I know there are some film users here as I have met many of you and just as I have expected Kodak has discontinued its line of E6 Slide film and there will be no more produced in the future. With Fuji leaving behind their Neopan and Astia we really don’t have much to choose from anymore. It is a sad day once again in film land but I know that there will ALWAYS be film to shoot because it will never ever die completely. Still, I say goodbye to Kodak slide films. Kodak says they will continue to produce Tri-X and their color Negative films. (Ektar is good, as is Portra). I suspect Tri-X will be the last man standing one day.
You might as well take a look here. Slides are back, and it is in our hands to make it bigger. #filmisalive http://www.filmferrania.it/ extremely interesting.
Time to learn how to coat glass plates with silver emulsion!
Thank God for young people (like myself)!!
I feel so sad whenever I read about another film going away. Myself, I have the fridge and freezer filled up with Velvia and Some Kodak Films… I have 3 Leica M3s and tons of old Minolta. Will never sell it and will continue to shoot film until I can´t get film anymore..
Love digital too, got my Nex-7 today!! Yay. playing with 35LUX FLE on NEX-7. pretty cools stuff…
But film, Ah, may it always be available…. Slides forever!!
So many conflicting emotions . . . . . I grew up in a world where those little yellow boxes were as essential as air and water, and any pronouncement from Rochester was as final as a Papal edict. Of course, at one time, Pullman was the largest hotelier in the world, made up entirely of thousands of sleeper cars pulled by steam locomotives. Amazing that the two giants of Rochester (Xerox the other) fell prey to their own hubris and bad decisions as so many other Wall St. titans. I think that the film marker is finding its own remaining level, I just wonder what that will finally be.
Sometimes, I just feel like the aircraft propeller salesman, standing at the ramp and watching a new Pan Am 707 taking off for Paris . . . . . . .
Konica’s Impresa 50 was the closest to slide film look C41 film I’ve ever seen – but only outdoors. Ektar supposedly uses some Vision technology. Maybe at some point Kodak can produce Vision in more sizes so that slides can be made via contact printing.
Patric, I hope you’re right.
Also, I think that Kodak’s slide film woes started the moment Fujifilm started making E6 film, and was just compounded by the collapse of the film market.
Ektar is supposed to be a “C41 slide film”, that’s why Kodak made it. Personally, I’m not sure it’s quite there, but I’d be very interested if they kept on with those efforts. I mean, they released a new/improved Portra, maybe they will with Ektar some day.
Well i’m at UNI, 20, and can tell you film is becoming very popular. It is much more cool than digital, ya know why? Because most of us (17-22 year olds) align digital with our IPHONES or middle aged men running aound the street or tourists with huge digital cameras round their neck, not exactly the image the youth want. Hell no.
I guess, to us, film seems younger, more edgy, more aligned with an era of rebellion and creativity. Digital seems more geeky, more middle aged, more forum freaks and for people aligned to IT rather than the creative world (art, design etc).
So many older people seem to be into photography now no nothing about the arts, or photography history, they have no interest because they are coming at it from technology and not the creative circles. They don’t care about light or composition just what easy actions they can apply into PS to a totally badly lit, badly composed image. Dhuuugggh.
thanks man, your post is very goods news! keep up shooting film
Yep, bang on dude!
Digital, in all it’s plastic glory, is sooo fcuking uninspiringly, boring.
The domain of camera clubs, tourists and forum freaks, that’s for sure.
Long live film and creativity.
As I fall in love with film more and more…
My supply seems to become more and more limited.
However, everywhete I go for developing they are reporting seeing increases in film processing…this at least gives me some hope for the future. 🙂
Unfortunately, Astia is also gone. Only Provia and Velvia are left. What is left in stores fom Astia is available supply. Fuji no longer makes it.
I’ve found Ektar, Portra and Fuji Pro Neg films to be superb and haven’t used much E6 in years. As E6 film was only 1%-2% of Kodak’s sales, I don’t blame them for nuking the E6 line.
Thank God there is still Ilford
Want to take important photos of your wife/kids/mum/dad family and friends? to keep and cherish for ever and the future? Shoot slide film!
It’s REAL!
All film is real.
Film seems to be popular with younger art college students. If you go to a camera swap meet you have the older die hards buying and selling along side the teenage /early 20s student types buying old blads and other mf and 35mm SLR gear. Good on them I say!
Long live film!
I wonder if Kodak did that, what is their plan for future? Are they gonna concentrate on making C 41 chemistry, RA-4 chemistry, B&W Chemistry and B&W and Color Film, that’s it right?
Or are they planning to do something else?
concentrate on Negative Film.
No one mentioned T-Max! They can’t get rid of that, it is their best film.
Die old farts!!!
John don’t be so shallow most artists still only work in film it has textUre you pick a different film stock for a different look including in moving pictures I miss the dirt everything is so cleaned packaged and homogenized now like you I guess you fell for it
I just bought 50 rolls of Kodak E100VS. This is a real shame. I prefer E100VS over its rival Velvia.
I may keep stocking up on it in the coming months to secure my slide film for the future.
@Steve Huff, could I suggest more film articles for the future… and perhaps get people more investing in film..
Hi Astia is still available in 120 on line from Japan I am from Australia and buy all my film on line mainly from the US as it is cheaper. B&H have a wide range of e6 films from Fuji and others like Agfa. Rollei also sell E6. This story is sad for film but it is more about Kodak’s failings.
It is indeed a sad sad day for Photography in general.
I use E6 quite frequently, Kodak, Fuji along with the odd roll of Agfa which I find on the Net.
Fujichrome is probably more versatile, and Chromes such as Velvia suit landscapes, but Ektachrome has its own position and for what it’s good at, it surpasses any Fuji emulsion in my opinion.
I simply adore Ektachrome e100vs, it’s marm, saturated and contrasty and is excellent for people in exotic places. I have used it extensively in trips abroad and I come back with Slides which have a resonance of a Steve McCurry about them – I posted a few recently in my Contax G2 article.
I know Steve McCurry shot e100vs when he went back to shoot the ‘Afghan Girl’ a few years ago, and it gave results as pleasing as, if not more so, than his Kodachrome original.
Slide Film is a beautiful thing, it’s Film, it’s real, you can touch it, hold it, hold it up to the light and admire it, project it, scan it and most importantly Archive it – lovingly file it away as an article with true WORTH rather than lines of code in a Computer program transmitted as pixels on a screen. I mean a few years back someone found some Ansel Adams work in a chest somewhere and it was amazing seeing work of his which none had seen before – could this ever happen with Digital? I doubt it very much, anyone finding an old SD card or CD Rom in years to come would probably bin it as useless.
I reckon photographers should shoot Film, it’s hardly expensive, and it’s damn right more pleasing to look at and keep than a Digital file.
Well, I hope someone such as Rollei buy the rights to Ektachrome and release it, I hope Fuji continues to produce their Film.
Stocking up in the freezer could be moot, no? Kodachrome is gone more from lack of processing chemicals as many had it stock piled in the freezer. With Fuji only selling 3 emulsions of Velvia (50, 100 & 100F) and Provia 100F remaining how much longer can E-6 live? Can it be developed with standard chemicals simaliar to C-41 or are the chemicals unique to E-6? I’ve got rolls of Kodak and Fuji E-6 in my fridge I’ve been shooting personal projects suspecting that each roll I shoot is one of the last on that film type. I only care to shoot slide film when I shoot film, it’s the one media I still find superior to digital in some regards but I likely will have to go all digital at some point if E-6 production goes away at Fuji too.
Don’t forget about Provia 400X! That might be the best of the lot for all-around high ISO performance. It pushes well to 1600.
The chems are unique to E6. You can develop them in C41, but the colours get shifted, and in my opinion, ruins the beauty of slide film.
The best way to help keep film alive is to buy it fresh, shoot it, and buy more 🙂
Slide films are expensive to buy and process, but I think of it like booze. You’re okay with the “normal stuff,” but every so often, it feels good to drink the “premium stuff.”
Years ago I shot Ektachrome and had it processed by a local lab in C-41. I read an article in the old Camera 35 magazine about it and tried it. The results were wild when printed. Extremely saturated. Quite beautiful in its way. I was doing this in a class on color printing taught by David Attie at the time, late 70s. Even he was impressed by the results. Worth a try. Tell your lab that the film will not damage their C-41 line.
Sad, yes, but I hope that what it means is that Kodak can hold the C41 market with their admittedly superior products, while Fuji can maintain the E6 market (Velvia + Provia are better than the Ektachromes, though it’s really a matter of taste).
Fuji hasn’t given up Neopan, actually. Acros 100 is going very strong, as is Neopan 400 in 35mm format. Neopan 1600, Neopan 400 (in 120 format) were the ones discontinued. Neopan 100SS was also disco’d, but more because Acros made it redundant.
Rather than stockpile and freeze expired and discontinued film, we should try to support those emulsions which still remain, and buy fresh as you shoot, and shoot often. Stockpiling freezers because film is dying will only hasten the death of film.
Happy shooting!
I have used Ektar quite often and like the results. It tends to be warmer then Velvia and Ektachrome G and VS. But nothing seems to come close to the power of great slide film right out of the camera. Our choices are getting more an more limited. Time to get another freezer and stock up.
Thanks.
Do you have any samples taken with Ektar?
I hope they maintain Portra!!!
What’s the prognosis now for 120 roll film and 4 x 5 sheet film? As one who used to do quite a bit of landscape photography, and given the relatively low cost of entry these days, medium format’s siren call is whispering my name… Do I need medication?
I don’t think anyone really knows. My guess is that if you want to shoot black and white I wouldn’t worry about it. Colour of any sort may be another issue however.