I was looking through a recent kodak film guide and it stated that Verichrome Pan will be discontinued as of 6/02. I can't believe their going to kill off one of the greatest portrait films of all time. I heard they were doing so well with it in South America that production would continue for some time. I must have been misinformed. I guess I'll need to make some room in my freezer next to the five bricks of APX 25...

-- Walter Massa (WFMassa@webtv.net), February 03, 2002

Answers

Great, just when I start to get to know a film it gets taken away... yet again.

OK, in the interest of spending more time shooting and less time testing let's do some speculating. Which films will still be widely available ten years from now? Kodak? Ilford? Bergger? Brand X?

-- David Parmet (david@parmet.net), February 03, 2002.

I would have to speculate that Ilford will be the last remaining manufacturer of B+W film, should that tragedy ever occur. They show a LOT of commitment.

-- Mike DeVoue (karma77@att.net), February 03, 2002.

Oh, sorry, we're only going ahead ten years-

Kodak, Ilford, and Fuji(I really hope Neopan 400 sticks around).

-- Mike DeVoue (karma77@att.net), February 03, 2002.

Big corporations like Eastman Kodak and Ilford must require a rather large minimum sales to make viable profit. As the market for b&w photo material shrinks, I speculate smaller companies will survive whereas I woudn't be surprised even if EKC drops all b&w line in 10 years as scientific/medical/industrial/military applications complete migration to digital. If they decide to keep one product for each category, it will probably be one T-grain film, developer like HC-110 or T-MAX RS, one RC paper, and so on. I hope Efke, Bergger, et al. keep good shape for many decades, and EKC/Ilford to keep at least some products on market, even if the worst happens to b&w photography.

-- Ryuji Suzuki (rsuzuki@rs.cncdsl.com), February 03, 2002.

while it's disappointing to see Kodak discontinue a classic film like VP (and Kodachrome 25), you have to wonder whether kodak itself will be around in 10 years. It seems they're galloping toward chapter 11, what with one layoff, reorganization or cutback after another. There's no way Kodak is going to have the monolithic presence in digital photography that it has in the traditional photo market, and I don't think the contracting process is going to be pleasant. For that reason I've been switching over to Ilford and Agfa for most of my supplies.

-- Jon Porter (kodiakalaska@hotmail.com), February 03, 2002.

Ilford's new Delta 400 would be a good substitute for VP. My prints look the same as VP and you gain about one stop in speed.

-- Gene Crumpler (hassieguy@att.net), February 04, 2002.