Wildly OT… Film’s not dead yet

[David Mathis]

As far as I know Bolex still makes film cameras, Pro 8mm sells new Super 8 cameras. Not sure of large film format, though. There is an Italian company that is making various formats of film, can’t remember the name at the moment. Also noticed that the standard 8mm format film is available.

The magnetic timeline, it’s magnetic-o-matic!

[Andrew Kimery]

[David Mathis] “As far as I know Bolex still makes film cameras, Pro 8mm sells new Super 8 cameras. Not sure of large film format, though.”

Maybe it was just the 35mm cameras that are no long made. A couple years ago I thought I remembered a flood of tweets when something go discontinued…

[David Mathis]

I have not seen any new 35mm cameras on the market. Hoping for a kick starter company for a large format camera. Kodak does still make that format of film. I was lucky to purchase a used H 16 for a very reasonable price. Rather not say how much don’t want anyone getting jealous! 😉

Will say it is priced cheaper than the Rhonda camera.

[Tim Wilson]

[Andrew Kimery] “Maybe it was just the 35mm cameras that are no long made. A couple years ago I thought I remembered a flood of tweets when something go discontinued…”

It was Fuji 35. The only film they make now is for archival purposes, with the delightful product line name, Eterna. Its purpose is to create black and white separations for color digital masters. Here’s the story on Fuji Eterna, which won a Sci-Tech Academy Award for its contributions to archival technology.

Film really is the most effective and efficient film preservation medium, with a lifetime reasonably and not at all controversially measured in the thousands of years.

Is there a digital storage medium that reliably lasts 1% of that? Not many, for sure.

And as I noted in an earlier post, Kodak concedes that the vast majority of their film stock is 16mm, Super 8, and black and white. Virtually none of it is large format.

You remember that story from earlier this year, about Kodak signing an agreement with a bunch of studios to keep making film stock? (LA Times here.) The films mentioned in the first post could easily represent the majority of the use of large format film stock.

Here’s a 2014 story that notes that in October 2013, the number was down to 111 worldwide.

In the US, by April 2014, the number was down to EIGHT. Your guess is as good as mine how many remain a year later.

However many there are, Kodak also acknowledges that those film labs are subsisting almost entirely on the same 16mm, Super 8, and bw processing that — apart from the studio deal — Kodak is subsisting on themselves.

So, film ceasing to exist in any form? Of course not. Not ever. Ceasing to exist as an artistic medium? No, no more than people have stopped painting on walls.

Ceasing to exist as a viable business? Already there. I’ll bet that there are more people making a living on the Renaissance Fair circuit in the US than there are in the film manufacturing and processing business. So yes, let us be clear: the arts of ruffled collars, brewing mead, and cafes that only sell turkey legs are very much alive too.

Pretty soon, film production will be down to just be JJ Abrams, Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, and David Mathis. The good news, David is that Kodak will make sure you have all the 16mm stock you need, and at least one lab to process it in.

[Andrew Kimery]

[Tim Wilson] “It was Fuji 35. “

I think this was what was bouncing around in the back of my head.

“While the debate has raged over whether or not film is dead, ARRI, Panavision and Aaton have quietly ceased production of film cameras within the last year to focus exclusively on design and manufacture of digital cameras. That’s right: someone, somewhere in the world is now holding the last film camera ever to roll off the line.”

https://library.creativecow.net/kaufman_debra/magazine_27-Film-Fade-to-Black/1

[David Mathis]

Film is probably the most reliable means of storage and acquisition. Do me trust a digital camera or the hard drive? No way, not today and not tomorrow. Digital format is always changing bring new opportunities but more often challenges. Will it be compatible with my NLE of choice? Is my current system up to the task? Is my system obosolete?

At least in the dinosaur land, there was a much more universal workflow. Not anymore, with the constant changing environment. The format of today will be obosolete tomorrow. How it feels anyway.