This is a sad day. While I don't foresee the end of the world, the Mayans tell us we still have time...it can still happen. Certainly, this being the third post about discontinued film since I started on Fstoppers just six months ago, this is the start of the photographers' Armageddon. But don't go hang yourself just yet -- there's just enough good news to keep me going just a little longer.
For those who don't know, Velvia is a line of Fujifilm color reversal (positive/slide) film that is certainly one of, if not the, most loved film of all (especially since the discontinuation of Kodachrome just over three years ago). But there are different Velvias.
The good news is that while all sizes of Velvia 100F have been discontinued, we'll still get to see 35mm and 120 sizes of Velvia 50 (RVP50). Still, cutting out large format is a sign for the future. If anything is to be saved in terms of film, it should be the large format film, since it's large format negatives that digital really won't be able to compete with anytime in the near future.
That said, we still have our beloved Velvia 100. Newer than Velvia 50, the 100 version is twice as fast, but still slow enough to keep grain to a minimum and pack in those saturated colors that made us fall in love with Velvia to begin with -- and it's my favorite color reversal film.
So for now, I'm okay. But I fear the end is near...
Want to help make me and others feel better? Post links to your favorite Velvia shots in the comments section! We should at least give these films a good send-off. Here's one of my own to start...long live Velvia...
Boo! can't they keep a small plant and maybe partner with Kodak just to keep a small run of these print films going? c'mon!!! Sure they can't keep their gigantic plants going to justify the costs, but a small plant??
I didn't shoot slides (yet) but I think there was old Velvia100F and new Velvia100(no F). The new one supposedly was design to fix issues with it predecessor. Is Velvia100 discontinued as well?
Yeah. 100F is the 'older' one, but replaced Velvia 50 when it was still just called plain "Velvia" prior to '05. They then re-released it as the full Velvia 50, but kept the 100s. Now the F is really obsolete. People didn't like it as much because it wasn't as saturated, even if it had better skin tones. That's why I like 100 -- it has great skin tones and is still VERY saturated in daylight. And that'll still be around...for now...
does not bother me. it´s obsolet anyway and i don´t shoot film anymore... since 8 years.
Velvia was my favourite film and even though I no longer shoot film, I would be sad to see it go.
Perhaps I'll dig out one of my film cameras and run a couple of rolls through it.
I foresee E-6 dropping off bit by bit in the next two years, sad. Very hard to get color saturation like that with negative films.
I shoot 120 velvia 50 exclusively. This is not a good sign. Velvia is by far some of the best looking photos you will ever see. www.facebook.com/destinsparks has some on there and when my site launches in a couple of weeks. www.destinsparks.com
What a shame! Despite all those filter desperately trying to recreate the look, nothing comes close! Guess films shooters will just have to shoot more/start petitions to convince companies to at least keep small production lines going - the impossible project shows it is possible - maybe it's just yet again a matter of big companies being unable to scale down to smaller production runs properly...