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Film was saved when Ilford restructured and continued to engage with their consumers (product wise and on a human level, eg Simon). Color is a different matter that Fuji just reaffirmed their commitment to....not sure what is to save when nothing appears to be at risk of being lost....
Convergence of manufacturers is much different than obsolescence (eg vinyls vs 8 tracks respectively)...
Lucky will just be one of the converged
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However one addendum, without a face to engage (eg a Simon from Ilford), they will not get the loyalty needed to preserver
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 Originally Posted by RattyMouse
Ilford can't help film users who desire color.
In the past they make color film and today they produce a C41 B&W film.
If everyone else stopped making color film I am sure they could give it a try.
With Kodak and Fuji still around I do not think they could make any money on it as there is no way they could compete on price or quality. I remember that in the past I read that Kodak had more people in the film R&D department then Ilford had in total enployees.
Since Kodak is selling most of their patents. Perhaps if they were to quit film they would offer the formula for Portra and E100G to the highest bidder. Still It would take quite a bit of work and money to get similar films to be made on another companies equipment. Some film and paper formulas just can not be made without the original equiment.
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The issue is not whether a profit can be made, but where the most profit can be made given the abilities and resources of the company.
There are never enough resources to do everything. So the must be allocated to the projects that can bring the highest return. I work for an international company. The company is profitable. However, if the company does not see a path to be one of the three top players in the market, we will not go there. Any farther down the food chain, and you cannot drive the market, you can only follow. So they have even sold of divisions making a good profit, because the risks of being a market follower are much greater than being a market maker.
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China is such a huge market that at the moment is basically what make the Ferrari or the Bösendorfer of this planet work. If a Lomo craze emerged in China, that would lift many Ilfords, and if colour film gets a renewed interest, that would keep colour film alive alone.
A Viennese friend of mine who often goes to China for work told me of an order of 100 tail Bösendorfer pianos from the same conservatory (which is basically a small town) when in Vienna the University or Conservatory would take years to decide to buy one.
The potential market is huge, just like the "if" is a huge "if".
What Nicholas says in post #9 is certainly true, and if film were something which can be totally substituted with digital there would be no hope for film. But film is something that cannot be totally substituted by digital, and - I hope - this is why we use it, and the huge number of potential Chinese users would use it for the same reason we use it.
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no point in selling color film, e6/c41 film at all
since there is no way to get it processed anymore.
im not sure what the point would be, just to make the film ?
the processing-infrastructure is gone so it seems like a dead-end.
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Discoman mentioned Lucky and Shanghai perhaps making color, slide, and B&W LF film.
Lucky does make a 200-speed 35mm color print film, and Shanghai makes 4x5 B&W sheet film. I have some of both, bought new via eBay. They're both good -- not great, mind you, but good.
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Like all bubble economies, they pop one day... then what? Japan has never been the same since their bubble economy popped over 20 years ago. China alone will not be the saviour of film. I can still get ashphaltum and lithography stones from a local art store (did one nation save lithography??), I'm sure I'll still be able to get film. If not, no worries. I'll coat my own.
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Originally Posted by Andrew O'Neill
Like all bubble economies, they pop one day... then what? Japan has never been the same since their bubble economy popped over 20 years ago. China alone will not be the saviour of film. I can still get ashphaltum and lithography stones from a local art store (did one nation save lithography??), I'm sure I'll still be able to get film. If not, no worries. I'll coat my own.
You are not going to coat your own film.
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Originally Posted by RattyMouse
You are not going to coat your own film.
Why not?
Steve.
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