After making such a big deal about building an Acros look into their digital cameras, Fujifilm has now announced the discontinuation of the film it’s based on. Acros 100 for 35mm and 120 cameras will last ship in October 2018. The Acros photographic papers will be discontinued in stages starting at the same point and ending in March 2020.
What seems to be clear at this point is that there is demand for films, but that demand is often right at the edge of useful profitability. That’s an indication to me that, despite some who think otherwise, that analog photography is not regrowing in popularity.
I suspect that some of what is happening is this: demand in the pro and advertising ranks has gone way down, while more individual users have picked up their film SLRs again.
Unfortunately, it’s those pro uses with bulk, repeated purchases that will drive whether a film from one of the major companies continues.
