[Leica] my favorite film....

[firkin at ncable.net.au (Alastair Firkin)]

One of the "joys" of photography over the years for me has been the 
fact that there are sooooo many strange and wonderful contraptions 
designed to make images, and you can even make one yourself. Then you 
can do all the magic and produce images. Often with the minimal amount 
invested in equipment. My "fear" is that photography is going the way 
of the computer. There will be one Macrosoft (probably canon) who will 
tell us what we want what we like and how we are to pay and receive it 
and there "may" be smaller players, unable to finance any sort of 
competition. You can make your own paper, chemicals etc, but film would 
be hard: perhaps back to glass plates ;-) but without film and a choice 
of emulsions much of the fun and variety of the hobby would be lost. I 
understand what Doug is thinking.

Cheers
On 08/10/2005, at 4:40 PM, Peter Klein wrote:

> Doug Herr wrote:
>> Sorry, this is a "me too" response... I like my R8 and I'd like to 
>> see what I could do with a DMR but if I couldn't get a decent film 
>> for my SL I'd probably stop photographing.
>
> Isn't that a little drastic, Doug?  You strike me as someone who would 
> make images regardless of the medium available.  You didn't quit when 
> Kodachrome began to go extinct.  I truly believe that the desire to 
> make images is stronger than any particular film, or even film itself.
>
> I've pondered what I would do if Tri-X disappeared next year.  First I 
> would yell and scream and post long-winded laments to the LUG.  
> Probably get into several argument over the supposedly infallible 
> wisdom of the mass marketplace.  And then I'd find another film.  
> Neopan 400 is good. Some even prefer it to Tri-X.  BW400CN is very 
> nice for many purposes.  And maybe somebody will make a decent film 
> I'll have to order in Polish or Ukrainian.
>
> If all film disappears, perhaps by then digital will have gotten a 
> notch or two better. The cameras smaller and lighter.  The dynamic 
> range and noise problems mitigated by some as yet unfulfilled 
> technology.  And the digital market will mature at some point. They 
> won't be able to sell digital cameras as they do now.  "It's new, it's 
> cool, it's convenient, it's good enough" won't be good enough any 
> more.  Camera design will have to become driven more by intended 
> usage, and less by hype and ground-floor market share capture.
>
> What I'm getting at is that sometimes we see things going to hell in a 
> handbasket because we live in a volatile time. A new technology seems 
> to be replacing an older one before the newer one is truly ready--for 
> our purposes at least.  But we forget that not every product has to 
> sell to everybody in the world to be viable.  So maybe the old stuff 
> won't go away completely.  And the new stuff has lots of potential 
> that will come in time.
>
> Yes, if my favorite films went away I would scream bloody murder.  But 
> I wouldn't stop photographing.  I don't think you would, either.  
> You'd find a way, the same way you found the tools that are perfect 
> for you now.
>
> --Peter
>
>
>
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Alastair