I have often been on the other side of the fence when the argument comes up that film is unsustainable, or its just too expensive. My cost-saving solution is either to bulk load my film to keep the cost down, or start home developing and scanning so you have more control over your medium, while saving the pennies too.
However, there is one area that I can't argue with when it comes to cost, and that's repair bills when something goes wrong! Sadly my beloved 60-year-old Leica M2 needed some work done to it and I paid the price - $700 bucks and a 6-month wait!
I've said before that you have enough experience with film cameras still in the industry to service the new ones that are coming to the market, like the Pentax 17 or Rollei 35AF, and while I'm sure they will service them, it still begs the question how much that would actually cost!
Now, some might say it's my own fault for buying a Leica in the first place. After all, it's only a lightbox to expose light to the roll of film. I could have bought five Nikon FEs for the cost of my repair bill, and you would be right!
However, it was my choice to choose the Leica system, and I still love the M-system for its compactness and lightweight, carry-anywhere ability; it's just that now I've actually found out the true cost of Leica.
When I think about it, or try and justify it to myself, I compare it with the same regard as Ferrari, both high luxury items, and to own "the best," you have to keep on top of their high maintenance fees.
Even if it is $700 and you have only shot four rolls through it, and while that thought does leave a bitter taste in my mouth, I still stand by my statement that this 60-year-old Leica M2 is only one of the best rangefinder cameras I have ever used. I just unfortunately picked up a bad one secondhand,
I now know that this Leica M2 will be able to go on and produce amazing images for another 60 years after its complete overhaul, stripe down, and repair by the great folk at CameraWorks-UK here in England.
But it leaves a big question mark over the feasibility of getting old or brand new film cameras repaired - anyone could buy any camera and it can look and shoot fine to the eye at first - much like my M2 did, but when you really analyze it there could be underlying issues, I was lucky I was able to find a specialist that was able to do it - you might not be so luckily with your Pentax 67, Hasselblad Xpan, or Mamiya 7II.
So how are we as film photographers going to "bridge the gap"? That's a question I really don't have the answer to. But if you want to be an analog photographer in the digital age, you must suffer the burdens of breakdowns without repair or suffer the high repair cost to continue what you enjoy.
Will the industry much like Pentax did for the Pentax 17 re-train themselves to keep up with demand, will Leica train others to become "Leica approved" repairers, all of it is open to discussion, but none of it is for certain.
I'm happy that I now have my Leica M2 back to fighting shape, but $700 is a lot, maybe that's just the true cost of analog film photography today. It stings, but I think it's worth it.
