[photo-3d] Re: Films days are numbered??

[Gee <73157.2172@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

All these predictions are fascinating, but some comments seem to be based
on misconceptions or something?

>Beta supposedly failed - it became a professional format.

While Beta might have earned Sony a profit, thus being a "success", it
failed in the consumer marketplace.  Do not confuse the professional format
Betacams with the home versions.  Other than tape wrap and tape width, they
share nothing else in common.  Sony has successfully used technology
developed for the home system in the professional system, though.

>I think people eventually determine that this modern world offers little
>to compare with the past. Vinyl Records: Archival experts and collectors
>of records seem to agree that there is very little to compare with the
>longevity the simple record offers. Records are preferred over Tape or
>CD, or other technologies of the past. Still widely available, records
>still seem to be secure.

Bob, where in your neighborhood are records "widely available"?  They
aren't in mine.  If you're not talking about used record stores, the only
new
vinyl records you will find at some new record stores fit in a small bin. 
From
an archival standpoint, records have a proven survival rate.  This does not
mean that CD's are not preferred.  There are prototype laserdiscs and CD's
that are 25 years old now that still play fine.  I expect them to last as
long, and
sound better than vinyl in the years to come.

>Movies are going to be with us..... even created
>with the original Technicolor process because directors realize that this
>decades old technology is superior to anything we have now. 

Huh???  Created??  The last film photographed in 3-strip Technicolor, which
I assume
you are referring to instead of the earlier versions, was in the early
50's.  There have been
films printed in the Technicolor IB process, most recently the reissues of
The Wizard of Oz
and Gone With The Wind.

>Yup, the past still offers us better technology than modern technology.

Horsefeathers!  The past contains some good technology, and the future
will contain some good technology.  You just have to know how to use
the technology.

> I
>have observed that many people automatically believe that the past is
>best forgotton. What they did back "then" is not as good as what today's
>modern Technology can offer us. I have observed that in all the talks
>about old vs. New, Faster, Cheaper, More Cost Efficent, and other terms
>get mentioned and are used as the selling point. Hardly ever does Better
>get used. Old can beat New in many situations.

I agree that there are cases where the old ways work better, but usually
they
are discarded for cost reasons.

Film will be with us for the forseeable future.  Even Super-8 film.  There
are more S-8
films available now than just 5 years ago.  Unfortunately, Kodak has
discountinued
sound film cartridges.  The major users of Super-8 now are film students
and professional
filmmakers.  The amateur market moved to video between 1980-5.

I expect to see new films come out, and perhaps some old films go by the
wayside.
While I love Kodachrome, if Kodak can no longer sell enough to make a
profit, they
WILL discontinue it.  It's our job to use enough Kodachrome to keep it out
there.  If 
Kodak does discontinue it, I would not expect someone else to license it. 
The economics
just aren't there.  It's the same reason we don't have any decent mass
market stereo cameras
from any of the Japanese manufacturers.  No money in it...

                                                                 Derek Gee