 BetterPhoto Member |
AGFA goes belly up Wow. I hadn't heard, but go to Agfa.com and READ ALL ABOUT IT! Agfa put in for insolvency and the new company they are with is trying to decide what to do with them (don't look good). I guess I'll start lobbying my local shop to stock Fuji instead. Gotta have something there. If they go Kodak, they'll just have to change in four years anyway. Kodak announced about three years ago that they were no longer putting anything into film R&D.
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Mark Feldstein |
Hey Chris !! Yep. It's true but probably worse than you thought. See this link: http://www.agfaphoto.com/en-GB/about/index.html Evidently, they haven't been able to find a buyer for the photo products division and I guess as of two months ago, they started selling it off piece by piece...literally. :<(((( I am seriously bummed out about this. I think they also had a deal cooking with Ilford at one point, but that fell through too.
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BetterPhoto Member |
Well, thank goodness for Ilford, anyway. Other than Tri's and T's, I have always liked the renditions that Ilford B&W's offer. Shame about AGFA though. Chris Walrath
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Andrew Laverghetta |
What's R&D??
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Research and developement. Lots of companies are having trouble. Aprilia is having some lean times.
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Andrew Laverghetta |
So what does this mean? That they won't be coming out with new types of film? I don't see how they could do that when such a large percentage of people prefer kodak's film. I'm thinking about professionals mostly, and especially since Kodak is so large. It wouldn't make sense if they were strapped for cash. I guess I just need to keep up on this stuff more.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Lots of money goes into the trial and error of improving on a product year after year. Regardless of what it is.
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BetterPhoto Member |
Don't worry. Film isn't going anywhere anytime soon. In ten, fifteen, even twenty years you'll still be able for drive your hovercar and have your favorite roll of film (excepting Kodak and Agfa) beamed into your miniature transporter and then cruise light speed to the summit of K2 and unload it on your favorite perspective. Well, maybe that view might be SLIGHTLY skewed from the way it might be but all this to say . . . Film will always be around. Large format sheet film is already a difficult prospect to find at best. 120, which I use, is sadly following. But ut will always be avbailable because there will always be photographers who use it.
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Peter M. Wilcox |
I wouldn't be surprised if film has disappeared from retail shelves in ten years. I think there will be a cascading effect as the various parts of the infrastructure become nonprofitable. Film makers, camera makers, developers and processors, darkroom equipment manufacturers. Think vinyl records verses CD's. And try to buy a good turntable nowadays... The process will accelerate as it becomes more and more difficult to make a quality photograph with film.
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BetterPhoto Member |
"The process will accelerate as it becomes more and more difficult to make a quality photograph with film. " But at a ratio of ten-twelve megapixels to 40 BILLION crystals of silver halides, will digital ever surpass a film photographer with a steady camera? And that's just small format. medium is a ratio of 22MP to 200 billion. Yes, you can make very impressive prints using digital capture, but no better than film. The problem is that there are only so many CRAFTSMEN out there. Photogrpahy is for the point and shooters in the retailers eyes and that is their bread and butter. If they move to digital, so do the manufacturers. Who would also be foolish to abandon film production altogether.
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Peter M. Wilcox |
Well, bottom line on any picture is when it's displayed. Digital doesn't have to match a theoretical film resolution, it just has to provide an equivalent print quality - at which point the advantages of digital photography become overwhelming. The manufacturers have already started to abandon film, which was the starting point for this thread. With the exception of dynamic range, the current crop of sensors are already surpassing 135 film, not perhaps in theoretical resolution, but certainly what existing cameras and lenses can do with the format. A good digital specific lens needs and uses about twice the resolving capability of a 35mm film lens now. There will be no further advancement in 135 technology. You are already being squeezed from above as the larger formats become harder to find. How much more difficult will it be when the manufacturers can't cover their costs by selling billions of rolls of 135 film?
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