LEICA Barnack Berek Blog: BAD NEWS FOR ANALOG PHOTOGRAPHERS

Saturday, October 28, 2017

BAD NEWS FOR ANALOG PHOTOGRAPHERS

Films for analog photography have had a resurgence in recent months, but any reports and thought of film making a great comeback are definitely premature. The film market apparently isn’t as lively as it seems.

Fujifilm has discontinued some of their films already and reports have reached us that they are planning to cancel productions of more films in 2018. The company announced earlier this month on its Japanese website that a number of multi-film packs will be discontinued starting in March 2018. They are:

· Fujicolor Superia X-TRA 400, 24 exposure, packs of 3

· Fujicolor Superia X-TRA 400, 36 exposure, packs of 3

· Fujichrome Velvia 50 Professional, 36 exposure, packs of 5

· Fujichrome Velvia 100 Professional, 36 exposure, packs of 5

· Fujichrome Provia 100F Professional, 36 exposure, packs of 5

· The good news (for now) is that photographers will be able to still purchase Superia Premium films in packs of 3 as well as the same Velvia and Provia stocks as individual film rolls (it’s the packs that are being discontinued).

Granted, these are only multi-packs, but we need to realize that killing off packs is a telltale sign that the film is no longer being produced and they will just milk the remaining stock as singles. As a matter of fact, a number of film stocks are being completely discontinued starting in May 2018.

Here is a list:

· Fujicolor Natura 1600, 36 exposure

· Neopan 100 Acros 4×5, 20 piece

· Neopan 100 Acros 8×10, 20 piece

Natura’s impending death was foretold by the discontinuation of its multi-film packs in 2016. After this latest round of discontinuations, there will only be a very small handful of Fujifilm slide, negative, and black-and-white film stocks left:

· Fujichrome Velvia 50

· Fujichrome Velvia 100

· Fujichrome Provia 100F

· Fujicolor Superia Venus 800

· Fujicolor Superia Premium 400

· Fujicolor 100

· Fujicolor Pro 400H

· Fujicolor Pro 160NS

· Neopan 100 Acros rolls

It is sad to see that Fujifilm’s traditional films apparently have not seen much of a resurgence at all.