January 21, 2004
R.I.P. Kodaks 35mm Cameras, APS
35mm Camera has reached the end of its role. The album seems to be closing on the era of taking photographs using film.
The sad news came with the announcement from Kodak, the firm which gave the world the $1 Brownie, and thus was largely responsible for getting the planet pointing and snapping, that it will no longer sell 35mm cameras in the US or Western Europe.
While it will still make film, for those who cling to fond traditions, the company also announced the passing of APS, its young offspring which had tried to broaden the company's horizons in the mid 90s.
35mm Camera joins a growing list of victims of technology - gramophones, VCRs and typewriters - that is above all concerned with the ascendance of ones and zeroes. For the first time in 2003 in the US, more digital cameras were bought than traditional film cameras.
Although Kodak is nowadays better known for making film than cameras, the symbolism of the firm which in 1888 invited the world to "press the button, we do the rest" could not be clearer. If everyone has nifty digital cameras in their mobile phones, who needs to pay for film which then needs developing and printing
Ultimately, even the handiness of the little plastic films tubs for storing unused foreign coins is unlikely to offer much of a salvation.
Friends of 35mm Camera might have seen the writing on the wall when Kodak announced last year it was ceasing production of slide projectors. The writing, perhaps, but not the holiday snaps.
35mm Camera is survived by its controversial sibling, Disposable Camera, who despite being a popular character at parties has never quite found the gravitas of its other family members.
No flowers.