Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/01/22

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Subject: [Leica] RE: The "impending doom" of film
From: bruce at ralgo.nl (bruce)
Date: Sun Jan 22 06:06:43 2006
References: <000801c61f00$cbe3e8d0$3af1c547@Aubin> <43D35397.90609@adrenaline.com>

Hi Scott,

A few, good few, years ago, I tried to ascertain the possibilities of  
making direct contact prints with a 10x8 .................. loading  
Cibachrome paper into the negative carrier, shooting and then  
processing.

I could find no help/advice and had little time to pursue it further.  
Does anyone have experience along these lines ............... one-off  
large shoe-box prints!

Greetings,
B.


On 22-jan-2006, at 10:42, Scott McLoughlin wrote:

> Yeah!  If they stop making film, I'll never get to satisfy my new  
> 8x10 contact
> printing fetish!  Not to mention rendering my  hard won M6's just a  
> couple of
> lovely paper weights :-)
>
> Anyway, I hope a few companies at least keep the B&W film tradition  
> alive.
> I'm not usually optimistic, but I somehow can picture a future  
> where the B&W
> film niche survives.
>
> Scott
>
> Norm Aubin wrote:
>
>> Greetings all,
>>
>> I have to say, I'm not convinced that film is going to die out.   
>> Ted spoke
>> rather pointedly on it just a bit ago, and I have to agree very
>> whole-heartedly.  Film is too good at what it does to just go  
>> away.  While
>> digital is the cat's meow for many uses (the two extremes of  
>> professional
>> and auntie's happy snap family shots, for example), there is still  
>> a fairly
>> large base of dedicated pro's and amateurs out there.
>> If anything is likely over the next two decades, I suspect it will  
>> be a
>> rationalization of the suppliers in response to this smaller market.
>> Smaller does not mean non-existent though, so I feel that there  
>> will always
>> be a few makers who address this need.
>> Western Europe, the Americas & the eastern rim of the Pacific are  
>> all places
>> where there is a good deal of wealth, so the digital  
>> infrastructure of
>> capture and print or display on PC are all fairly achievable.  A  
>> significant
>> portion of the world is not ready to consume in the manner of these
>> aforementioned countries though, and they serve as a possible  
>> source of
>> revenue for film and paper distribution.  That may change in time,  
>> as may
>> all things, but probably not tomorrow.
>> Similarly Daguerreotype, Wet plate, dry plate, albumen prints,  
>> Bromoil
>> prints, platinum prints, and a host of other surpassed  
>> technologies flourish
>> in their own underground.   Even if film is transcended by digital
>> recordings of Star Trek Tricorder quality, full color and 3-D  
>> viewing, there
>> is still going to be an art market for 'old fashioned' media, because
>> photographs, and particularly platinum and silver gelatin prints,  
>> have a
>> "Fine Art" cachet of artifact, not just image.  It may be less  
>> convenient
>> than it was; you may not be able to go down to your favorite  
>> camera store
>> and select from 11-teen films and papers, but there will be a  
>> source for
>> this stuff.  The big names may not develop new and better films using
>> wondrous technologies, but that's okay too, the current stuff  
>> ain't too bad.
>> The internet may become your local store, and fed-ex your supplier  
>> man!
>>
>> I cut my teeth on Tri-X and Kodachrome, still love them above all  
>> others,
>> but I use Ilford Delta films, Fuji chrome films, Bergger B&W  
>> films, Maco IR,
>> and am getting ready to try the Efke films soon.  I love Xtol, prefer
>> Perceptol, use a catichol based developer almost exclusively now,  
>> but have
>> hand mixed from raw other developers that I'd go back to in a  
>> pinch.  As
>> long as I have Photoshop and any, repeat any film, I can probably  
>> get to
>> whatever result I want, but I'm glad to think that that is not  
>> likely to be
>> an issue for the next few decades, if ever.
>> Someday digital capture may get so damn good that I will abandon film
>> completely, although I think I won't.  For the same reason I learned
>> daguerreotype, and platinum printing, I think I will still have a  
>> place for
>> film, and a willingness to find some where ever it is available,  
>> it still
>> does some things that digital will not, and enough people believe  
>> that to
>> keep it alive for a long time yet.
>> I'm an optimist, that's why I shoot for the secrets and develop  
>> for the
>> surprises.
>>
>>
>> Best of light,
>> Norm
>>
>>
>
> -- 
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> Leica M6TTL, Bessa R, Nikon FM3a, Nikon D70, Rollei AFM35
> (Jihad Sigint NSA FBI Patriot Act)
>
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In reply to: Message from puff11 at comcast.net (Norm Aubin) ([Leica] RE: The "impending doom" of film)
Message from scott at adrenaline.com (Scott McLoughlin) ([Leica] RE: The "impending doom" of film)