Those who wish film was not dying a very rapid death tend to search high and low for any signs that film's demise is being exaggerated, that this horrifying frog-march into digital technology was not happening, and they're willing to grasp at anything that is offered them that seems to purport that film might not be going the way of the Dodo.
Around the beginning of the year, Fujifilm's CEO offered a public statement in which he affirmed Fuji's ongoing commitment to film technology as well as digital. This came hard on the heels of announcements by Nikon that they were going to stop making most film cameras, and Konica-Minolta's statement that they were going to leave the photography business altogether, selling their digital SLR line to Sony to continue to develop and sell. Of course, Agfa Photo had already folded their tent and left the field of honor.
Now, to many, this seemed like exactly what Fuji's CEO hoped it would appear to be - a reprieve, a lifting of the death sentence, a step back from the precipice.
Being a salty old cuss, I doubted this. I could see no reason why Fuji's CEO would make an unprecedented and unprovoked statement like this. Why did he do it? What could cause those conditions. I opined that it was a simple PR move, and a smart one. When one retreats from the battlefield, one needs time to regroup and remove remaining soldiers while not being harried. In other words, Fuji still has a lot of film-based cards on the table - they want to make sure people buy them right up until the day they aren't made anymore and the retail channels are empty. No little boxes of film left over, keep that demand up until doomsday. And I think that was smart for him to do.
Couple of days ago, Fuji announced several new film emulsions, including an ISO 64 chrome. Shades of Kodak! Many people again embraced this - seeing it (wrongly) once again as a salvation of some sort. Look, Fuji is keeping the torch lit! Nothing could be further from the truth.
See, it takes years to get a product from corporate approval to production. Chances are, these new emulsions have been in the pipeline at Fuji for at least a year, maybe more. And a year ago, Fuji, Kodak, and everyone else in the industry except Bob Shell and yours truly thought that film would not die quite as quickly as it has. They knew film was a goner, of course (unlike the idiotic consumers), but they thought they had maybe 5 or 10 years to make an orderly retreat. They were all kicked in the snarglies by the astonishing rate of digital camera adoption across all strata - from retail to professional, and they have had to jerk those wheels hard to starboard - ICEBERG AHEAD! No bets on which of them (Kodak or Fuji) moved fast enough, they may all survive or they may all die screaming in ice-cold digital waters.
So getting back to Fuji's new emulsions - these are not the reprieve so many would prefer they be - they are the last of the R&D push to production that was scheduled long before Fujifilm and Kodak realized that they were about to have their lunch eaten for them. It is the 'other shoe' regarding the curious statements regarding Fujifilm's commitment to film - now we see what market he was trying to protect. He didn't want to be stuck with a full production run of a new emulsion that no one would be buying. He's got to recoup and then cut and run. Not a major deal, but a master stroke.
Kodak, on the other hand, muffed it. Their CEO recently made a number of disparaging remarks about the future of film - he made it painfully clear that Kodak is going to do what everyone already knew they were going to do - shut down all film production and walk away as clean as they can. Too bad, so sad, film gone bye-bye. Buy a digital camera, please.
However, reading their press release today, one must note that they stuck some nasty old film-based stuff in there - kind of hiding it - including (surprise) some new film emulsions. Just like Fuji, they had some stuff sliding down the pipeline. But instead of preparing the market to absorb it by making some nice-nice words about how Kodak still loves the filmies, they have already ticked those guys off by saying how cold the corpse of film is. So I doubt that anyone is going to be receiving this news with great enthusiasm:
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060217005259&newsLang=en
Announcements include a new emulsion for 800-Speed Film, improved KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA 800 Film, increased post-processing antistatic protection for professional and consumer 35 mm capture films and simplified consumer film brands, graphics and packaging.
That would be why they tucked it into a remote corner of a PR announcement and didn't make a big deal about it, is my guess.
Anyway, that's the news for today. It's a fun ride, innit?
Smooches,
Wiggy
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