Whitechapel - RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/ Lussumo Vanilla & Feed Publisher RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252339#Comment_252339 2010-07-29T10:13:18-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 Val A Lindsay II http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1680 So most of the photographers here have probably noted the death of Kodachrome . I've never considered film photography to be endangered and it may still may not be, but this news doesn't lend itself ... death of Kodachrome . I've never considered film photography to be endangered and it may still may not be, but this news doesn't lend itself to that theory.

What do the photographers here in WC see in regards to this news? What is the status of film with digital becoming so dominant a format?]]> RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252349#Comment_252349 2010-07-29T10:36:36-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 Slick http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=5354 After using film since the mid seventies and digital since the ninieties I have no desire to go back RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252350#Comment_252350 2010-07-29T10:38:18-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 keyofsilence http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=7294 Digital will consume everything - eventually your soul, loved ones and the life forces of unborn children. RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252359#Comment_252359 2010-07-29T11:09:06-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 StefanJ http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=961 I have a relative who is a Big Name Photographer. He has no desire to even touch a digital camera. He has a dark room in his basement. He has a refrigerator with a several years supply of B&W ...
He has no desire to even touch a digital camera. He has a dark room in his basement. He has a refrigerator with a several years supply of B&W film. (He's kind of iffy about color film too.)

I suspect that there will always be enough flim photographers to support a boutique market in the stuff, at least for another generation.

But it could well be that film and film processing services disappear from drug stores, souvenir shops, and the like within a decade.]]> RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252364#Comment_252364 2010-07-29T11:26:55-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 Val A Lindsay II http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1680 I suspect that there will always be enough flim photographers to support a boutique market in the stuff, at least for another generation. I've always felt the art would keep it alive, but there ... I suspect that there will always be enough flim photographers to support a boutique market in the stuff, at least for another generation.

I've always felt the art would keep it alive, but there are a few practical reasons I'd imagine. The biggest I'm aware of is night time photography. I've not seen a digital yet that really does this well, although my exposure (no pun intended) to the latest digital technology is probably limited compared to others.]]> RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252370#Comment_252370 2010-07-29T12:02:59-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 James Puckett http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=2911 Film will eventually become an expensive specialty product for artists who have money and like to experiment with odd materials and techniques. It will always be around in the same way rabbit-skin ... RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252375#Comment_252375 2010-07-29T12:35:32-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 joe.distort http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1173 yep- it will still be around. welcome to being considered on the same level as the weird guy who complains about musics availibility on vinyl. the backlash is already starting, theres a few punk kids ... RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252382#Comment_252382 2010-07-29T13:56:10-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 rickiep00h http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=2930 This reminds me of the guy at our downtown art fair this year that was proudly strutting around with his 4x3 billows camera and crowing about how all his prints were handmade in a darkroom from real ...
I can appreciate the ass-busting people do for their art, but if they're going to make it a selling point, they better be damn good at every point in the process, not just turning out a pedestrian print that a high schooler could do in a darkroom.

Now, that said, I like the medium pretty well. I like B&W film shots, though I prefer to process them on the computer. I like the way certain films saturate, and I actually like the fact that you can't white balance film. But it all comes down to usage of tools. I'm not really a fan of permanently taking tools out of the toolbox, but if I can do something and achieve similar (or identical) effects with something easier, why bother with something that takes more time and effort? Call me lazy, but I'd rather spend more time making more art.]]> RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252383#Comment_252383 2010-07-29T13:58:06-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 shannon.gilly.3 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=8549 The market seems to be working its way to a small, stable niche. C-41 films probably have another decade of commercial viability, although we will probably see the variety of c-41 films cut down to ... RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252386#Comment_252386 2010-07-29T14:25:22-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 James Puckett http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=2911 But they were NO BETTER than the guy right around the corner with Photoshop and a high-end Nikon. Only the absolute best photographers are still getting better results with film. The only work ... But they were NO BETTER than the guy right around the corner with Photoshop and a high-end Nikon.

Only the absolute best photographers are still getting better results with film. The only work I’ve seen in the last few years that made it seem worthwhile was on display at National Geographic’s headquarters in DC. But there are also some people who went digital and really need to go back—Annie Leibovitz isn’t so great at Photoshop!]]> RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252406#Comment_252406 2010-07-29T20:19:09-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 KitsuneCaligari http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=248 I think after a while there will be some kind of left-handed backlash to "pure digital", as no one can truly tell if a digital shot is truly what was shot at the moment the aperture snapped ...
Remember that the next time you see a pic of a shark leaping out of the water to bite a helicopter....]]> RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252414#Comment_252414 2010-07-29T21:52:11-07:00 2010-07-29T21:52:33-07:00 Rootfireember http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1551 Hey, I see sharks jumping out of the water to bite helicopters all the time.... That being said, doesn't RAW digital format preserve what was originally shot, to some degree? My PS teacher said ...
That being said, doesn't RAW digital format preserve what was originally shot, to some degree? My PS teacher said something about that before.]]> RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252440#Comment_252440 2010-07-30T05:08:36-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 rickiep00h http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=2930 @KitsuneCaligari - If you think a final print is exactly what was captured by film, you're sorely mistaken. Dodge, burn, crops, comps, and airbrushing were all mainstays of print photography for ... want to do something obviously outrageous.)

@Roo - Basically, yes. It basically retains the "raw" image data like exposure and color balance without any of the post-processing a camera does to turn an image into a JPEG. It's as close to a digital negative as you can get. (The only stupid part is how there's still technically no standardized RAW format. Stupid proprietary vendors...)]]> RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252443#Comment_252443 2010-07-30T05:18:00-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 256 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=4827 I may have said this before, but: Only people who have actually shot a roll of Kodachrome in the last year (or five years, or ten, or ever) should be allowed to eulogize it. Film in general isn't ...
Film in general isn't dead, but it ain't getting better. It 's got very good survivability, though - The very last redoubt of film will be, I imagine, a worldwide syndicate of film nuts connected by the internet making, shooting, and developing their own film (there's at least one guy in the Midwest who's ginned up a machine to apply emulsion to film stock - after that, it's just chemistry). Notice that there are people out there shooting daguerreotypes and tintypes - technologies that have been out of date for 150 years!

But really, "film vs. digital" is just another gearhead argument. Some of those debates are interesting in their own way, but none of them are as interesting as, you know, taking pictures.]]> RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252455#Comment_252455 2010-07-30T06:43:38-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 KitsuneCaligari http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=248 @rickiep00h - Yes, I'm more than familiar with darkroom techniques. I think my point was the negative can't really be manipulated, so when the image comes into question, there is a hardcopy there on ... RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252457#Comment_252457 2010-07-30T06:57:41-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 rickiep00h http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=2930 @KitsuneCaligari - Well that, too, is debatable. You can certainly modify a negative. Not to the same extent, perhaps, but it's certainly doable. Just because something is more difficult to fiddle ...
Anyway, I'm probably poking at this more than I ought to, so I'll just leave it be.]]> RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=252467#Comment_252467 2010-07-30T08:01:17-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 Val A Lindsay II http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1680 @256 But really, "film vs. digital" is just another gearhead argument. Some of those debates are interesting in their own way, but none of them are as interesting as, you know, taking ...
But really, "film vs. digital" is just another gearhead argument. Some of those debates are interesting in their own way, but none of them are as interesting as, you know, taking pictures.


I would like to agree with that but can't because there are obvious pluses and negatives between the two. Sure, I love digital gives me the ability to shoot multiple shots to up the ante on getting the right one. I borrowed a friend's analog to shoot some things though and there's just less of a casual nature you have to take in shooting photos. You have to pay a lot more attention. And there's this melding quality analog pictures have that still is unmatched by digital, I think. It is a bit more an art, I feel.]]> RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=253626#Comment_253626 2010-08-06T00:16:18-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 ALE http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=6123 Basically, yes. It basically retains the "raw" image data like exposure and color balance without any of the post-processing a camera does to turn an image into a JPEG. It's as close to a ... Basically, yes. It basically retains the "raw" image data like exposure and color balance without any of the post-processing a camera does to turn an image into a JPEG. It's as close to a digital negative as you can get. (The only stupid part is how there's still technically no standardized RAW format. Stupid proprietary vendors...)
DNG FTW.

Film isn't going anywhere anytime soon. 256 touched upon something that has actually been kicking around in my head for a while now; it's going to evolve into a DIY/boutique thing the way vinyl has. Dedicated aficionados "rolling their own" and creating a community/movement around it, which I think will be rather awesome. Between that and Holga/plastic camera lovers like myself film still has a place in the order of things.]]> RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=253652#Comment_253652 2010-08-06T04:38:56-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 staticgirl http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=8537 I'm digital now but I remember hating Kodachrome because of this yellow tinge to everything. I preferred Agfa for its brilliant blues. this is 20 years ago mind. RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=253655#Comment_253655 2010-08-06T05:20:59-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 FredG http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=8557 Simon and Garfunkel singing Photoshop just wouldn't be the same. Look at photos I took 40 years ago and what I take now there is a certain satisfaction missing. There was a sense of anticipation ...
Look at photos I took 40 years ago and what I take now there is a certain satisfaction missing. There was a sense of anticipation using film and a weight to what you were doing, each shot cost money so I thought things out more. Getting a roll back and having that one really good shot plus a quirky one or two was a bit of a high. Now I shoot 100s without even thinking of cost and the thrill of getting that one perfect shot isn't the same, still there, but not as much. I also miss those oddball photos that you never expected. I can make odd stuff in photoshop all day long but the thrill of discovering one is duller.

Enough old guy ranting I'm going to dig my SLR out of retirement and go look for a shot worthy of $1.94 frame of film (plus processing).]]> RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=254336#Comment_254336 2010-08-10T10:51:06-07:00 2010-08-10T10:56:25-07:00 256 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=4827 I think what bothers me about this is that many of the properties attributed to film or digital are not actually inherent in that medium. Film isn't inherently contemplative - look at any news/sports ... inherently contemplative - look at any news/sports photographers from the film era, blasting away with auto winders and multi-camera rigs. And similarly, with a digital camera, you don't have to shoot 100 frames in place of 1, or chimp immediately, or leave everything on auto, or whatever.

I suppose it's that each type of camera suggests a way of using it, and sometimes that happens to be what you need to push you a certain way - like using a prayer mandala to meditate.


Edit: @ALE
[film is] going to evolve into a DIY/boutique thing the way vinyl has. Dedicated aficionados "rolling their own" and creating a community/movement around it, which I think will be rather awesome.
I don't intend to be one of those post-digipocalypse film users, but Holy Christ I'd love to design the packaging for that. Embossed boxes, metal-studded black vinyl film cans, hand drawn DX markings...]]> RIP Kodachrome. What's the future of film? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8646&Focus=254385#Comment_254385 2010-08-10T16:10:13-07:00 2013-05-24T02:04:22-07:00 Flabyo http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1306 I'm not a photographer, I'm not even an artist, so to me this is nothing more than a 'medium' over 'message' argument. Yeah, it's a shame that the physical print medium is falling away from a ...