosion of new full service photo labs. Film is a residual market now.

Why then do you provide an example that confirms mine?
I was talking about "a couple of labs" in Brussels, and you try to counter this with "a couple of labs" in Toronto ...

I'm not talking about an explosion of new labs... I'm not talking about a revival, ... It's a niche market, but I can still notice there are a lot of people doing film, more than one would expect... (you can see the amount of people -young people- still doing that when you search on socials), and there are still more labs than I can count CD stores here , which are almost totally gone or replaced by vinyl stores.

 

[Dikkie]

Film is here and will be here as long as there are those who are willing to use it. Digital is digital, it is not the same as film, but who cares. If the film folks enjoyed the digital look, they would shoot digital. I suppose many do, just for the shear convince of it. The esoteric differences between digital and film mean nothing to the general public. To the film aficionado they mean enough to keep it going. It is not a competition; it is an opinion.

Exactly. I'm shooting both.
Started with film, went digital, using smartphone, now I just put a roll in an old cam again, because it's fun. Because it can.

Same goes for music, it's not because there is music available in FLAC or Wave format that people stopped listening compressed music on MP3's or streaming services.
Some people still use CD's aswel as Vinyl, and Vinyl (same as film) didn't stop when a new technology came out to possibly replace it.
You can still buy cassettes... imagine.
I consume music on so many different ways, as I make photo's with so many different camera methods.
Same as I play the guitar acoustic as electric, with a real amp or a plug-in on a computer, so many different ways, there is no right way. Just do what feels good for you.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

I'm covered for a long time.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

Martin,
Yes, I would say you are set for a while. Good thinking.

Back in the 1970's when I inherited an old 4x5 view camera, I started collecting all kinds if information and trivia on cut films. I seem to recall a B&W development process that used coffee. We are not going to run out of that any time soon.

"Be prepared", isn't just a Boy Scout motto.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

I would like to learn Daguerreotype. I know little about the process but believe it's quite sketchy due to toxic soups. But the results are captivating to me.

 

[cgw]

I would like to learn Daguerreotype. I know little about the process but believe it's quite sketchy due to toxic soups. But the results are captivating to me.

Nothing like a hit of mercury vapor! What's a little erethism, anyway?

 

[Grandpa Ron]

What I read about Daguerreotypes, you really had to be dedicated. From what I understand, once you decided to make a picture, you had to work fast.
Polish the copper plate, coat the plate with freshly mixed light sensitive materials, exposed the plate before the coating dried.
Then you exposed the coated surface to heated mercury fumes to set the latent image and processed it in chemicals that darkened the plate. It has never been clear to me how much time each step required.
After reading about the mercury fumes, I decided to let others try it. I am sure there are folk that do. Of course, in the mid to late 1800's the mean age of the populus was 50 years. They may not have lived long enough to worry about the mercury.

It is amazing that all the field work was done in a black tent or better yet a wagon that you hauled to the canyon, river, battlefield, desert or wherever the scene was. It must have been a tough life. But at the time, photographs were things of wonder.