Rambling With Resnick

FILM IS DEAD!

Nikon's abandonment of 35mm cameras is the final nail in film's coffin

© Mason Resnick

Remember this date: January 12, 2006.

It will go down in history as The Day Film Photography Died.

In the early morning hours of January 12, 2006, Nikon quietly announced that it would no longer make 35mm cameras. Or large-format lenses. Or enlarger lenses. As I write this 12 hours later, word is spreading across the Internet like wildfire. Bring out the sackcloths and ashes. Rewrite "American Pie."

Nikon. The name that for three plus decades was synonymous with professional 35mm photography. Out of the film camera business! They're concentrating all of their efforts now on digital. This truly marks the end of an era--the film era.

We've seen this coming for a long time.

Sure, Nikon will continue making the F6 (which they admitted was not meant to be a pro camera. It's for hobbyists. None other than the president of Nikon told me so, in front of witnesses, at PMA last year.) And they'll keep making the FM10 for students. Those are the only exceptions. Production of the rest of Nikon's lineup of 35mm cameras has been discontinued. There will be no new cameras, no more amazing film camera innovations, no F7 (unless it's digital). Effective, immediately.

And yes, Canon, Pentax, and Konica Minolta still make film cameras, as do some others. But when's the last time any of these companies introduced a new film camera of any significance? It's been years. I'm almost willing to bet that at least one will follow Nikon's lead and jump off the film cliff into the digital abyss. Remember, only a few months ago Kodak announced it would go all-digital by 2008. The next Leica M will be digital. This is not a rumor--the announcement that it's expected later this year is on Leica's web site.

"No, no!" you say. "Film is not dead! It can't be! I'm shooting black and white, printing in my darkroom, smelling the fixer. Forget what's going on in the business world--in the real world, there are plenty of film shooters still out there." And I say, more power to both of you.

But look at the numbers: 95 percent of all cameras sold last year were digital. Film sales have tanked. Film labs that didn't switch at least partially to digital are almost all gone. One major photo supplier, very well stocked with darkroom equipment, confided in me that darkroom and film sales account for a fraction of the business, and sales continue to plummet. Medium and large format? Unless the cameras have a digital back available, they are simply are sitting on store shelves, gathering dust. If there are so many filmies still out there, why are these products not moving?

Need more proof film's a gonner? Agfa is insolvent. Ilford is reorganizing and has is focusing mostly on digital, although its darkroom supplies and papers are still available. Luminos has dropped traditional print paper and chemistry entirely. Fuji is still a player, but the only new emulsion they've introduced in the last two years was a consumer color print film that was tweaked to scan better. A handful of specialty companies--like Bergger and Oriental--remain dedicated to traditional film photography. As predicted, film is rapidly becoming a specialty item.

Now the good news: If you are never going to give up film, now's the time to buy a film camera body. Cameras that sold for over a grand ten years ago (like the Nikon N90 or Canon A2E) can now be bought, barely used, for a Benjamin or two. And if you can put up with the inconvenience of looking far and wide (or at least doing a Froogle search) to find supplies, don't mind paying increasingly higher prices for film, and are willing to develop and print your own, the death of film may not really affect you that much.

As for me, I haven't shot a frame of film since last summer, when I bought a Canon 20D. I've shot thousands of photos with it, and am having a blast, even if I do get nostalgic for the darkroom and my Leica M3. When I want black and white images, I'm getting great results with my nik Color Efex filters and my Epson 2200 printer. It's easier, and I don't have to rinse out any trays when I'm done.

I have a hallway outside my office. On one wall I've hung framed prints from my darkroom days. On the other, I've put up prints from digital cameras and digitally scanned color film. I always ask visitors to look carefully and tell me which is which. To this date, nobody has guessed correctly!

And that, my friends, is why film is dead.

About the author: Mason Resnick is the editor and publisher of Black & White World. This is his first Rambling since 2000, when he joined the staff of Popular Photography magazine, where he worked happily for five years. He now happily works at home (avoiding a lengthy commute) for a well-known photo retailer. Feel free to send your comments to me at bwworld@mindpsring.com.