Author Topic: photographic film development a dying industry?  (Read 5234 times)

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Offline franksolich

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photographic film development a dying industry?
« on: August 13, 2008, 10:00:36 AM »
Earlier this morning, I went to town, taking a roll of film from a disposable camera, to get it developed.

Out here in the vast prairies, in small towns, usually the local grocery store is the "drop-off" point for rolls of film, which are developed in the big city further away.  It's usually a two- or three-day service, no big deal to me, because I loathe taking pictures anyway.

But because I thought it might be bad luck to have photographs of the ancient Gustav as broken, rather than after being repaired, hale and hearty again, I got another disposable camera to snap some of the better Gustav.

Fifty-four photographs in two months (each disposable camera had 27 exposures); which is about as many photographs as I've taken the past ten years.  Besides pictures of the cats, this time I took pictures of the river too.  I thought about snapping one of the William Rivers Pitt, but the thing indicating how many unexposed exposures were left, indicated "zero" by the time I thought of that.

Anyway.

Much to my surprise and dismay, the local grocery store no longer sends undeveloped film to the big city to be developed.  I have to take them to the big city myself, which I guess I'll do tomorrow (Thursday).

Is this a dying industry?  I never paid attention, so I honestly don't know.
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Offline Chris_

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Re: photographic film development a dying industry?
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2008, 11:23:48 AM »
I suspect that you are correct to an extent, as the vast bulk of "snapshot photography" is now digital, and requires no  (or minimal) lab processing.  Most of the "custom labs", that I, as an amateur photographer formerly used for special projects are now gone, but some are left.

I think that the old labs have been largely replaced by places like Walgreens, who have a Fuji processing machine in most of their stores to develop film on site.  For me, this is a shame, as these "processing machines" generally produce mediocre results, and allow no artistic control during the processing like the old labs did.

Digital cameras are great inventions, but for the serious photographer, there is no substitute for film, and all of the creative effects that can be generated using it.  I guess that the moral to the story is that not all technological advances are good for everyone.........

As an aside, the great artistic advance of still photography occurred when the motion picture industry began developing a vast array of different film emulsions for creative effects in movies, and film manufacturers began to look for larger markets for their products, offering these "special" film stocks packaged for use in small still cameras......photography as a serious hobby,as well as an artistic profession blossomed from availability of these products, most of which are still around.

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Offline Wineslob

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Re: photographic film development a dying industry?
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2008, 04:16:26 PM »
Take a look at the thread (Vac pics) I started. All digital, no film required and the quality is very good. If we filled up the camera, we just downloaded the pictures to our laptop, popped the memory card back in the camera and we were good to go.
 Ya, I think that other than for special requirements, film is dying a slow death.
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Offline LC EFA

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Re: photographic film development a dying industry?
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2008, 06:13:27 PM »
Film photography is dying , if not dead.  Pro's and enthusiasts that still use film for artistic effect or whatever reason, generally have their own processing abilities.

Digital is the way to go.

Even the first digital camera I ever owned , a 1.4 MP FUJI was sign enough that the age of film was dead if for no other reason than development costs and the sheer ease of use.

These days I carry both a Nikon D300 dSLR and a Olympus MJU725sw (the water proof , bomb proof , tiny , point and shoot thing) when in the outdoors. I get 300 odd frames, all in maximum quality, on each card  for each camera and have a half dozen cards for each. Changing cards is far far easier than film, and when i get home , I can just plug in the card reader and dump them all off onto the HDD.

Offline RobJohnson

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Re: photographic film development a dying industry?
« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2008, 11:54:15 PM »
The demand is less every day.

One of the things that keep the film going, is the disposable cameras. They are still popular at wedding receptions (leaving them out on tables for impromptu shots) and vacations.

« Last Edit: August 17, 2008, 11:55:55 PM by RobJohnson »

Offline Konssurvative1

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Re: photographic film development a dying industry?
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2009, 03:23:00 PM »
Take a look at the thread (Vac pics) I started. All digital, no film required and the quality is very good. If we filled up the camera, we just downloaded the pictures to our laptop, popped the memory card back in the camera and we were good to go.
 Ya, I think that other than for special requirements, film is dying a slow death.

I am probably one of the few who still shoots 35 mm SLR...but I know that in many midwestern small towns...the corner store no longer sends out film for developing...I may by digital this summer...although I hate the idea of doing so...I love film.
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Offline LC EFA

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Re: photographic film development a dying industry?
« Reply #6 on: April 10, 2009, 02:24:44 AM »
I am probably one of the few who still shoots 35 mm SLR...but I know that in many midwestern small towns...the corner store no longer sends out film for developing...I may by digital this summer...although I hate the idea of doing so...I love film.

I used to love my 35mm cameras - once I went digital I never looked back.

Get yourself a decent full frame dSLR of the same breed you've been using - many of the lenses for your 35mm will at the least be usable.

If you've been shooting manual 35mm you'll be up to speed in no time and get pretty similar image quality.

The high end dSLR cameras today are just coming up to the sort of pixel density that can emulate the high end film cameras - they're still a grand or so to get body only.

Imagine being able to take nearly limitless photos for the once off cost of the memory cards. Those that are worth printing can be printed out cheaply at home with easily available consumer hardware.
 

Offline Full-Auto

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Re: photographic film development a dying industry?
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2009, 03:46:46 PM »
Film died the day digital cameras passed the quality of film, the price dropped and pro's went digital.  This happened around 1999 or so.  Until then, film was still king.  Once an affordable professional quality digital camera was on the market... it only took a few years before the demise of film was to be.

There are some old hold-outs.  Guys that are in their 50-80's who have been film photog's their entire life (as hobbyist/artist) cling needlessly to the old standard claiming it produces better images.  Once they're gone and the next generation which is almost completely digital takes over, the last film processing joint will close its doors.

Production of film has slowed to a crawl.  If you go into any major dedicated photography store, it's all about digital with a small used section for old film cameras.  Heck, Canon and Nikon don't even make film SLR's anymore... it's over.

I can't say that I miss it.  I much rather shoot with my digital babies.



They produce cleaner images that are easily processed on a computer without the need for smelly chemicals and a darkroom.  I can review my work on-site and delete images I don't need anymore.  I can actually see if I got the shot or not, no need to waste film shooting to the left and right to be certain I got what I need.  No more wondering if I captured my shot while someone was blinking... No more need to carry tons of film around and only get 36 exposures per roll.  Heck, I can shoot 40 exposures with one press of the button with my Canon 1D and in 4 seconds have them stored safely on a digital media card... no need to change rolls of film.  :)

I can't say that I will miss film.
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Offline Full-Auto

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Re: photographic film development a dying industry?
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2009, 03:47:57 PM »
The demand is less every day.

One of the things that keep the film going, is the disposable cameras. They are still popular at wedding receptions (leaving them out on tables for impromptu shots) and vacations.


Ehh, they have disposable digital cameras for $9 now too.

http://www.ecamerafilms.com/product_p/jdc5.htm
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Offline Eupher

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Re: photographic film development a dying industry?
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2009, 03:53:08 PM »
Mrs. E and I have had an HP digital camera for some time, but last year we got ourselves a Nikon D300 - a relatively tame dSLR. I bought an additional telephoto lens with it, with zoom (I forget the focal length, but I think it goes out to 200 mm).

OMG. Amazing.

Yes, I still have my Minolta film camera. But I never use it. Maybe I can use it as a paperweight.

Digital is the only way to go anymore, but I agree - there are some old dogs out there who still swear by film.

Just a matter of time before film dies a permanent death.
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Offline Full-Auto

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Re: photographic film development a dying industry?
« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2009, 03:58:41 PM »
I sold my last film camera at a garage sale last year.  An old Minolta SLR... it was sitting around gathering dust for the last 10 years... it was time to go.  Some Japanese guy bought it as a collectors piece (I assume).  I can't imagine anyone wanting to shoot with it.  :)
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Offline RobJohnson

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Re: photographic film development a dying industry?
« Reply #11 on: April 19, 2009, 12:45:18 AM »

Offline Chris

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Re: photographic film development a dying industry?
« Reply #12 on: April 19, 2009, 01:11:59 AM »
When I worked for Ford, the other on-site guy installed and serviced those automated film-developing systems before we were hired in 2006.  Most of his clients were grocery stores and pharmacies.  Demand decreased to the point where he was laid off.  I can't imagine its gotten any better.

One thing I do prefer film over digital are the slower film speeds (>ISO 64) for super-long exposures with intense detail and color saturation, but you can do that with a computer now.  The slowest ISO speed my digital camera will do is 100.  I guess that's okay, but I enjoyed experimenting with different film types and techniques that you can't really do with your average mid-range digital camera (I paid $1500 for a Konica-Minolta digital SLR about five years ago). 
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Offline Full-Auto

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Re: photographic film development a dying industry?
« Reply #13 on: April 20, 2009, 07:53:53 AM »
One thing I do prefer film over digital are the slower film speeds (>ISO 64) for super-long exposures with intense detail and color saturation, but you can do that with a computer now.  The slowest ISO speed my digital camera will do is 100.  I guess that's okay, but I enjoyed experimenting with different film types and techniques that you can't really do with your average mid-range digital camera (I paid $1500 for a Konica-Minolta digital SLR about five years ago). 
Most new mid-tier (pro-sumer) and professional model digital cameras can do ISO 50.  But most digital photographers don't use it for color saturation and detail.  With digital you find the lens sweet spot (around f/8-f/11 for most lenses) then you shoot the pic.  Saturation is handled with a slider in post production.  If you want razor sharp detail out of a digital camera, get high quality prime lenses.

On digital you would use ISO 50 for long exposures in bulb mode when you were trying to do something like capture the rotation of stars in the night sky.  With digital though, you have to worry about sensor heat-up so exposures over 30 seconds begin to get noisy.  Most high quality cameras can handle this noise with a custom function setting in camera, but it can also be dealt with in post production.

For $1500 you can get a Canon 50D or even a refurbished 5D (full frame).  I can't think of anything these cameras won't do that a film camera will do.  The 50D is an extremely advanced camera with many features borrowed from the Canon professional body (1D).
« Last Edit: April 20, 2009, 08:01:02 AM by Full-Auto »
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