SECRETARY`S NOTES
Happy New Year to all our members. December was a very wet month, but we managed to expose quite a bit of film in spite
of the rain. Best thing is that conditions, when the sun re-appears, are good for photography. There has been a lot written
and implied recently on rumours of the demise of film and I would like to assure members that this is utter rot. I would like to
state a few facts to support that this is rubbish, all of which have been printed in the photographic press. The photographic
magazines have ceased to mention Videos and other electronic devices and I would like to see the CRC Newsletter follow
suit. We are after all a Club dedicated to home processed films not electronics. Our news letter could be produced from hand
written script and still spread the message of the CRC; that it is easy to process our own slides and prints.First fact is that world wide sales of film are the highest ever. Only Spain, Italy and the U.K. had a slight drop in numbers.
Next sales of SLR cameras is again rising and the sales of Compacts and Single use cameras have gone through the roof.
there are new SLR`s appearing almost every month, most of which will produce good results every time you expose your
film. They have auto focusing to help your eyes and auto exposure to solve that problem. Manual cameras for those who
want to do it themselves are also available, they provide results that are just as good, but need a little more effort.At least 10 new types of slide film have appeared from the biggest makers as well as two films from Hungary and Germany.
Both the latter are budget priced.Nearly all publishers require slides if they are needing material for reproduction as the quality of other mediums is not good
enough.Kodak have recently cut the cost of their Photo/CD players by half, a sure sign they are not selling. The reason is probably
the cost of putting the slides onto disc. Boots charge 70p per slide plus the cost of the CD. A disc will hold 100 images so
that means about £75.00 and you still only get an image as good and as large as your T.V. screen allows. Is it really that
much work to put up a screen and show your slides 40 or 50 inches wide, of much higher quality.So here`s to good weather and more film shooting in 1994. The quality of the materials have never been better and we
have choice in what we buy. With Club film and chemicals we can all partake of a wonderful pastime to the full.Ron.
P.S. lease alter price of Metol on Chemical list --- 100gms £4.40.