Fuji Declines Offer

As has been in the news, Fuji declined Florian "Doc" Kap's three proposals to revive Fuji pack film. Undaunted and furious, Doc plans to mount a campaign to make light of Fuji's stance. Stay tuned for more activity in that area. Keep in mind, business is not a democracy, so Fuji management might not be in a position to change its mind.

Meanwhile, CatLABs promises to make its own pack film for Polaroid cameras. There is still hope for those with functioning pack film cameras (and film cameras function well for a long time). Technology is still progressing in the manufacture of film, to be sustainable in production and environmentally. Look for more products made by small manufacturers, even as the large manufacturers let go.

Opinion: Film Renaissance

A hundred years ago, film was in the realm of enthusiasts, artists and professionals. With the introduction of the Kodak Brownie and, later, colour 35mm roll film, film photography marched into the mass market and exploded into a multi-billion dollar per year business. Times have changed and phones are now the most popular form of photography for the masses, leaving film photography to the enthusiasts, artists and professionals engaged with film.

This market is not small, and many products are being introduced, maintained or expanded. For example, Bergger released Panchro 400 for large format last year, and is now rumoured to be releasing this film in 120 and 35mm format soon. The Impossible Project casually mentioned selling a million packs of film last year, and it introduced the new I-type instant film camera for instant film. Adox, Arista, Cinestill, Foma, Ilford, Kodak, Lomography, Fujifilm, Rollei and more continue to produce film today. Japan Camera Hunter is reviving a film emulsion and the FILM Ferrania project hopes to be producing E6 slide film this year.

There may be issues, such as with Fujifilm discontinuing pack film, but Fuji's Instax instant film was the top seller on Amazon for the photography department last Christmas.

There is no shortage of items to report on film or alternative process happenings around the world, a lot of it positive. As an example, successful Kickstarter campaigns for art lenses based on early designs, darkroom equipment such as affordable development tanks, photography log books and more.

It is certainly exciting to be reporting on the progression and new position for silver halide in the world today.

World Pinhole Day 2016

Pinhole photographers, celebrate World Pinhole Photography Day (WPPD) on April 24th! The last Sunday in April each year is dedicated to the art of pinhole photography. Visit the WPPD site for rules and procedures to submit scans of pinhole camera photos taken on April 24th (or any part of that day for extended exposures). Submissions are due by May 31st as JPEG files.

WPPD is not a contest, but rather an event to celebrate photography without a lens; on any medium, film, paper or device. Check for an organized event near you to meet fellow pinhole photographers. The gallery from 2015 is on display for inspiration.

Ilford ULF Call for Orders

Ilford is putting out the call for its Annual Ultra Large Format (ULF) Sheet Film Campaign 2016. This is the chance of the year (literally) to order unusual and large sizes of film, many with no minimum order. Rolls of film that must be slit have minimum orders by multiples required by manufacturing. Some examples are: rolls of 127 sized film, film sheets from 2.75x3.25 inches all the way to 20x24 inches, 120 backing paper and more.

Place orders by Friday, May 27th, 2016 at a qualified dealer near you. Check the announcement page for a list of sizes available and locations of dealers.

Around the Web Wrap-up

This is just a wrap up of a number of blog posts around the web that reference film or film related topics.

The Online Photographer or TOP is a blog by longtime photography enthusiast and photo magazine editor Mike Johnston. Much of it is reviews or opining about modern equipment, but every so often turns an eye to film.

Mike opines about the beautiful machine, the enlarger, a mechanical device that suits him just fine.

Here is an article on John Coffer, a practitioner of tin type photography. Each photo is made on a sheet of burnished metal that had photo-sensitive silver applied to it by hand.

Petapixel is a blog every photographer should read. Recently, it seems that they also take film photography seriously. If one is not interested in non-silver process photography, it might be a slog to read as authors gush over the latest gizmos, which probably just empty your pocketbook.

Here is a wrapup of silver process related postings to Petapixel related to film in some way. Some might be related to older, film era hardware...

On that note, Yannick Khong complains about modern lenses, and how older designs can be much more realistic than modern lenses. He presents an analysis based on three properties of a lens, and how older lenses balance these properties to achieve a realistic look.

Meanwhile, Michael Zhang finds the Minolta Rokkor 45mm f/2 lens to be rockin' sharp. This lens is inexpensive, and Rokkor MD lenses can be found by the dozen on eBay. A Minolta MD body or two can be found there, too, for not much more. Beware that MC, MD and Minolta AF mounts are all different. In particular, the MC and MD mounts are mechanical mounts, and not compatible with AF without an adapter. Such adapters require a glass element to allow full focus range, lowering the image quality. There are adapters for AF mount that do not have glass, but they are intended for macro work only. The older bodies have the advantage that they are usually all mechanical, so no electronics to fail.

Lukasz Palka has a guid to mastering manual focus. By using the focus range system, sharp focus can be achieved instantly with a little planning. Essential to street photography, where events happening quickly have to caught in the moment.

Tavis Leaf Glover writes on mastering composition to get more keepers. Something anyone in the world of art needs to know. In that same vein, Lukasz Palka has another article on the decisions that go into making a photopraph. Lukasz writes that selecting the right gear for the assignment, using the right settings and techniques, and finally selecting the photos for your portfolio are all essential decisions that must be contemplated and executed for best results.

Jack Lindeberg has a short article on how to tell the relative age of film rolls. By giving the film a quick sniff, he claims that one can tell how long since the roll was exposed.

Meanwhile, Brendan Cherry tells of his novel use of a film camera to propose to his fiance. Brendan is a cinematographer who likes to shoot 35mm film.

Kickstarter: Daguerreotype Art Lens by Lomography

Lomography has done it again. That is, another successful Kickstarter campaign for a new Art series lens. Inspired by the first lens used by Charles Chevalier and Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre to capture a photograph in 1839, this lens celebrates the great return of dreamy imagery. The Daguerreotype Achromat 2.9/64 Art Lens is compatible with Canon EF or Nikon F mount cameras, as well as many other analogue and digital cameras with the use of adapter mounts. The lens uses the Waterhouse aperture system to provide effects from soft focus with creamy bokeh to sharp focus. In addition, a number of custom Waterhouse aperture plates are provided to give unique patterns to out of focus areas rarely achieved by a lens.

Bonus rewards due to the success of the Kickstarter project are building up! If around 200 or so more orders are made, Lomography promises to include a leather pouch for each lens, in addition to the orange filter, four special shaped aperture plates and four commemorative prints included with each lens due to the current success of the campaign. Check your favourite photo store for an adapter for your camera. Note that some adapters have a small glass element built in to enable the attached lens to focus. This glass element should be of high quality, or the resulting image may suffer - or have added artistic effects, your choice.

Impossible: Instant FIlm Sale!

The Impossible Project is having a massive instant film sale. From now until the end of April, you can get 20% off their entire range of instant film for Polaroid 600, Image/Spectra and SX-70.

Save 20% on film by entering the code: FILM20 at checkout. You can use the code as many times as you like until the sale is over.

To help promote and use instant film, the Expolaroid international festival will take place throughout the month of April. Check for events near you.

Image Courtesy Expolaroid, by Philippe Bougoin

Save Pack Film

The call to Save Pack Film has been raised! As you may already know, Fuji is shutting down production of the last two-part instant film, FP-100C. Florian “Doc” Kaps, the founder of the Impossible Project, who has since left to start SUPERSENSE - a cafe, store, studio, workshop and palace where 20x24 instant Polaroids are made - has travelled to Tokyo to meet the CEO of FujiFilm. Since then, he has sent a letter to the CEO, which apparently was well received.

After much reflection and many suggestions, "Doc" has a project sure to capture the eye of Fuji - an adventure of selfies on packfilm. He asks you to "NOW, please share your packfilm self portrait on Instagram, Twitter or Flickr with the #wesavepackfilm hashtag."

It may be possible that the 3000 speed packfilm will be saved, also. If the combined forces of the Impossible Project, FILM Ferrania, Lomography and New55 can't do the job, you can also petition at Change.org.

Good things come to those who wait, hopefully a response will be had by the time this article is published....

See also:
* Film Ferrania in the News, February 2016
* News from the LRF: Start of 2016
* FIlm Ferrania Delayed by Harsh WInter
* Film Ferrania in the News, February 2015
* Film Ferrania - Film for the Next 100 Years
* Impossible 8x10 Colour Instant Film
* Impossible Introduces Round Photos
* The Impossible Project

Impossible Introduces the New I-type Camera

The I-1 instant camera is an all new Polaroid-compatible camera from the Impossible Project. The camera features a Li-Ion battery, a ring flash and an iOS app for remote control. Blending the new with the old sets this camera against both the traditional Polaroid cameras and the new Fuji Instax cameras. Expected arrival is May 10th.

See also:
* Review of Instaflex 70 Instax camera
* Instax Film leads Christmas sales in camera department at Amazon
* Impossible Project introduces 8x10 colour instant film

Camera Film Photo: CameraPorn

Camera Film Photo is an online shop that supplies the Asia-Pacific (AsiaPac) region with film and analog photographic supplies. Based in Hong Kong, Vishal started the shop in his spare time and now it is his full-time job. Vishal took up film photography in 2007, and in 2013 took the option to be the supplier of Rollei film and papers in Asia in 2013.

His blog pulls no punches, the extensive gallery of over a hundred cameras are featured under the category of CameraPorn. Well worth the visit even if you are not residing in Japan, Asia or Australia.

A perusal of the products that Camera Film Photo carries can be easily navigated by clicking on the Menu link (the hamburger icon), then clicking on the plus sign (+) on the slide out menu for the desired category. Many of the major film lines are there, from Adox to Rollei and everything in between. From novel packaging with plastic film boxes for storing film neatly and bundles of products, it seems a pity they are only available in Asia.

Photica.net

Photica (pronounced Foe-Tea-Ka) is a small website by one Bill Riley that showcases a collection of old and antique cameras, lenses and photographic paraphenalia. Bill created the site to teach himself HTML and web design, and has finally decided on the current format of a simulated notebook with photos.

Nice site to browse a variety of cameras dating back the 1800s to late 1900s, from workhorses to novelties.