Resurgence?

[glockman99]

The sad thing here is that many, if not most, of the major camera "names" no-longer have a professional-grade film camera in their current line-up. When I read that Nikon no-longer makes a professional film camera, it made my grip on my FA, F4HPs, and F4s tighten-up somewhat.

Also, as far as 35mm film goes, I cannot find a roll of 35mm Kodak Gold 200 in a 36 exposure roll, without having to go to mail-order. Having to shoot a wedding today, with only 24 exposure rolls isn't something I look forward to.

[mikebarger]

Hey, while uptown today a guy was asking where he could buy 8 track tapes!! What's old is new again.

Think I'll open a camera shop.

Mike

[Prest_400]

Amen.

That is what our buddies need to know.

My $80 N90s with some 400nc can compete nicely with any digicam.

I'll have to do that. I've got 3 experience with 3 friends about photography.
I once had an opportunity that I let it go. A friend of mine said "how nice are those canon reflex" I could have told him that there were great film canons around, but I wasn't in the mood. I could have won a prize with one of my photos that I presented, and a boring landscape photo with just a mini lake and nothing interesting won. I think that I must keep myself far from the snapshooters competitions :rolleyes: The judges were teachers that are nothing more than snapshooters, not art teachers.
Months ago (jan) I had a long conversation with a classmate and he seemed curious about. "Those cameras with big flash bulbs must be expensive"; it started with a "how did you know that doing a pinhole with your hand and seeing through without glasses, eliminates the blurriness", I told him things about apertures and such, and he asked me how did I know that, but we had any talk that touched photography since them.
I got a third one that has heard anything about film that I know. But "the compact is fine for me". His father likes and still shoots film, but just kodak gold and such.
So I've got a pair of problems. 1-Getting the interest into photography and 2-Some are lazy and don't want to exploit their skills.

I agree with the cellphone thing. I'm a weird person among the ones of my age, because I rarely use my cellphone. The one I have has a "mobile webcam" (not camera, look at the quality) but never used it. For 5 calls a year, I don't need anything better.

[GJA]

Hey, while uptown today a guy was asking where he could buy 8 track tapes!! What's old is new again.

Think I'll open a camera shop.

Mike

Im perpetually looking for albums on vinyl, and there has been a resurgence there too. It started much longer ago (probably before the take off of digital cameras) however and is slightly different than the film vs digital with regards to mobility, not a generally a problem with film.

[mikebarger]

My reel to reel gets played at least a couple times a week. It doesn't have an arm strap for jogging though.

Mike

[Cropline]

[QUOTE=Prest_400;826098]......
I believe it's curiosity.....

Took a trip to Rocky Mtn. Ntl. Park last year.After getting my pictures and returning to my vehicle, a young, 21ish Navy seal saw my film camera and started really asking questions.Told him I could get really good 16x20's and if larger wall prints were desired, good 20x30" prints were possible from 35mm.He was amazed that a 35mm FILM camera could do that well.Said he would have to give film a try.

[aldevo]

I have a cell phone that is only a phone. Never had one with a computer or a digisnap. I have mine set to not accept text messages. KISS!

Steve

You ain't kidding.

True story...

A friend of mine works in the professional services division of a software company that (like many) isn't doing terribly well. One of their clients builds military hardware and their premises are extremely locked-down from a security standpoint

Among four people who could have been chosen to work with the client, my friend got the nod because he happened to have a cell phone on him that day which was NOT outfitted with a camera. The client does not allow any cameras on their premises and the company needed to be able to keep in touch with the consultant in the field.

The other three were laid off the next day.

KISS, indeed.

[winjeel]

Wow, I make one small, seemingly insignificant post, and twelve hours and a good night sleep later, 35 interesting replies are made.

One of the best/broadest ways to look for decline or resurgence is in market prices and their trends. I watch these things to try to divine what's a good deal and when to buy/sell.

....

I agree with this point of view, but also, I think the sure sign would be that one of the big makers release a new film camera. Me, personally, I'd be thrilled if a Minolta 7 or 9 was re-released (Sony Alpha 7f ???) But to do that, I'd guess that'd call for quite a bit of retooling of their factories, something that would be more of a long term commitment, than to experiment or satisfy a short term craving.

But to help them (big companies) along a bit, could we consider a count, a survey. My original observation was purely subjective, can we consider a more objective survey?

In any case, I'd be completely shocked if Sony Ericsonn or Nokia made a mobile phone with inbuilt film camera. Not sure I'd want to buy that.

[glockman99]

I shot a wedding today (using my Nikon F3HP & Nikon F4s), and out of maybe 25 people with cameras, I was the ONLY one there using film...ALL the others were digital P&S cameras...Not EVEN a DSLR in the bunch.

So much for a resurgence in film & film cameras...At-least not today, and not in Aberdeen..

[BetterSense]

I am very disappointed by the continuing high price of the higher-end dedicated film scanners, and the lack of new products in that sector. E.g. the Nikons haven't budged one iota, and apparently some are not available at all. At the same time, the prices of used dedicated scanners has remained high and the used scanners have become quite scarce. This is not good at all for anyone wishing to go from digital -> film. It's basically killing that off IMHO. Too bad because newbies to film really need feedback over the web and some convenient way to see what they're getting without having to learn darkroom techniques or shell out big bucks for professional scans.

I too think that this is what is killing film. If it was easier to get top-notch scans from film, more people would use it. As it stands, there is a "scanning hole" where it's expensive and difficult to get digital files that do justice to the image quality that we know film is capable of, and as long as this continues, people will just use digital cameras to get the files they need. I believe this is a deliberate marketing move by the big players in the photography industry to sell more digital cameras.

A long time ago it used to be difficult to get prints from digital cameras, because all the minilabs were set up for film. You had to make the prints yourself and be technically savvy with computers.

Right now if you want good digital files from film you have to either pay a good sum for a poor-quality photo CD from the minilab, pay several dollars per frame for professional scans, or pay hundreds for a film scanner (if you can find one) and do it yourself laboriously.

We have all seen how easy it has become to get prints from digital...take your memory card to walmart and walk out with prints. This same kind of ease needs to arise for getting digital files from film, and it hasn't yet, and I don't know if it ever will, because there seems to be no financial incentive for the big companies of photography to make it to happen.