Saturday, February 13, 2010

The Long Goodbye




The Long Goodbye.

Word is trickling out that Fuji will discontinue Quickload production this April. The BJP reported the story recently and I have been in photography shock over it.

Why? How? Who?

Fujichrome Quickloads are the only films I use.

I have zero interest in hand loading holders. I can only imagine how long and how much of a pain and what a losing the battle against dust that it will be when I am out in Big Bend.

Sigh...........

So, I sit with about 300 sheets in the fridge and I'll have to make each one of them count. No iffy scenes or light. Only the best.

And when it's gone? Who knows.........

And so it is the long goodbye.

4 comments:

Matthew Kennedy said...

that stinks.

Rick said...

Yes, it's a bummer- I too have been exclusively shooting QLs. As you, I've got about 300 sheets (wish I had heard sooner about Acros being cut, as it was the last of the b&w and I only have 40 sheets of it).
I've bought some Grafmatics for when I am not "on the road", and probably will use my 6x9 and 6x12 backs more. Will see how it goes. The crazy part is that it is still supposedly being continued in japan- hard to understand how part of the market (Japan) can support it when the rest of the world could not.

Rick

Darren Huski said...

Glad to see I am not alone in lamenting the demise of Quickload film.

I keep hoping it is either a mistake, or that Efke or some other European or Chinese company starts making something similar.

And if all else fails, I might even buy a holder and cheap box of b+w and try hand loading. although I dread it.

I can recall what a pain it was just chaning out 220 film out of a medium format camera. I just dread field work in a dark tent....

Come on Fuji change your mind.

Joel Truckenbrod said...

This is now old news at this point, but I thought I'd add a minor comment to your posting. Since the beginning of the year I've been exclusively shooting Kodak Tmax and haven't had any problems dealing with loose sheet film (the only way it's offered). This past weekend I did some winter camping along Minnesota's North Shore and changing in my changing tent wasn't an issue whatsoever. I understand the desire for convenience, but in the greater scheme of large format photography, one additional small step (with less waste I might add) isn't really an issue. I've actually kind of enjoyed the process of being more hands on with the film...as weird as that sounds. So, I guess personally, I wouldn't count it out based on a very minor (in my opinion) inconvenience.