# Continuing 35mm Film Availability



## dinodan (Apr 14, 2007)

As the proud owner of 2 film Nikons (and insanely considering the purchase of a third, as prices are so low), as well as a vintage 35, what are the prevailing thoughts and conventional wisdom on the continued availability of 35mm film in the coming years?


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## Don Simon (Apr 14, 2007)

Well in the short term at least, I'm still confident that I'll be able to get Fuji and Ilford... sometimes it may be a case of waiting for a batch (as is the case with Ilford SFX 200), and most likely you'll be buying online instead of in stores... but I don't think availability will be a real problem, although you might not be able to get it as cheap as is often possible now. Having said that, obviously I'm no business expert.


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## Alpha (Apr 14, 2007)

35mm will be around for a long time. There are some films that i'm currently hording, such as APX100, tech pan, and foma, all of which i can still purchase locally.

You don't have to worry about black and white or slide film going away in 35mm. Standard color negative may be a different story. If i had to bet, I'd say that would be the first to go.


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## dinodan (Apr 14, 2007)

MaxBloom said:


> 35mm will be around for a long time. There are some films that i'm currently hording, such as APX100, tech pan, and foma, all of which i can still purchase locally.
> 
> You don't have to worry about black and white or slide film going away in 35mm. Standard color negative may be a different story. If i had to bet, I'd say that would be the first to go.


 
That would be fine with me. I use slide & B+W film almost exclusively.  Plenty of room in the 'fridge.

Thanks for the input.

Now, about that F100...


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## blackdoglab (Apr 14, 2007)

I have a funny feeling that film is going to be with us for at least another 150 years.  The people who are predicting the downfall of film tend to be the same folks who are pushing the newest Windows operating system on you.  In other words, people who don't know film or who assume that the newest technology is always better.  I just found a shipload of negatives that my Grandma took about 50 years ago.  They were all in great shape and printable.  Overall, the images looked great (all were shot with box cameras, one shooting 6x6 and the other 6x9) and it made me realize that this fact alone made film still viable.  Where will our jpgs be in 50 years?  Will your computer still be in use, will your picture floppy discs and cd's still be readable?  I doubt it, and I'm sure that most of you do too.  Digital is still in a state of infancy and presents us with a technology that still has plenty of bugs and shortcomings.  I'm not saying that digital is bad; digital, like film, is only a tool.


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## selmerdave (Apr 15, 2007)

MaxBloom said:


> 35mm will be around for a long time. There are some films that i'm currently hording, such as APX100, tech pan, and foma, all of which i can still purchase locally.
> 
> You don't have to worry about black and white or slide film going away in 35mm. Standard color negative may be a different story. If i had to bet, I'd say that would be the first to go.



Where do you get Tech Pan?

Dave


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## Alpha (Apr 15, 2007)

haha. want me to hook you up? I can get it in 35mm and 4x5...shoot me a pm.


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## selmerdave (Apr 16, 2007)

pm sent Max...

Dave


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## jwkwd (Apr 18, 2007)

My opinion is that it will be here for a very long time. It seems that as more and more people gain knowledge in the digital aspects of photography, there is a developing interest in how it was done in " the old days ". I think that I will always feel sort of a rush after waiting for some slides to get back to me.


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## Dylan (Apr 18, 2007)

MaxBloom said:


> You don't have to worry about black and white or slide film going away in 35mm. Standard color negative may be a different story. If i had to bet, I'd say that would be the first to go.



Why would standard color negative be the first? I'm just curious because I'm still a noob and that's pretty much what I'm working with right now. I just purchased my first roll of Velvia and another of Ilford B&W but until recently I wasn't sure if my work was good enough to warrant the added expense of these specialty films. I'm sure you're not trying to be alarmist but I was curious as to your reasoning for that statement.


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## dinodan (Apr 18, 2007)

Dylan said:


> Why would standard color negative be the first? I'm just curious because I'm still a noob and that's pretty much what I'm working with right now. I just purchased my first roll of Velvia and another of Ilford B&W but until recently I wasn't sure if my work was good enough to warrant the added expense of these specialty films. I'm sure you're not trying to be alarmist but I was curious as to your reasoning for that statement.


 
Just guessing here, but I think Max's logic is that traditionally, _most_ (I didn't say all) people who use 35 mm. color negative film are "point & shooters". These people are switching to digital point & shoot cameras, and demand for that type of film will drop precipitously. B+W and color slide film are used more by serious amateurs and pros, who are more likely to stick with film, to a certain extent.


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## blackdoglab (Apr 18, 2007)

> Just guessing here, but I think Max's logic is that traditionally, _most_ (I didn't say all) people who use 35 mm. color negative film are "point & shooters". These people are switching to digital point & shoot cameras, and demand for that type of film will drop precipitously. B+W and color slide film are used more by serious amateurs and pros, who are more likely to stick with film, to a certain extent.


 
In that case, might professional color print films stay on?  I doubt that many point and shooters would use velvia or portra.


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## panocho (Apr 18, 2007)

film will be available at least as long as we (and I include the youngest around) live. only that it will become more and more expensive and difficult to find, as it already is happening.

it is not simply a matter of digital getting the quality levels of film and therefore substituting it. Film is another thing, and there will always be people interested in using it, regardless of whether they shoot digital as well.

did cd's anihilate vinyl? no, only that it became something for a minority of people. There's a different taste in playing a vinyl than a cd (not to mention having it in your hands and seeing the cover art). Some people (and I include myself) do care about that taste, that feeling, and thus vinyl continues. Of course, most consumers, and the market as such, is now cd, but vinyl exists.

The same with film. You may convince me that digital is far better than film, but how about the feeling of loading the film, then developing it, etc? There is no darkroom for digital (well, it is inside your computer...), and darkroom itself implies another conception of photography that many won't forget just because the quality of digital is just as good or even better than that of film.

by the way, another discussion, which I might start one of these days, would be the differences of the image produced by digital and film. 'cause there are differences...!


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## blackdoglab (Apr 18, 2007)

in my mind, film and digital are two completely different animals.  I see no reason why film can't continue.  The images I take with film seem more personal and methodical.


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## dinodan (Apr 18, 2007)

panocho said:


> by the way, another discussion, which I might start one of these days, would be the differences of the image produced by digital and film. 'cause there are differences...!


 
That would be a worthy topic.


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## panocho (Apr 18, 2007)

dinodan said:


> That would be a worthy topic.



well, so here it is!

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78633


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## Alpha (Apr 18, 2007)

The point about 35mm film disappearing because of digital is well-taken. My point was more about the companies that produce film. Ilford has taken their stand on being it it for the long haul. Fuji has a large stake in the slide film market, and is pretty dedicated to the Neopan films. Adox/Efke will be around for a while, as they command a huge portion of the LF market, are relatively dedicated to their films in general, and are now the only producers of true IR film. I don't think that any of them will stop producing film, though if I had to bet, I'd say Kodak will be the first to cut down on their production, with TMax and Kodachrome hanging around the longest.


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