Re: Film photography in 2024 and 2025 - where we're at, and where we're going?
I'm surprised at the state of film photography. Twenty years ago, I switched to digital fully intending to continue film and darkroom work. Well, work and life happened and I never looked back. A freezer full of film just got complaints from my wife. Then this fall I pulled out a couple Rollei cameras and shot film on a vacation. Full as hell. What surprised me was the young folks at the shop where I got the film developed, and then the online presence. I figured film was dead.
After talking to a guy from Rochester in maybe 2010, I knew film was dead. He said Kodak was demo'ing buildings in Kodak Park to get them off the tax roles. I figured those manufacturing abilities would never come back. (I used to work for Kodak and lived in Rochester for a while.) So I'm actually happy to see that 100 ft rolls of Tmax and TriX are still available. BW 4x5 film is $3 a sheet. That's reasonable. The things that's sad is the lack of slide film and the cost.
I'm also surprised to see a bunch of recently retired guys like me are firing up darkrooms. They hung onto the gear and 30 years later, they're dusting it off. Cool. Paper prices? Damn, now that's expensive.
Dec 16, 2024 at 11:08 PM
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