I think Arthur and Austin are very much on target. Some specialty labs will
provide certain film services like scanning, etc.
Since when did artists ever have the market clout to dictate what would be
manufactured or supported by the manufacturers of mass market products?
Besides, most of them will be only too glad to adapt to digital if they
haven't already.
Yes, somebody will probably keep producing B&W film of some kind--and
processing it--for many years to come, but it will be a specialty market.
It is unlikely there will be many starving artists who will afford those
services.
As for me, I am still shooting film, mostly color and all C-41, for art
prints. One of my major reasons for using film is that I love shooting with
my Contax manual focus SLR. I am afraid that I am going to lose something
in how I use the camera, how I shoot, when I finally switch to a digital
SLR. I love the analog controls and the absolute sense of focus control and
aperture control. And I hate menus! But I am waiting to see the new
Olympus second generation E-1 when it comes out in a few days.
My other issue is that I think film is a good way to store images, perhaps
less risky than digital media. Yes, I know, the negative film I use is not
as archival as Kodachrome. But if I print archival prints with pigment
inks, I guess I'm not going to worry that much about the film. That's just
me; others have different needs.
So for now, I continue to scan on my Nikon V, which works very well for
negative C-41 film.
Berry
On 2/25/06 2:52 PM, "scott@adrenaline.com" <scott@adrenaline.com> wrote:
> Poppy cock. As long as there are photographic *artists*, there will
> be mono chrome emulsion shooting, even if no company chooses to
> make film any longer.
>
> I don't imagine that many photographic artists make much coin, but
> Sally Mann's work is very popular, get's top marquee exhibitions and
> her books are sold at common outlets like Borders.
>
> Her recent "What Remains" project (exhibition and book) was shot on
> glass plate negatives.
>
> While I don't recall how she printed, there are folks coating their own
> papers in palladium to make fine art contact prints, each one a thing of
> beauty and a product of the hand crafting of the artist - hence collectible
> by fine art afficionados - vs. the "infinite reproducibility" of digitally
> "captured" "images" (I like my DSLR but really hate the new terminology).
>
> There is even a movement to product 8x10 or 11x14 "digital internegatives"
> from digitally captures images for final, fine art oriented
> platinum/palladium/
> cyanotype/etc. contact printing.
>
> By hook or by crook, as it were, B&W shooting and printing will go on
> for decades to come, long after the mini-mart C-41 machines are rusting
> in dumps.
>
> Can't speak for the consumer market, the photojournalists and so on -
> but I don't really give a crap about them in the first place.
>
> Scott
>
>
> Mike Kersenbrock wrote:
>
>> Arthur Entlich wrote:
>>
>>
>>> When was the last time you saw a 8mm movie film to video transfer system
>>> sold retail? I imagine there are some commercial outfits still offering
>>> video transfer services, but even those are probably disappearing.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> How popular were 8mm movies as compared to still photos (to compare their
>> market sizes)? I have no idea, not having been a film-movie person
>> (started with a
>> VHS + video camera about 20~25 years ago or so). How many still film
>> photos exist to
>> be converted as compared to 8mm films to be converted ?
>>
>>
>>
>>> What I am getting at is this: Film will become specialty product,
>>> available by special order or through a few minimal manufacturers.
>>> Non-commerical dedicated film scanners will disappear, as flatbeds take
>>> over that market niche. Even the flatbed market long full of brands and
>>> models has reduced to a handful.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> I wonder how many mfgrs there ever has been (as opposed to marketing
>> companies OEMing
>> product). But I think you're right.
>>
>>
>>
>>> Will the prices on these last dedicated film scanners suddenly
>>> skyrocket? Not likely. Did 8mm film cameras skyrocket when video came
>>> out? Has the cost of 35mm camera bodies skyrocketed as the digital
>>> camera market took over?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> I think we're still in the film->digital conversion stage. There still
>> are film cameras
>> for sale new, and there still is a lot of film being sold even if it's a
>> less massive number
>> than previously. So conversion needs should remain significant for a
>> while longer, but
>> it'll eventually end the way you say, for sure.
>>
>>
>>
>>> What probably will happen, is several commercial labs will offer
>>> reasonably priced scanning services, since they will need to maintain
>>> scanners so when people bring in old film based images for printing,
>>> they can make prints.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> If prints "survive" the digital trend. Prints (even if digitially
>> printed) seem so *analog*. :-)
>> Maybe "programmable electronic paper" will make the printing companies
>> go bye bye as well.
>>
>>
>>
>>> The days of demand crunches causing price increases on basically
>>> obsolete products is over. It almost never occurs anymore, because
>>> people recognize the next generation or product is usually cheaper and
>>> offers more options. If you honestly believe, for instance, CRT
>>> monitors are going to become pricey as they stop manufacture, I've got
>>> some to sell you ;-)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> They will eventually become spendy, but not any time soon. Only when
>> the units being
>> made are only very small niche specialized ones made in small volumes
>> (where current
>> cheapie ones aren't applicable). There are very very spendy high-end
>> CRT based monitors
>> available for purchase now.
>>
>>
>>
>>> The only way I could see something like a dedicated film scanner
>>> becoming more valuable is because it became a collector's item, sort of
>>> like a DeLorean car, Maybe someday people will be dragging old XT
>>> computers and film scanners to the "Antique RoadShow", but it may be a
>>> while yet ;-)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> Kinda, but XT's are a bit different. My current multi-Ghz computer I'm
>> writing on can run
>> the very same application binaries that DOS XT could (theoretically
>> anyway). The film scanner
>> as such won't be replaced by a super-set, it'll just be a product who's
>> need has gone away.
>> Perhaps subtle, but not quite the same. If new ones become unavailable,
>> used prices may
>> go up (depending upon supply/demand dynamics) because there will be a
>> long lasting need
>> for them (for procrastinators) even after need has dropped too low for
>> sustaining a business
>> selling new scanners. Unless the flatbeds get so good that they really
>> are obsolete in which
>> case they'll just be $5 items at goodwill (that don't sell).
>>
>> Mike K.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> --
> Pics @
> Leica M6TTL, Bessa R, Nikon FM3a, Nikon D70, Rollei AFM35
> (Jihad Sigint NSA FBI Patriot Act)
>
>
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