I'm seeing some great deals on Nikon F5 film camera. I'm thinking of getting one (around $350 for like new F5) to use as a backup camera with my Nikon 14-24mm lens and maybe some black and white action as well..
Am I going back to the future here, am I losing it?
A very difficult question to answer. Kodak and Fuji have not stopped their development of new films and Fuji surely have committed themselves to continue to work with film until there is no demand. I do not know about Kodak.
Many professionals still use film but more and more labs prefer to work with digital. I love film and I like to use it but it is hard to figure out if there is enough demand, at least in this country. It is my understanding that Walmart will not develop more film beginning in February, 2009.
I can only give you an opinion, mine, but buying an F5 for $350 looks like a hell of a bargain to me and I would not hesitate buying it. Remember, that is only my opinion.
William Rodriguez
Miami, Florida.
No, not dead. It won't completely die out. It'll become more of a niche as time goes by. If you don't mind ordering film by mail and either processing yourself or mailing out film for processing, I see it being around longer than anyone reading this forum. So if you want an F5, treat yourself. Just as the inventory of film at retailers has tapered over the last 5-10yr, I can see the same happening to many drop-off/1 hr processing booths given a similar time frame.
It's not going to die, it's just going to become more inconvenient.
Nope, not dead although I'm expecting the consumer emulsions to start drying up over the next few years.
I still use an F2a, FE2 and FM2n for Nikon film cameras (Just bought the FM2n in fact) along with several other 35mm and MF bodies.
Film is to digital as B&W is to colour. Another medium, less popular but strong nonetheless.
The only thing that's died off is the market for new 35mm film cameras other than Rangefinders. The excess of good used cameras killed off the new market. I expect that it'll come back somewhat in 10-15 years as the poorly maintained and excessively electronic cameras die off permanently, much as the RF market started to come back 10 years ago after 20-25 years of near-complete death.
Eh, 35mm film is dying out. 645, 6x6 and 67 film is still reasonably popular and is definitely worth shooting. To say nothing of polaroid, 4x5 and larger mediums.
I am not convinced film will ever truly "die". Thing is, even though it's been pretty much proven that digital can now surpass film in almost every way, there's something enjoyable about shooting with it, if even occasionally. Beta recorders are dead. Film will likely never "die".
You're right. It's kind of like the 'old days' when I started. You could get a few films at the 'drug store', but everything was available at the local camera shop. There was no such thing as 1-hour processing, or drug store processing. Everything was sent of to the big labs.
There's a whole bunch of other films, I was just trying to represent B&W, color negative and color positive film.
Speaking of Tri-x, I love that film. I've yet to see any kind of digital 'emulation' that even comes close to the personality of Tri-X (which BTW, has a brand new emulsion)
OK, I'll give you that film isn't dead; but, it is on life support. The number of users is way down. There are fewer quality photographic labs. The big problem is that Canon and Nikon are not producing film cameras. Those F3s and F5s are the end of the line.
) of fun...
