The Chinese Lucky Film Company was, and probably still is, the third largest film manufacturer. They became known outside China mostly because of their BW films, but they also (used to) have their line of color negative films. Now, with the decreased demand on film, they decided to shut down the color film production. The article can be found on the CCTV News site. With the uncertainty of Kodak's film line, there's only Fuji remaining in the color film market race for sure, for now. Probably we don't need to worry about BW films, they will be the last to go! But with color emulsions, it is a completely different story. There are many layers to be coated at the same time with great precision, and all the components must be more strictly "cooked" and coated, otherwise unwanted color shifts may quickly occur etc....A film company thus needs much much of machiney and effort to produce a "workable" color emulsion compared to BW, but the sell price is just a bit higher. Yes, the profit margins are thinner, but existent.
I dare to predict a few things:
1. despite reduced production, demand for color film will stay quite stable
2. because of (1), the production (in numbers) of color film will stay more or less the same as it is now, but
3. the "purchase model" (at least) for color film will change: pre-production orders (and down-payments) will be made, thus ensuring the production/purchase quota to the manufacturer/photographer
I dare to predict a few things:
1. despite reduced production, demand for color film will stay quite stable
2. because of (1), the production (in numbers) of color film will stay more or less the same as it is now, but
3. the "purchase model" (at least) for color film will change: pre-production orders (and down-payments) will be made, thus ensuring the production/purchase quota to the manufacturer/photographer
The mass production industry seems to work with "on/off" switch, with nothing inbetween. Not sure if you heard it too, but Efke is planning on closing doors on poor profits. This could be a major shocker for me if they fully stop, not even pre-order quotas etc.
ReplyDeleteactually I have heard (and I apologize for not have posted anything about) rumors that the actual production in Samobor (Efke) already stopped in August....I'll try to talk to their commercialist what is all about.
DeleteBut I am not scared of losing BW film, only of its (likely) price increase-BW stuff will stay with us as vinyl records. You can produce BW film on a small scale quite easily. Color stuff is complicated (and less profitable), since you have so many layers to coat in one run and all the layers need to have a much more narrow specification tolerance. Color is very tricky and almost impossibly to achieve good results on a "cottage industry" scale.
If Efke really close the doors, I would be very very sorry for these Croatian workers, but I dare to predict that Adox will promptly compensate the production of those emulsions.