ThinkCamera may be about digital photography but we wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for film. For a very long time it was the mainstay of photography but the turn of the Millennium wasn't kind on film, with a lot of the big manufacturers like Kodak pulling their support for film and going solely digital - I don't really need to rewrite the benefits of digital over film as a lot of them are obvious.
Film is still held in high regard however at both ends of the photographic scale. The off-the-cuff amateur style of Lomography embraces the limitations of film with the idea that any photo has its charm however well it's taken; while some big fashion magazines demand their front cover image (at least) is taken with film because the medium demands you take some thought into each photo.
Film is still available but the amount of manufacturers producing it is steadily dwindling, especially for professionals. Therefore it's nice to hear that a big company is planning to restart film production: Fujifilm with its Velvia 50 film. Fujifilm withdrew this film in 2005 because of the a lack of raw materials but now a new manufacturing process has allowed production to restart - much to the benefit of the thousands of photographers who asked for it to come back.
Velvia 50 will be re-introduced in spring 2007 and is the benchmark film for daylight colour reversal. Sitting at IS0 50 it is perfect for the needs of any photographer and can offer power, great tonal range and sharpness in images due to its 17-layer construction. Details like price, formats and availability haven't been released and being a digital site we are unlikely to touch on them again, so bookmark the Velvia product page at Fujifilm Professional.
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