In 1950, I shot my first 35mm pictures on this film–mostly from the top of the Washington Monument. The last time I looked at them, several years ago, they looked new. I doubt there is a new archival technology that would beat just leaving them in a cool dry dark place.

I suspect Kodak’s message is that no film is safe.

RTF

As far as obsolescence, film, at least for black and white, might be a bit more persistent than 8 tracks in that it is essentially capable of being used in a large variety of low-tech equipment. We’ve done projects in which we built little cardboard boxes with pinholes, that we have used with 120 and 35 mm film and cute little film advance contrivances. The chemicals for processing black and white film are easily mixed (I have not tried the coffee and orange juice variations yet, but the developing agents are still available) and I know a number of artists who are still using conventional black and white materials. There’s also a renewed interest in low-tech film cameras like the Lomo and Holga.

Sorry, a longish comment.

3.2 years