OK, just how hard is it to produce B&W film? I know to produce as much as Kodak or Fuji used to involves enormous QC issues. I can make beer in my kitchen whereas Budweiser needs fancy techniques to make 12% of the beer on the planet. So how hard would it be for a small company to put a B&W emulsion on a polymer base? Not a lot of fancy chemicals involved, although there would be some EPA issues. I can't say for sure, but I bet a small specialty company could make film for a higher cost. With a global market available, it should still be a going concern. This is the point below: just a specialty market, not mainstream photography.
Steven Desjardins Department of Chemistry Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA 24450 (540) 458-8873 FAX: (540) 458-8878 [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>>Good points, all. And they probably illustrate the ultimate end of film: That of a small niche product used by a few enthusiasts. Compare tha number of horse-drawn buggies in the U.S. to the number or automobiles and you'll probably be close to the correct ratio (although "miles traveled per year" might be better). What's happened in this thread is that two different arguments are taking place: The "Film is Dead" people are arguing that film is going to cease to be a general consumer product. The "Film Ain't Dead" people are saying that it will survive because it's useful for some specialized applications and because some enthusiasts like working with it. Both sides are going on as if these are contradictory positions, but they aren't. Ill be going down to North Carolina next week and taking several rolls of Provia to shoot in my 645. But I don't ise film for anything other than special occasions like this and even then I'll shoot many times more with my K10D while I'm there. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
