Kodak: No more film cameras?

From msnbc, via Slashdot:

Kodak has announced that they will stop selling film cameras in the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe as part of a cost saving move. They will focus on digital photo products, which seem to be rising in appeal every day. They will still continue to sell their disposable 35mm cameras, and continue to market the traditional cameras in China, India, and Latin America, where the market segment is still strong.

Interesting. I had coffee with my friend Brian last week. Brian is the photo/electronic art prof at the college, and we were talking (among a lot of other things) about the demise of the darkroom, and the rise of the computer. Neither of us thought that artists would ever abandon the darkroom, but that mainstream America would soon get away from traditional photography. Software for photo manipulation is getting cheaper, computers more powerful, and printers more capable or rendering good color and longevity of prints.

Brian is exploring an interesting idea that combines the two fields. It seems there is new technology out there now that allows for a darkroom ready negative to be created on a computer printer. So, we can do all of the image manipulation with Photoshop that we want, and then make a negative and go into the darkroom and make the amazing prints using the old-style processes like cyanotype, bichromate, and platinum prints.

I used to teach a section about the "Chemistry of Photography" to my non-majors, until the lab became too unwieldy and the students were too frustrated and impatient to make good prints. The effects of things like cyanotype and bichromate can be quite beautiful and amazing, if you spend time with them.

I am looking forward to seeing where this combination of the digital and the traditional darkroom go. At the same time it seems kind of sad to think about the demise of Kodak in the U.S. When I was a child, it seemed those were the only cameras out there. I still have a couple of antique Kodak's including an original Brownie.