4 ms·

This is not very surprising news - very recently I was wondering who still sells film cameras. Digital has surpassed film in almost every way. It is however qu

by _ph_ 8y ago

This is not very surprising news - very recently I was wondering who still sells film cameras. Digital has surpassed film in almost every way. It is however quite scary to see technology completely go away which was so common not long ago, sometimes even completely lost as technology. You can’t buy proper Polaroid film any more, many other important film materials are completely gone as well.

fetus8 8y ago
Thankfully Fuji's Instax line is alive and kicking, with their instant film readily available.
- kakwa_ 8y ago
  RIP 35mm Fujifilm Neopan. The 1600 was a great high ASA film.
  - haxxorfreak 8y ago
    So sad that they’re discontinuing Neopan ACROS 100 this fall too. It’s still my favourite “modern” emulsion as it has a beautiful tone curve and amazing dynamic range if developed properly.
carbolite103 8y ago
As far as 35mm systems it's pretty much just Leica and Nikon at the moment, though I would imagine that Nikon is close to discontinuing their F6 flagship soon. Thankfully many 35mm cameras from the 70s and 80s are engineering masterpieces that will likely keep functioning well into the second half of this century. I just hope that companies will continue making film stocks for them.
- msbarnett 8y ago
  Nikon stopped building the F6 a number of years ago. They're just selling through old stock at this point.
  - rangibaby 8y ago
    I doubt they are going be able to sell them ever. New F6s are $2500! That's Veblen good prices, but anyone who just wants to get the most expensive thing is going to get a Leica. - F6 used are about $800, generally in very good condition because anyone using the camera for work would have used an F5. - F100 which is 90% the same as the F6 in both appearance and function is $200 used. - F5, Nikon's last "professional" film SLR is $200 used - F80, a piece of plastic molded to look like an F100 (but nearly identical functionally) can be had for <$50. I got mine in a ¥1 start auction. Final price: ¥1 from here things start to less predictable thanks to people who want a sweet manual camera and collectors. Manual cameras run anything from $100~$500+ depending on their condition. The best deals right now are Nikon FE and FM (not FE2,FM2) and Nikkormats.
- lb1lf 8y ago
  Nikon even has - or at least had, until recently - two film cameras in their line-up. The ‘because we can’ high-end F6 and the entry-level, manual just about everything FM10. (Though I think the current FM10 may be made by others under licence.) I think Voigtländer may still make a 35mm rangefinder, too.
  - devb 8y ago
    Cosina was the company licensed to make the Nikon FM10 and produced rangefinders under the Voigtländer name. All of those products were discontinued last year, sadly. As far as I know, the F6 is the last one still in production.
    - lb1lf 8y ago
      That’s not unexpected, but still a bit sad. Incidentally, Cosina also made the rangefinder I’d dub the Leica M7.5 - the Zeiss Ikon-branded ZM. Wonderful camera. As far as rangefinders go, the ZM IMHO is the one to beat, in close competition with the Contax G2. (Autofocus! In a rangefinder!)
- Darthy 8y ago
  Leica has just discontinued its last "regular" film camera, the M7, a few days ago: https://www.reddotforum.com/content/2018/05/leica-m7-film-camera-discontinued/ https://www.reddotforum.com/content/2018/05/leica-m7-film-ca... All that remains are the purely mechanical Leica MP and M-A film cameras, plus many digital cameras of course.
  - jen729w 8y ago
    The MP is a “regular” film camera. It’s the final Mx in the film line, my understanding being that the ‘P’ stands for ‘Perfection’. If the ISO dial on the back were metal and not plastic, it may well be perfect. I’ve heard of people switching out the dial from older M4/5/6s. Source: I have one.
    - Darthy 8y ago
      Well, the "M" in the regular Leica M-Series means "Messsucher". The M in "MP" means "mechanical" (as in "mechanical perfection"). So based on that one could argue that the MP isn't part of the regular series :-)
jacquesm 8y ago
> You can’t buy proper Polaroid film any more Yes you can: https://eu.polaroidoriginals.com/ https://eu.polaroidoriginals.com/
- Finnucane 8y ago
  That's a rebranding of the Impossible Project. It's not actually a Polaroid product. Not long ago, Fuji discontinued the pack films that worked in a lot of older Polaroid cameras.

by _ph_ 8y ago

fetus8 8y ago

Thankfully Fuji's Instax line is alive and kicking, with their instant film readily available.

kakwa_ 8y ago
RIP 35mm Fujifilm Neopan. The 1600 was a great high ASA film.
- haxxorfreak 8y ago
  So sad that they’re discontinuing Neopan ACROS 100 this fall too. It’s still my favourite “modern” emulsion as it has a beautiful tone curve and amazing dynamic range if developed properly.

carbolite103 8y ago

As far as 35mm systems it's pretty much just Leica and Nikon at the moment, though I would imagine that Nikon is close to discontinuing their F6 flagship soon. Thankfully many 35mm cameras from the 70s and 80s are engineering masterpieces that will likely keep functioning well into the second half of this century. I just hope that companies will continue making film stocks for them.

msbarnett 8y ago
Nikon stopped building the F6 a number of years ago. They're just selling through old stock at this point.
- rangibaby 8y ago
  I doubt they are going be able to sell them ever. New F6s are $2500! That's Veblen good prices, but anyone who just wants to get the most expensive thing is going to get a Leica. - F6 used are about $800, generally in very good condition because anyone using the camera for work would have used an F5. - F100 which is 90% the same as the F6 in both appearance and function is $200 used. - F5, Nikon's last "professional" film SLR is $200 used - F80, a piece of plastic molded to look like an F100 (but nearly identical functionally) can be had for <$50. I got mine in a ¥1 start auction. Final price: ¥1 from here things start to less predictable thanks to people who want a sweet manual camera and collectors. Manual cameras run anything from $100~$500+ depending on their condition. The best deals right now are Nikon FE and FM (not FE2,FM2) and Nikkormats.
lb1lf 8y ago
Nikon even has - or at least had, until recently - two film cameras in their line-up. The ‘because we can’ high-end F6 and the entry-level, manual just about everything FM10. (Though I think the current FM10 may be made by others under licence.) I think Voigtländer may still make a 35mm rangefinder, too.
- devb 8y ago
  Cosina was the company licensed to make the Nikon FM10 and produced rangefinders under the Voigtländer name. All of those products were discontinued last year, sadly. As far as I know, the F6 is the last one still in production.
  - lb1lf 8y ago
    That’s not unexpected, but still a bit sad. Incidentally, Cosina also made the rangefinder I’d dub the Leica M7.5 - the Zeiss Ikon-branded ZM. Wonderful camera. As far as rangefinders go, the ZM IMHO is the one to beat, in close competition with the Contax G2. (Autofocus! In a rangefinder!)
Darthy 8y ago
Leica has just discontinued its last "regular" film camera, the M7, a few days ago: https://www.reddotforum.com/content/2018/05/leica-m7-film-camera-discontinued/ https://www.reddotforum.com/content/2018/05/leica-m7-film-ca... All that remains are the purely mechanical Leica MP and M-A film cameras, plus many digital cameras of course.
- jen729w 8y ago
  The MP is a “regular” film camera. It’s the final Mx in the film line, my understanding being that the ‘P’ stands for ‘Perfection’. If the ISO dial on the back were metal and not plastic, it may well be perfect. I’ve heard of people switching out the dial from older M4/5/6s. Source: I have one.
  - Darthy 8y ago
    Well, the "M" in the regular Leica M-Series means "Messsucher". The M in "MP" means "mechanical" (as in "mechanical perfection"). So based on that one could argue that the MP isn't part of the regular series :-)

jacquesm 8y ago

> You can’t buy proper Polaroid film any more Yes you can: https://eu.polaroidoriginals.com/ https://eu.polaroidoriginals.com/

Finnucane 8y ago
That's a rebranding of the Impossible Project. It's not actually a Polaroid product. Not long ago, Fuji discontinued the pack films that worked in a lot of older Polaroid cameras.