Larry Watson (larry@oreilly.com)
Mon, 19 Apr 1999 14:36:53 -0800
I have to admit, film availability is the one aspect of this discussion that
concerns me. Digital will ultimately be a just another tool, another
aesthetic.
In the very near future no one will be able to tell if the picture in the
gallery
was made by digital or analog means, and few will care. Remember that
in the early days of wet photography their was some awful dreck as well.
All new process take time to find their expression, digital is no different.
I just hate the idea that one couldn't go back to large film photography
because no materials are available. That Kodak has burned yet another
bridge to photography's previous craft tradition. I don't know that
all of us buying an 11x14 will make much difference however.
Is film manufacturing only a big company option. Is it conceivable that
Kodak or Illford would license some smaller specialist company
to manufacture large formats of film using their processes that are
non-competitive with any of their products? Their is a paper company
like Arches, and then their is one like Hammermill. Can't film be made
on a small scale that's profitable for the company and affordable to the
customer?
Eventually some MBA type will insists that Kodak dump large format,
and it eventually will. Someone smart should be in the position to pick
it up.
>Kodak has virtually abadoned its large format customers. They no longer
>supply and catalog large format film (larger then 8 X 10) as they used to.
>They have discontinued several products including Super XX that was once a
>mainstay to many photographers. Even Ilford, who filled this vacuum for a
>while, is no longer stocking large sizes anymore and now require a minimum
>order of 20 boxes. At $188.00 a box for 14 X 17 film, that's a lot of money.
>We still have Bergger now, but how long is that going to last. Secondly,
>camera dealers in the network I work with have reported a significant drop in
>the demand for large format cameras in the last 6 months and my business has
>also been affected. Like a canary in a coal mine, these winds bare no glad
>tidings. I certainly am not proposing every one run out and buy a large
>camera ( though I think that would be great), this interest in digital may be
>appealing in the short term, but will it cause the death of film based image
>making as we know it? Will there still be film available 10 years from now?
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