Mark C wrote: > I use a bit of 35mm B&W film - probably about 75 rolls last year. I > shoot maybe 15 to 20 rolls of color 120 film in either the 6x7 or a 6x6 > TLR and a similar number of 120 B&W film. Digital has replaced my 35mm > color work completely (I used to shoot lots of 35mm transparencies). > > I don't think that demand for film has increased, at least not on a > long term basis. It seems to me that demand has stabilized and is > declining more slowly than in past years when the demand dropped > drastically. On the supply side, a lot of suppliers have dropped out of > the market and those that remain have reduced their product lines. But, > the surviving manufacturers are facing less competition. > > Many for my favorite films of the past - Agfa APX, Neopan 400, Neopan > SS, Plus-X, HIE have been discontinued. While there has been a mild > resurgence in the varieties of film in recent years and some new brands > appearing on the market the selection is still nowhere near where it > was at films peak about 15 years ago. > > I enjoy the process of shooting and developing film (B&W) and also > scanning it and applying digital enhancements to scanned negs, which is > slightly different than for digital captures. For certain niches of > photography I think that well handled 120 film in 6x7 format can > produce superior resolution and detail than my DSLR's, but that gap has > gotten very narrow and I expect will disappear with my next DSLR > upgrade.
Ok, film is alive and well, and complementing digital use. Very interesting. The one thing I really miss which digital just doesn't give me the pleasure of, is 35mm transparency film and it will that that I will go for. I couldn't find any a few years back, but now it is there I would like to see how it compares again with digital - not just in terms of the end result, but for me I suppose the journey is important. Malcolm -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
