----- Original Message ----- From: "Rob Studdert" Subject: Film is Dying? (was Pentax is Dying?)
> On 17 Jul 2004 at 9:34, Jens Bladt wrote: > > > Pentax isn't Dying. Film is, increasingly slowly at some stage perhaps, but it's > > still going down. As Pentax has/had a pro-market in MF, they have to upgrade > > this (Hasselblad and Rollei did) or/and try to dig further into/stay alive in > > consumer DSLR/D-P&S markets. > > So who here has shed their excess film bodies in view of the pending fate of > film? > > I have, I'm down to the smallest number of film bodies I've had for many years > and I don't expect the number to ever increase either. You and a whole bunch of other people. The only segment of the film market that is still strong is the single use cameras. We are literally down 50% on film processing over last years numbers. Last year was the last year we saw growth in film processing, and the % was less than half of what it had been the year before. On the pro side of things, a lot of the volume shooter pro boys are switching to digital, and are selling their Hasselblads (and everything else medium format) to finance the move. It's a natural progression. Two decades ago, the marketplace determined that one hour photo labs were more desirable than full service labs. Convenience took precedence over quality and product diversity, and the demise of the full service lab began. Ten years ago, the marketplace decided that putting one hour labs into discount department stores. More convenience, and cheaper pricing, but also lowered quality, and even less service is the result, but it didn't matter, the fate of the stand alone camera store/ photo lab was sealed. Digital is, after the initial investment, pretty much cost free, and is very convenient. The fact that the quality just isn't there doesn't matter. The marketplace has continually shown that it is not quality driven, and film doesn't have what it takes anymore to stay in the game. I think this is very sad, but it is, unfortunatley, true. William Robb
