Another hit to (our) film photography
Whenever I shot film (which was quite a bit this summer, at least a dozen rolls) I would use our local Target store for developing. Their next-day service: develop the film and scan the negatives to CD all for about $3.70 including tax. This was great and let me populate my photoblog with some nice photos.
Recently I've given Nate one of my film cameras, an Olympic Stylus Epic, and set him up with a couple of rolls of black and white film. He's prefectly happy to just press and press and press the shutter button photographing nothing or photographing us. He was having a ton of fun and I was planning on freeing up some space in my film/beer storage fridge.
This weekend 
helloheather went to Target to shop and to drop off his first roll of Ilford XP2 only to discover that our Target store is no longer developing film. Now they only have a send out service and it takes 7-10 days. My experience with send-out services has been...less than pleasant. I'm expecting the scans to be pretty bad. I'm expecting the negatives to look like they've been walked over by a dozen people.
For better or worse, the world of film is certainly not doing well... I enjoyed using it this summer as it, once again, forced me to slow down a bit and consider the shot. It helped too that I was limiting myself to a single focal length (50mm). I enjoyed the color palette I was getting from (expired) Kodak UC 400. And yeah, I cleared out a little more space in that fridge. But I especially enjoyed the 1-day turn-around CD's for so little money at a location that was right on my route home from the train.
I guess if we want to shoot any more film we're going to have to go just a little bit further and pay a little bit more.
negative 10 deg F
I had two rolls of film developed recently. On one roll were my photos from January 15th and 16th. You may recall that those were the days when it was bitterly cold (-18 deg).
Well, around 4:30 pm, on January 15th it was a balmy -10 deg F. with a wind-chill of around -20. Walking from work to the train station I encountered the following scene:
I don't know why he was wearing only a thin sweatshirt, shorts, and below-ankle socks...but he was. A very dangerous thing to do...
2304 frames of potential
Though I forgot to include my remaining Polaroid peel-apart film, this photo represents all of my remaining film. A total of 2304 unused frames that sit in my mini-refrigerator in the basement next to the beer.
That's a lot of film.
It's all expired though it has been frozen or refrigerated all of its life. I'd say it's all perfectly usable for non-professional work. I'm just not sure I'm the one to use it. I mean, I'd like to, but the cost of processing all that film is rather frightening.
In no particular order: Kodak TMax 100, Kodak Tri-X 400, Kodak Ultra Color 400, Fuji Provia 400, Fuji Provia 100, Fuji Reala Superia 100, Kodak 160 VC, Kodak 400 VC, Ilford Delta 3200, Ilford Delta 400, Ilford XP2 400, Ilford HP5+ 400, Fuji NPL 160T, Kodak Ektachrome 160T, Kodak Ektachrome 64T, Fuji NPH 400, Kodak 160 NC
Point -and- Shoot
The discovery that I could get film developed and put on CD at my local Target for $3 has lead me to start carrying my Olympic Stylus Epic again.
So far I've run a roll of Ilford XP2 through, a 12-frame roll of Fuji Superia (?) 200 I found in my desk drawer (which turned out to have two exposures on it already), and a 36-frame roll of professional Kodak Ultra Color 400.
Having a pocket-sized camera that can produce a shallow depth of field has been one of the benefits of using the Stylus Epic. I love digital and I love what it has done for my photography but I really get annoyed sometimes at the inability to throw the background out of focus with a digital point and shoot. This camera, with it's fast f/2.8 max aperture lens and projection onto a full size 35mm piece of film has allowed me to do just that. With the aperture wide open, the subject (which has, for the most part, been Nate) seems to just pop right off the page or screen.
Polaroid film to be gone forever
I have written about the demise of certain types of Polaroid film before. The company that purchased Polaroid a few years ago has been slowly and surely eliminating film types.
But now it seems that all remaining film lines will be no more.
Though Fuji still makes their instant film, they certainly have never had the variety that Polaroid offered. The article and one from the AP states that Polaroid would be interested in licensing their film to another manufacturer, so perhaps a line or two will live on.
http://lnk.nu/news.yahoo.com/ioh
I have many fond memories of being at my Grandma and Grandpa Bernhard's watching (with amazement) the image on integral film take form.
A further slide in the world of film
There has been no official word (and there might not be) but Canon has quietly placed all but one of their film SLR bodies into the "Discontinued" category. The one remaining is their high-end professional SLR: the 1V.
http://www.canon.com.hk/En/Consumer/Product/Discontinued.aspx?series_id=1
It is not so much a surprise but it certainly is another sign post along the road that photography has changed considerably in the past few years.
helloheather and I still own 2 film SLR bodies and will likely have them until they become collector items. The market for used film bodies has fallen so low that it would hardly be worth the effort to sell them. They offer more as backup bodies in case the DSLR fails or if a second body is needed for double-duty than they would on ebay.
It was only a few years ago that DSLR's were prohibitively expensive for all but the very rich individuals or the corporations that needed them. Now you can buy used DSLR's for a few hundred dollars. Amazing changes, to say the least.
A relationship strained
Because the 30 deg F high today is going to be the warmest it will be all week, I took the opportunity to walk up to Gamma in order to drop of my recently completed roll of film from my pinhole camera. The camera takes 120 roll film and, given how poorly my last rolls of film faired at the hands of Wolf Camera (who sends it out to who knows where), I thought it better to let the professionals do the processing.
I've not been to Gamma in a long while (because I've not been shooting 120 film or 35mm slide film recently) and so I did not know that they've instituted a minimum charge of $10 for all orders. As I only wanted my film developed (normally a $5.50 charge) I now have to pay $10.90 for the same service. This additional cost has put something of a strain on my already tenuous relationship with film.
I enjoy film, especially the much larger negatives produced by 120 film. I don't subscribe to "Film vs. Digital" arguments because film and digital image capture are not mutually exclusive. Film is simply a different medium than digital just like painting is different than sculpture.
Shooting with my Holga camera and my pinhole (both of which take 120 film) is a /fun/ process. It's so different than shooting digital or even 35mm film. But using these cameras, due to the film, is also a pretty significant expense. Or rather, my approach to photography means shooting film is very expensive, especially if you're looking at anything outside the color (C41) 35mm world. The most cost-effective solution to shooting film actually seems to be to return to true B&W photography. Souping your own chemicals and developing your own film at home can be done for pennies, but requires a decent buy-in of hardware and is time consuming.
The middle-ground of "occasional" film users is now washed away. The digital market has reduced demand far enough that consolidation and elimination of luxuries like inexpensive 3rd party processing for the amateur is, at least in Chicago, a thing of the past. Couple this with the amount of work it takes to either print the images or scan them (at questionable quality) and I have to closely examine my relationship with film. Digital's low cost per-shot has made film's expenses too large to be comfortable with anymore. Yet I've maintain a fridge full of film waiting to be shot…nay, wanting to be shot.
I'm not sure how to proceed. Sell the film at a considerable loss? Use the film at considerable expense of both time and money? There's no clear path.
Holgaroid – end of an era
"The Process"
Polaroid has recently announced that they are ending production of all Type-80 pack film, the kind of film I need in order to use my "toy" camera the Holga and its Polaroid back.
This is a real shame. A photographer with a Holga can produce some unique and, in my opinion, some interesting, images. I have found that the cameras stark simplicity coupled with its sometimes unpredictable behavior a very nice creative outlet. I love the "sweet spot" of sharpness the lens has and the vignetting it can produce. When I finally got a hold of the Polaroid back for it, I found a near perfect match for my needs.
The Holga (by itself) takes medium-format film, something which is increasingly difficult for limited users to have processed (unless I was to start processing it myself) and very difficult or expensive to scan. Prior to purchasing the Polaroid back, I found the Holga being used less and less.
The Polaroid back afforded me the ability to produce images with the Holga very quickly. Thirty seconds, or so, with Type-84 film and I would have a print. If I didn't like it, I would shoot it again.
Pack film isn't cheap but, like my exercise/photography project, there is value in being forced to slow down and think about ones photography.
I recognize that, in part, I am to blame for Polaroid's decision. The digital revolution has swept away a lot of the consumer (and professional) film industry. Entire companies have been lost in this change. I do really enjoy digital photography, but there was something so appealing about having a small print right there, developed right before me.
And so, I've placed what will likely be my last order for Type-80 film. I decided to buy just Type-84, the ISO 100 B&W offering. With it, I want to make at least one very good family portrait (I'll need someone to press the shutter button for me for that one), one good portrait of Nathan, and maybe a few decent shots in Chicago. After that, the Polaroid back will likely be added to my collection of cameras, where it'll remain unused.
The photo I've included in this post certainly isn't a great example of what the Holga + Polaroid can do but instead it's a reminder of the fun I had shooting with it. To some it may look like a complicated mess, but to me it was relaxing and enjoyable. It's still amazing to me that Polaroid would have produced a back for the Holga in the first place, and that it lasted as long as it has. I just hope that with my remaining film packs, I can produce images that complement both my photgraphy and the Holga.
Further Demise
In July 2005, I was shocked and saddened to find out that Lab One, the film developing and printing lab where I was getting all my b&w and slide film processed had closed. (previous posts: one two).
On Thursday, I went out for a 3 mile walk during lunch. My route happened to take me near the former Lab One building. I noticed some construction materials near the building and a few formerly covered windows were now broken open. Poking my head through one of the holes, I was greeted with quite a site.
(click image for a larger view)
When it was a lab, customers only saw about 1/10th the total space. To see this open, vacant space was a twist on my brain. I was so used to being just in the customer space, that I never thought about the rest of the building. It never even occurred to me that it could, well, go beyond what I could see from my side of the counter.
The digital revolution has brought a lot of change to photography. Less and less is being printed, more and more is being saved to fragile hard drives with no backups. Images are shared around the world in seconds instead of languishing in boxes in a closet for years. Photography labs are closing and skill sets are disappearing. But more cameras are being sold each year than ever were sold during the high-point of 35mm film. Photography has been going through a great change. I hope, in the end, it is all for the better.
Interestingly enough, todays cetan.org photoblog post is a similar view but of a different building taken 2 weeks ago: http://www.cetan.org/index.php?showimage=16
A sign of things to come
http://www.nikon.co.uk/press_room/releases/show.aspx?rid=201
Nikon has announced today that they are ending production of all film cameras except for the F6 and the FM10.
This is a big move, a really big move. I don't think any other manufacturer has gone this far before.
If you're a Nikon film shooter, look for support to dwindle as digital consumes the market place. I expect Canon to follow suit rather quickly with a similar announcement.
Film will always have a place in photography, just a much less prominent one. There are still applications where film is the right tool for the job, but digital has come quite a long way and continues to make tremendous advances.
Interesting times ahead.
edit: oh, I see this got on /. as well. I feel like this blog is turning into the /. relay hour...