End of an era.
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/us/30film.html

I guess if they kill Tri-X, I may as well haul my K1000 to the dump.

A real shame, IMHO.

Chas

Progress? I still remember burning my finger on the used flash from an old toyish 216 camera as a kid.

Books and newspapers to follow shortly.

Pete

Sad.

But, that's how it goes, technology marches on. Everytime I look at my beautiful Revox RTR, fire it up and listen to that glorious sound I wonder how much longer blank tape will be available. Right now there are only three manufacturers left in the entire world. RGMI, ATR and Quantegy, all of them un-Godly expensive. What are ya gonna do, though? On the Tapeheads site they are trying to petition Maxell to resume making UDXLII for cassette and RTR.......Last I checked, they had scarcely a hundred signatures.....At that rate, it aint gonna happen.

Oh, well...........

Dave

last i heard, quantegy has gone down twice and has yet to come back up for a third time at bat. leaving only rgmi and atr.

"We at Quantegy would like to thank you for your patience while we continue to work on reintroducing 456, 499 and GP9. We do not and will not release anything that is not up to the standards of Quantegy tape. Please continue to check back here for further updates."

I still remember using Kodachrome 25 for bright, outdoor photography - incredible sharpness and color saturation (but slower than chit). I still have dozens of boxes of slides from my years in Europe. I may have to drag out the slide projector sometime soon.

You got that from the Quantegy website. Check the dealers. They'll tell you that the supply comes and goes, but when they have it, it sells pretty good.
The last I checked they were only making 456, 499, and GP9 in 1/2" widths and larger for the professional market anyways. 406 and 408 for the 1/4" user.

Dave

I always shot 400 ASA as a rule, gave me an edge in lower light. I never could appreciate that it was too grainy for my tastes.

To elaborate on my thread, apparently it's only Kodachrome which as bit the dust. The newer Kodak film is still supported.

Which makes me feel better. I spent years collecting a K1000, with a 50, 28, 35-80, 70-300, 2X doubler, with a tripod, shutter release, flash, and a sack full of filters which all fit in a shoulder bag.

A very capable rig, and I'd still rather use it as my digital.

I also regret selling my Spotmatic. But I was trained on a Speed Graphic, if that tells you anything.

Guess I like living in the past.

Chas

BTW Blue, just how many TOTL 7" tapes do you need for your Revox? I've got 50 or so, in excellent condition, recorded once. And a few virgins. Maxell and Memorex.

Chas

I mostly shot Kodachrome 64 (along with Ektachrome 64). However, when I lived in New Orleans, I used a fair amount of K25 on bright sunny days.

I still have a Canon F1 along with three nice lenses and a flash, as well as an Olympus XA (a mini 35mm rangefinder).

I've considered selling my entire F1 package, but continue to hang on to it.

Apparently you have a penchant for slower films. I always liked to shoot in low light, so I liked 'em fast.

Had two K1000's for a time so I could load them with different film, but I gave one to my sister, she's a K1000 fan.

Here's a shot I took on the way to work this week with my crummy Kodak digital.

Attachment 631

Not exactly fornicating with the hoot owls territory, but I was only a mile out of town.

Chas

PS: Don't sell your REAL camera, I ain't.

Most of the photography I did with film cameras was in association with all the travel I did for the 15 years after college, most of it in Europe. Most was daytime scenery, cityscapes, ski scenes, etc. intended for viewing as slides. The graininess of faster films was apparent when blown up to a 6' image on a screen. I was taking so many pictures at the time that printing pictures was out of the question from a cost perspective.

I rarely printed up anything from slides or used print film. I just kept snapping and looking at slides. I haven't looked at any of my slides in over 10 years.

FWIW, I always found Ektachrome a bit blue-tinged for my tastes, whereas Kodachrome was very neutral. BTW, I still have a small stash of PX625 mercury oxide batteries for my Canon.