Time Waits for Nothing...

Music | Anonymous Melody by ORG Lounge

Another step of the eventual demise of film occurred where there are no longer any manufacturers of motion picture cameras. Those that have survived and the new start ups are all making digital cameras. Soon, just like the recording industry where there is no longer any recording tape being made, film will soon follow in its footsteps, still and motion...

I'm not sure what the statistics are, but I wonder how many brand new still cameras are being sold. Anyone interested in film cameras have huge selections to choose from at great prices, mere fraction of the cost of anything new. The same can be said for anything related to film photography... Why buy new cameras, lenses, enlargers, etc... when the used market is so huge.

Over 2 years ago, I did buy a brand new film camera. In my lack of faith in being a creative in the digital world, I decided to go back to film, go back to large format and bought a 4x5 Chamonix field camera. It wasn't until this year where the camera is getting a nice work out, being used often thru spurts of shooting. Ironically, the last 3 cameras I've purchased were film cameras. A few years ago, I couldn't pass up on a Nikon FM with a 50mm f:1.4 lense. A few months later I got a nice inexpensive 35mm lense too. Sometime last year, I picked up my first Rolleiflex tlr. I haven't shot with it a lot, but I do enjoy taking it out and shoot when I can. The experience is totally new, since I have not had history with it. My next film camera will be the camera I regret selling the most. A Hasselblad cm500 with an 80mm t* lense and an A12 film back. I sold mine back in 2002, but yearn for one now.

I wonder is it that I'm in the age range when folks think things were so much better in the past that I feel so nostolgic about mechanical analog devices, or that digital is just bowling over everything and really changing the way we do things. I'm just not ready to let go.