I guess I wasn’t really paying much attention to what’s going on
in the world of 127 film. Recently, I stumbled across a Flickr thread bemoaning
the demise of this historic film format. I started asking around and was
stunned to discover that I totally missed the news that 127 is no longer in regular
commercial production and existing inventory stock is quickly running out.
As of yesterday the only 127 film available is some 160 color film
at Blue Moon and some 800 Rollei Nightbird at B&H and Freestyle - no black
and white anywhere!
That’s the bad news. Tragic really, introduced by Kodak in 1912,
127 film was a staple of family picture taking for over 100 years. Tremendously
popular throughout the early 20th century it began to lose out to
the plethora of 126’s and 110’s in the 1970’s and 1980’s but still has a
dedicated cult-like following even today.
The good news is that apparently 127 film fans are vocal and
relentless and the latest news indicates that there have been some special runs
of bulk 46mm film. Rumors abound but it seems pretty certain that there is some
HP5 floating around and maybe even some Portra.
These stocks have to be bought in bulk (50 to 500 foot rolls) and
then spooled onto 127 film reels. Although I have a change bag this is not how
I would want to spend my spare time so I was heartened to find out from Mike
Raso at the FPP that they plan to have 127 film in stock within the next 4 to 6
weeks (hopefully in time for Christmas)!
The same kind of thing happened with larger than 8 x 10 format
films. Kodak now only does special runs when they get enough demand to justify
a certain size. This may just be the way of the future for film stock other
than the commonly used ones (like 35mm, 120 and a few larger sizes) that have a
big enough following to justify continuous commercial production.
The days of being able to run into the store to buy film on the
way to where ever you’re going are pretty much over but film, even 127, is far
from dead. We just have to plan ahead
now.
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