The Revival of Film Breathes New Life into Kodak, CineStill, FuguFilm & Co (but not into FujiFilm)
We recently reported about the price increase on Fujifilm film.
While I can understand the price increase (due to the circumstances of these days), I do not fully understand why Fujifilm is discontinuing film after film, when other companies (Kodak) seem at the same time to have a huge comeback and actually revive old film stock.
In fact, in a very interesting video published by NBC Left Field a while back (video linked below), a Kodak manager said that over the last few years the demand for film increased by 15% to 30% and the growth seems to continue to accelerate.
So much so, that Kodak is thinking not at which films they should discontinue, but which ones they should bring back.
Recently Kodak announced Kodak the return of Kodak Gold 200 in 120 format (and it will cost 25% less than the Kodak Portra and Kodak Ektar film)
And not only Kodak. CineStill joins the positive trend by releasing CineStill 400Dynamic and also new actors join like Japanese Camera Hunter with the new Fugufilm 400 reversal film (follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for latest news).
So, lots of nice news coming from the film side of life.
And what about Fujifilm?
Well, Fujifilm goes the opposite way and keeps up dropping its legendary film stock (with this honorable exception).
I hope Fujifilm will revise the trend and bring back some of the films we so much loved.
Film is Not Dead – A Revival Story
- Resurgence of people craving for more tactile experience
- the hashtag #filmisnotdead is extremely popular on Instagram
- why, in a world where it is so easy to take perfect photos with a smartphone, are younger generation bracing a slower process?
- vintage film camera sales are skyrocketing
- online community has helped to revitalize film
- they present a few of the film young youtubers shooting film and making a living on youtube talking about film
- a store owner said that prices of certain film cameras are rising
- the store owner also says that the demand has completely exceeded the supply in a lot of cases, causing the price of some cameras to absolutely be completely ridiculous
- analogue industry is still alive, because film is still alive
And now they talk with a Kodak manager, who says:
- during the fall of film, they were thinking which product they should discontinue
- now it’s the opposite, and they start to bring back some of those films
- in 2019 Kodak makes more than twice the amount of rolls than they made in 2015
- it’s a steady increase that goes up 15% to even 30% per year
- the growth and demand for film seems to be accelerating
- the future looks bright
They conclude that in a world where everything seems to pass by in a split second, the slower process of shooting film tells us that sometimes it’s OK to slow down, to aknowlegde everything and everybody around us and to take in every moment one frame at a time.
Film offered by Fujifilm: