Hi, Wednesday, December 24, 2003, 1:01:36 PM, you wrote:
> More importantly to serious photography enthusiasts like ourselves is > the matter of *what* film remains available. As high-end photography > goes almost exclusively digital, I'd expect the film emulsions that > remain in production to be those made for weekend point-and-shoot users > :( I take a different view. Consumer photography, and probably most professional photography, will quickly become exclusively digital, for all intents and purposes. Film photography is likely to be more like B&W has been for the last 40 years - a niche for enthusiasts. The film that will be available will be a low volume / high margin product available from specialist outlets, and processed at a small number of labs who cater for enthusiasts. Much like Kodachrome and Scala (although they happen to be the cheapest films for me). It will be expensive, but high quality because the enthusiasts will only want high quality. > On a positive note, I think quality black & white film will remain a > viable niche market. I took some Tri-X to a local professional lab a few weeks ago and they more or less laughed at me. They hadn't processed any for 3 years. Yet I can still get it done at Snappy Snaps, and to a far higher standard - especially 'contact' prints - than I ever got from any pro lab in the past. I can also get very high quality colour 'contacts'. They're not literally contact prints, but digitally-produced index prints laid out & sized like a contact print, but every frame is perfectly exposed. Bob
