Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/06/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Well, not really. Spoke with the manager of the local Ritz Camera. They had expected to be decimated by digital, but then a strange thing happened: People started pouring in with their digital memory cards, begging for prints. Their printing operation is going full blast, although now it's about a third digital (and growing) with the rest film. They rarely move film cameras these days, other than for disposable cheapies. They do stock a wide variety of film cameras, though, since they're a full service photo store. They also stock a wide variety of film. The "simple elegance of film" is a way I like to delude myself into thinking that my investment in old Leica equipment isn't p***ing money down the drain. If I were rational, I'd think otherwise. When I think about buying the new MP, I feel like Rhett Butler signing up just before Appomattox. What will likely happen is that, three or four years from now, there will only be a few specialty shops that carry film. Manufacturers will cut down their stock to a few basic emulsions. With lower film sales, most of the one-hour shops will switch over to digital-only printing. Expect to wait a week or two for your photochemical prints or transparencies. Fewer processing outlets, in turn, will push the fence-sitters over to digital photography. Stores will stock even less film and fewer film-based cameras. I've seen this happen before. Twenty years ago 8mm and Super8 movie film could be found at almost every drugstore in the country. Video cameras were bulky, expensive, and delivered cruddy results. However, they didn't require the purchase of expensive film--and you could get two or four hours of sound and motion for only a few bucks, with no processing! Screw up a scene? Did Grampa fart when the cake arrived at the table? No problem, just erase and reshoot. Movie film delivered (and still delivers) far superior images, but at considerable cost and inconvenience. Within five years it was nearly impossible to find a new Super8 camera in a local camera store, and a few years after that regular 8mm film was no longer produced by any major film manufacturer. Today Super8 is a specialty item few stores carry, though it can be ordered from major film supply houses. 8mm film is custom-perforated by two or three folks in the country, though availability is spotty. Prices are high, with little or no price competition. Most cameras in the amateur gauges are now virtually worthless; pro-quality 8mm and Super8 cameras go for a fraction of their 1970s prices. The "simple elegance of film" is still there. Good luck trying to get more than a token offer for your Nizo these days, or anything other than a blank stare from the kid at PhotoLand when you ask for a Super8 silent cartridge. Jim Shulman Bryn Mawr, PA--who will keep shooting until they pry the M3 from his cold, dead hands. - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Carl Pultz Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 5:15 PM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: [Leica] Re: Kodak stock is down(way down!) this morning. Or is film out of here? Dale - - --- >> I'm not sure I understand the correlation. Maybe it's because Kodak digital products are getting negative reports. Good thing for them they still have their traditional division. - - -kim Kim, They sure do. It's as big as a small city, and the biggest single source of pollution in NY State. It's also the biggest employer in Rochester. And, we are all worried sick about it. Have been since the disc camera (ca. 1981) demonstrated that whatever inventive magic the company once had has been hijacked by knuckle heads. My (hopeful) take: Digital cameras are a computer peripheral and that's what's driving consumer sales. Once they find out what a pain in the ass it is (for a typical consumer), the things will sit in a drawer, just like most people's traditional cameras do. Once the market is saturated, demand will wither. For the relative few who like to take pictures more frequently, many will go back to the simple elegance of film. Ditto for pros - there are times and jobs where digital is the best and other jobs where film will be better or more practical. The question to me is not of the disappearance of film, but how much will still be made, and sold at what price? And the question for Rochester is, will Wall Street allow Kodak to preserve it's film operation long enough for the shakeout to run it's course. Here's a funky shot of the "Kodak Tower" from the back of some run-down, company-owned buildings across the street from "headquarters." http://quazynet.no-ip.org/PAW/KodakTower.jpg Leica made: on topic. (Fuji film: twenty lashes!) Carl - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html