Bummer to see an awesome film go away

Kodak kills BW400CN

One of my favs!

Never used it. I preferred Tri-X as did the article author. Nonetheless, things change and the past has to be let go. Even tho many lamented the passing of the horse and buggy at the time, I ask: would you prefer it over your car now?

But there are alternatives:

https://www.google.com …=photoshop+acti​on+bw400cn

Picture North Carolina wrote in post #17111101
Never used it. I preferred Tri-X as did the article author. Nonetheless, things change and the past has to be let go. Even tho many lamented the passing of the horse and buggy at the time, I ask: would you prefer it over your car now?

But there are alternatives:

https://www.google.com …=photoshop+acti​on+bw400cn

But the horses and buggies have not been discontinued; you can still get them if you want them. Brand new, nonetheless.
Unfortunately, the same can not be said for this film.

Picture North Carolina wrote in post #17111101
Never used it. I preferred Tri-X as did the article author. Nonetheless, things change and the past has to be let go. Even tho many lamented the passing of the horse and buggy at the time, I ask: would you prefer it over your car now?

But there are alternatives:

https://www.google.com …=photoshop+acti​on+bw400cn

As long as black & white film is available (preferably Tri-X), I feel no obligation to let go. And should absolute inaccessibility occur, I might just let go of photography altogether.

Choice, it’s a good thing.

If you offered to buy enough of it at the right price then I'm sure they would be willing to do a custom run just for you.

Luckless wrote in post #17111631
If you offered to buy enough of it at the right price then I'm sure they would be willing to do a custom run just for you.

LOL. Yep/ Considering the economics, cost, profit of manufacturing, I'm sure a large train boxcar full might at least start them considering the offer.

Where to store it? Well, I guess you could buy your own refrigerated boxcar and store it there.

sjones wrote in post #17111601
Choice, it’s a good thing.

But you already have that, and some good ones, too! APS-C, full frame, Nikon, Canon, mirrored, mirrorless, and on and on... the choices are endless!

Well, is C41 BW film. Is not really a truth BW film. So, it isn't that popular I supposed.

I was given two expired rolls of it, day before they terminated it.
Who needs it if C-41 developing costs $5 at least.
I'll use those two just for curiosity, but nothing to miss, really.

I thought Kodak went out of business selling things off. Wasn't this the color film that was just printed b+w?

When I was first starting out, I shot a lot of BW400CN. It was mostly because I was just learning, and it meant that I could still take the film to Kroger to process it (as they only did C-41). I always thought that the real point of the C-41 B&W films were to allow processing by "normal" methods. I imagine as film becomes more rare and a specialty thing to process then it makes sense for these films to be the first to go.

Picture North Carolina wrote in post #17111101
Never used it. I preferred Tri-X as did the article author. Nonetheless, things change and the past has to be let go. Even tho many lamented the passing of the horse and buggy at the time, I ask: would you prefer it over your car now?

But there are alternatives:

https://www.google.com …=photoshop+acti​on+bw400cn

No.

But you know what I do sometimes choose instead of a car?

A bike. Slower than a car, and takes far more work to use on my part. But it's fun to climb those big hills, sometimes.

Film isn't "the past", and it wasn't replaced by digital any more than watercolours replaced oil paints or bronze sculpture replaced clay. It is the choice of many photographers, including myself, who choose it for various reasons.

edge100 wrote in post #17114522
No.

But you know what I do sometimes choose instead of a car?

A bike. Slower than a car, and takes far more work to use on my part. But it's fun to climb those big hills, sometimes.

Film isn't "the past", and it wasn't replaced by digital any more than watercolours replaced oil paints or bronze sculpture replaced clay. It is the choice of many photographers, including myself, who choose it for various reasons.

I shoot digital exclusively now but totally agree. If I still had a darkroom I would still shoot film.

edge100 wrote in post #17114522
No.

But you know what I do sometimes choose instead of a car?

A bike. Slower than a car, and takes far more work to use on my part. But it's fun to climb those big hills, sometimes.

Film isn't "the past", and it wasn't replaced by digital any more than watercolours replaced oil paints or bronze sculpture replaced clay. It is the choice of many photographers, including myself, who choose it for various reasons.

Film isn't 'the past', but the days when it was highly popular and profitable enough to justify a huge range of options isn't here any longer. Costs will most likely continue to rise as shooting film remains as a bit of an unusual process practiced by a small handful compared to modern digital work.

As such, if there are three competing products which fill similar roles, then we can expect the least popular one to always be at the risk of getting canned. This is one of the reasons why I'm highly interested in doing my own chemistry entirely for film/plate work. If I'm the source of the actual product which I make from supplies readily available and used in other industries, then it is far less likely that I'll ever find myself unable to get my favourite product. It might mean switching suppliers, but silver or platinum of a set purity isn't going to be that different whether I buy it from supplier A, or supplier B.

edge100 wrote in post #17114522
No.

But you know what I do sometimes choose instead of a car?

A bike. Slower than a car, and takes far more work to use on my part. But it's fun to climb those big hills, sometimes.

Film isn't "the past", and it wasn't replaced by digital any more than watercolours replaced oil paints or bronze sculpture replaced clay. It is the choice of many photographers, including myself, who choose it for various reasons.

totally agree.
and looks like some Hollywood directors gets it as well.

read Martin Scorsese's statement, love his analogy about painters, should they give up canvases and paint now because there's digital painting?
http://blogs.indiewire​.com …on-of-film-stock-20140804