Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/07/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Nathan, I hope you didn't take my light hearted comments regarding medium format as expensive paper weights to heart. Just having fun and championing the film cause. Well done too for getting the bargain Hassy gear. Absolutely no question the market is tiny now. I just think that film ought to remain available, albeit reduced choices, of course. Out of interest I had a look at Photo Imaging Council of Australia statistics. Total new medium format camera body sales for the three years up to end December 2004 in Australia (20 million people).......632. Enlarger sales for same period.....919 Those are the whole figures... really... no zeroes missing. SLR bodies 180,806 & Compact 35mm cameras 1,544,093 Digital camera sales same period 3,085,146 Obviously all of those trends are continuing (in opposite directions) We're not a niche, we're a nanometre wide scratch. Only saving grace is that, film sales, while continuing downward, were still 8 million rolls last financial year Last year 2 million digital cameras sold and 5.5 million camera phones. So my theory (hope!?!?)is that there remain millions of 35mm cameras at least in circulation (plus at least 17 medium format cameras!). Some of us still put film in them. Cheers Hoppy I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken. -----Original Message----- ------------------------------ Message: 11 Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2006 09:57:46 +1000 From: "G Hopkinson" <hoppyman@bigpond.net.au> Subject: [Leica] RE:Re: I have saved a soul (Nathan Wajsman) To: <lug@leica-users.org> Message-ID: <000701c6a9fc$cd2f7510$6401a8c0@asus930> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Shame on you Nathan ;-) You are hereby sentenced to be pilloried and pelted with 120 reels and empty 35mm cassettes. Then dunked in hot D-76. Regarding expensive paper weights, with DSLRs initially being so expensive then the prices falling since, the retained value and desirability falls even more rapidly. Especially given the very short model lives. Comapare those retained values to a good Rollei TLR or an M3. Also worth thinking about the manufacturers all using their own proprietary RAW standards. Want to bet on all of those being available/supported in a few years? Seriously, we all understand that 120 (and larger) is very much a niche market. 35mm really is just a larger niche. But there is still even 4x5 sheet film in the bigger dealers here and a good range of choices for 120. Those niches must be still worth servicing. YOU GO VICK 8-) Cheers Hoppy of the Niche -----Original Message----- ------------------------------ Message: 8 Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 06:21:36 +0200 From: Nathan Wajsman <nathan@nathanfoto.com> Subject: Re: [Leica] I have saved a soul To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org> Message-ID: <44BB1050.8050505@nathanfoto.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Sorry to sound harsh, but you are living in a dream world, Vick. The prices of medium format gear HAVE already crashed, and they are NOT going to go back up. This is why I picked up a Hasselblad outfit earlier this year--the price was simply irresistible. For the price of a 50mm Summicron, I picked up a Hasselblad body with 3 lenses, 2 magazines and various odds and ends. The only MF gear still being sold new are the Rollei 6008 and similar outfits that can take digital backs--and even that market is being severely diminished by the competition from Canon 1Ds Mark II. I have sometimes been tempted by the M3's being offered for sale here--for example, one of the UK members is selling one for 500 GBP; or my friend in Belgium who had a bunch of equipment he was selling for a widow. Or indeed one of the Ted's M7s, as it would be an honor to have a camera used by Ted. But what has kept me from jumping on one of those deals is that I see that the film market is going down much faster than anyone expected even 3 years ago. Oh, I am sure film will continue to be available, just as you can still buy supplies to do platinum or palladium processing, but I am not prepared to do my own processing, and I believe that commercial processing is what is going to disappear first. An example: the best pro lab in Amsterdam, s-Color, used to be open 24 hours a day until a few years ago; when I moved to the Netherlands in 2003, it was still open until late (10 p.m. or midnight), and on weekends as well. Now it is open only M-F during normal business hours, and I predict that within the next 5 years they will drop film processing altogether and focus exclusively on digital work. From what people write here on the list, this is a development that is happening in every major city (minor cities lost their pro labs long ago) around the world. So while you may have saved your friend's soul, you may also have pointed him in a direction of buying what in a few short years will be expensive paperweights... Nathan -------------------------------