JD750 Loc: SoCal

Hear hear!! I would never buy a japanese music device. Never buy a japanese car. Never buy a Japanese camera, or anything made in China. Oh wait, ... I do buy all that, because it's not made here anymore, or if it is made here, the quality of the imports is much better.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Lucky film????

The first thing I thought of was;
Miracle Chair Company -
If it's a good chair, it's a Miracle!

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The only people shooting film in 2022 are fossils, the idle rich and hipsters from Brooklyn.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Ha! Same stories here, probably.

At high school graduation, my filthy rich aunt who had buried the owner of a Chicago Buick dealer that year promised me any car I wanted (so long as it was a Buick) if I'd graduate from college (I did).

I bought my own 1977 Toyota Corolla... I didn't want to buy gas for, or pay maintenance on, a '77 Buick. I told her to give the money to charity... I have never regretted that.

That was a great first car. By then, I had two Nikon cameras and five lenses, a Pioneer stereo receiver, and several other high quality Japanese products. None of them ever gave me any real problems. Ed Deming taught them well... (He was an American who taught the Japanese about quality manufacturing after American manufacturers would not listen to his wisdom).

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Yea, funny how that turned out, eh?

JD750 Loc: SoCal

I'm not rich nor hip so I guess that means I am a fossil. (At least my kids think so).

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I suppose someone somewhere is still using wet plates.
You know, for nostalgic purposes.

Wet plates;
Film;
Digital.

DAN Phillips Loc: Graysville, GA

Bulk film rolls was the way to good! There used to be a Porter's camera shop/company in I believe it was Cedar Falls Iowa. They always had the best prices and more variety than any other company. They always had hard to find and unusual items. Miss them so much!

chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY

I've noticed that too...I think eventually it will spiral to the point where no one will buy it, making it a unaffordable venture for enthusiasts. Film will become a very expensive niche for Hollywood and other specialty areas. As sales volume decreases, unit costs increase, leading to lower sales, and the cycle continues. BTW has anyone noticed prices at the supermarket? Inflation is across the board.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Economics 101.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Good, perhaps share holders can recover some money from the crashing stocks.

Harry0 Loc: Gardena, Cal

It's all connected.
Drugstores and camera stores had a Kodak film processor machine on site.
People were trained how to work and maintain the equipment.
Then they 3rd partied to an odd-named "lab" somewhere else-
it took longer to get your photos, and quality differed.per batch.
For a few years, almost all the film processing was from "disposable" cameras.
I used to be able to take my 120 film to Costco to get processed. No more.
So for me it seemed almost planned to make film as inconvenient as possible.
No more film even actually being sold at these non-camera stores!
Trained techs at the camera stores? Maybe half just sales kids reciting the lasted brochures.
I can take my magic Nikon DSLR and do it all for almost zilch.
As much as I really liked the results from my Iskras and EMs, it;s past time to let them go..

Bigmike1 Loc: I am from Gaffney, S.C. but live in Utah.

I miss using my film cameras but it is just too expensive now to buy film and have it processed. Digital has just about destroyed the film industry and I think that destruction will shortly be complete.

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

Because they can! Everyone else was raising their prices so film suppliers and retailers got on the band wagon.

Stan

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

The cost of everything has gone up. The supply chains are frail and will fracture. The deficits of using film are slowly outweighing the benefits. Using film requires a slight more expertise as it can challenge new students.

I have several film cameras each given to me because the previous owner felt the need to move on. I have repaired a Russian Zenit-E. I have repaired a Pentax Spotmatic. I have repaired a Canon Rebel 2000. Other film cameras that I own are an AE-1, 1v-HS and a Minolta SR T MC II. I have a Canon 5D-II and a 5D-IV. (Sorry CHG_CANON, I have no mirrorless as yet).
Some camera films were great in their day and died a horrible twitching death. Some films have existed since the birth of time and will continue to the end of us. But the cost of film will fluctuate as does that of memory cards. I remember you could only buy a 2 GB memory card, and that cost $40. Now you can buy a 256GB card for $60. Have things gotten better? I’m not so sure!

I remember the red LED watches were all the rage when I was in High School and they cost $300 with a pair of $90 fashion designer jeans. Now you can pick up both for under $40.

I do miss Kodak BW400CN film. It was a cheap B&W film that produced very nice and creamy sepia tones. Now you can only pick up an expired roll here and there for $15

I had ordered a copy of a new book titled,
“MAKING KODAK FILM” by Robert Shanebrook for $180. I plan on digesting each and every page.

Yes, things have changed. Film may be eons old. But a true photographer will have their mettle tested when trying to get one decent shot out of thirty six chances.