Then, as now, yours truly was keen on photography. In 1983 I was working at a local commercial/industrial photographers, something which should have fired my enthusiasm for the medium. I did enjoy actually using equipment far beyond the reach of my limited budget then such as Nikons, Hasselblads and even 5x4 bellows cameras which took sheet film, but it's probably fair to say my experiences with certain 'professionals' from those days made me consider that I should look to something else for a living, and enjoy my photography as a hobby.
The announcement by Kodak, the major player in film-based photography for many decades, that they were to release a film which would yield usable pictures in very low light, caused a sensation in the photography world. For those not familiar with the terminology, film sensitivity (or 'speed') is determined by its ISO (International Standards Organisation) rating. In simple terms, the higher the ISO number, the more sensitive the film is to light and therefore the 'faster' film is more usable in poor light than a 'slower' one. There was a price to pay for that in that the result would be more speckly, or 'grainy' with a faster film, but when working in conditions where light was often bad, a 'faster' film was the difference between getting that shot or not getting it. In those days, photographers who chose colour print film had a choice between the standard 100 ISO speed, suitable for bright and sunny conditions without flash, or 400 ISO which would be more suitable in dimmer conditions where it was necessary to hand-hold your camera.
The release of Kodak's Kodacolor VR1000 (as the name suggests, rated at 1000 ISO) was a real game-changer. Over twice as sensitive as the fast 400 ISO films commonly available, it found use with sports photographers and according to Kodak, the new film technology (which they dubbed 'T-Grain') meant that the resulting photos would not be excessively grainy. It caught rival film manufacturers such as Fuji on the hop, and some reports had it that Fuji top brass cancelled all annual leave for their staff so that they could work on a similarly-high specification product.
The marketing campaigns claimed that the film could 'almost see in the dark' and that it was 'so fast, it could almost do without light'. For the amateur who liked to shoot using a longer lens, a roll of VR1000 was essential since it enabled the photographer to use a faster shutter speed, meaning he or she could hand-hold the camera with less worry of the picture suffering from camera shake.
The cameras available in 2013, even moderately-specified digital compacts, would amaze anybody from back in 1983. Nowadays, a digital compact is not restricted to one ISO setting; it can be varied from shot to shot and even a cheaper compact will come with a zoom lens which would reach far beyond that available to the enthusiast back then. Of course, for the mass market, digital has completely superseded film, although film emulsion is still made in 2013 since there are a lot of old cameras out there still which can use it. Speaking as a film enthusiast myself, I hope that continues for some time to come yet.
**** 2023 Update: Film stock is still manufactured as of 2023 but it is now very much a niche product. Both Kodak and Fuji have pared back their range, while independent makers produce specialist film for the enthusiasts. Meanwhile the digital realm has improved still further; modern high-end sensors can produce images of startling quality even at ISO speeds up to 128000, unthinkable in the film era. The trend now is for 'full frame' sensors; that is the physical size of the sensor is roughly the same size as a 35mm film frame. This allows for increased dynamic range and quality, with the trade-off that the cameras themselves are necessarily bulkier than previous digital models. *****
Going back to 1983 then, here is a TV commercial advertising Kodak's revolutionary emulsion:
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