You’re dead-on — cost is the problem. The price of film needs to come way, way down. But I think greed has infected most film manufacturers, especially the big ones. This, in turn, has pointlessly and needlessly inflated material costs, which has thus made it difficult for the non-greedy manufacturers to keep their own prices down. It’s really a sad situation, and one that never should have happened. If things don’t change, greed — and nothing else — will ultimately be the downfall of film photography. Of course, if/when that happens, those whose greed ruined everything will be the very ones blaming their own customers for film’s demise and “unsustainability.” I’ve seen it over and over again…
And yes, we need more silver-rich B&W emulsions to be available again. I’ve been saying it forever, but today’s Tri-X doesn’t even look like Tri-X. All that made it unique and iconic is gone.
“Greed” has nothing to do with anything. Meaningless economics term loosely defined as “the practice of charging more for something than I think it should cost.”
The market, and ROI considerations, determine what prices manufacturers charge. The market ultimately decides what a product is worth. If consumers aren’t willing to pay the price a manufacturer charges, the product won’t sell. At that point the manufacturer will have to re-evaluate its ROI expectations, and possibly re-deploy its capital to other ventures.
Hoping that they have the capitol to deploy— it is Kodak after all 😂
“The market, and ROI considerations…” — To quote you, these are “meaningless economics term[s]” to allow corporations to justify their greed. Two can play that game. Greed is real (I mean seriously, you can’t be that ignorant to believe it doesn’t) and it’s ruining the economy. The problem goes way beyond just film. But with regards to film specifically, most consumers that now make up that “market” are, to be frank, too stupid to realize they’re getting screwed. Thus, the greed continues… And, yes, if it goes on long enough, it will destroy this industry, just as it has so many industries before it.
Figital Revolution 
I’d bring back Plus-X if I could. But Eastman 5222 is getting it done for me pretty well these days. It could be my only B&W film if it came to that.
You’re dead-on — cost is the problem. The price of film needs to come way, way down. But I think greed has infected most film manufacturers, especially the big ones. This, in turn, has pointlessly and needlessly inflated material costs, which has thus made it difficult for the non-greedy manufacturers to keep their own prices down. It’s really a sad situation, and one that never should have happened. If things don’t change, greed — and nothing else — will ultimately be the downfall of film photography. Of course, if/when that happens, those whose greed ruined everything will be the very ones blaming their own customers for film’s demise and “unsustainability.” I’ve seen it over and over again…
And yes, we need more silver-rich B&W emulsions to be available again. I’ve been saying it forever, but today’s Tri-X doesn’t even look like Tri-X. All that made it unique and iconic is gone.
“Greed” has nothing to do with anything. Meaningless economics term loosely defined as “the practice of charging more for something than I think it should cost.”
The market, and ROI considerations, determine what prices manufacturers charge. The market ultimately decides what a product is worth. If consumers aren’t willing to pay the price a manufacturer charges, the product won’t sell. At that point the manufacturer will have to re-evaluate its ROI expectations, and possibly re-deploy its capital to other ventures.
Hoping that they have the capitol to deploy— it is Kodak after all 😂
“The market, and ROI considerations…” — To quote you, these are “meaningless economics term[s]” to allow corporations to justify their greed. Two can play that game. Greed is real (I mean seriously, you can’t be that ignorant to believe it doesn’t) and it’s ruining the economy. The problem goes way beyond just film. But with regards to film specifically, most consumers that now make up that “market” are, to be frank, too stupid to realize they’re getting screwed. Thus, the greed continues… And, yes, if it goes on long enough, it will destroy this industry, just as it has so many industries before it.