P3D Re: I saw the Future - Part I

[Brian Reynolds <reynolds@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dr. George A. Themelis wrote:
> One is the availability of slide film and its declining use among 
> photographers in general.
[snip]
> 
> The other issue is the trend towards digital photography...
[snip]
> 
> Unless something unexpected happens, there is no question in my mind 
> that 35 mm slide film (small size transparent medium) is heading to 
> extinction and prints (large size reflected material) to world 
> domination.  And this reflects to stereo photography.  Stereo slides 
> are heading to become "a thing of the past". 
> 

This is really about the availability of film vs. digital media.
(I've actually seen one of the memory card manufacturers market their
cards for digital cameras as "digital film".)  I see no reason to
believe that slide film will disappear before negative film (either
B&W or color) does.  So long as professionals (both photographers and
their customers) continue to use slide film (in any format) for
commercial work I don't think there is any reason to believe that
slide film is going to disappear.

Personally I haven't had trouble finding slide film in places other
than camera stores (and since I'm in NYC, my local camera stores are
the one's everyone else uses for mailorder), but why would you want
to?  If I go into a drugstore and buy film (slide or negative) I pay
more than if I walked over to B&H or Calumet, and the film hasn't been
kept refrigerated.  In some of the local tourist traps (e.g., the
Javits Center) I've seen them charge more for one roll of color
negative film than I paid for five rolls of slide film at B&H.
There's no way I'd hand any of my film over to the local drugstore (or
one hour lab, or even some "pro" labs) for processing.  After looking
around for a while I've found a really good B&W lab and a decent color
lab and a very good Ilfochrome lab.  On the rare occasions when I
shoot 35mm slide film I send it to Kodalux.  That's what just about
all the one hour labs do.

Before anyone pipes up that film's days are numbered remember that
Kodak (and others) have a history of maintaining production lines for
very long times (e.g., Kodak AZO (a contact printing paper) can be
traced back for about one hundred years).  Even when the big players
(Kodak and Fuji) abandon a product others have been known to step in
and fill the gap.

By the way, in the unlikely event that 35mm slide film disappears
before it does in other formats, you could always start making MF
stereo slides.  You'd even get a chance to see what you've been
missing.  :)

[snip]
> That's when, thanks to digital technology, I can output my slides
> not in near but in TRUE photographic quality prints... 

You can do that today.  Polaroid makes  a "printer" that outputs on
Polaroid film.

-- 
Brian Reynolds                  | "Dee Dee!  Don't touch that button!"
reynolds@xxxxxxxxx              | "Oooh!"
http://www.panix.com/~reynolds  |    -- Dexter and Dee Dee
NAR# 54438                      |       "Dexter's Laboratory"


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