Foreign From the camera store and today we're Going to be talking about 35 millimeter Film in particular a company that's Supporting this revival called flick Film The last few years Dave and I have Really noticed a lot more people Gravitating towards 35 millimeter film It's kind of fun it's nostalgic and it's Just something that you can do where you Can both shoot it and then process it From start to finish at home but at First glance developing your own film Seems a bit daunting all the chemistry Involved and what's needed so flip film Has a bunch of easy to use kits that Provide all that you need including the Instructions to develop a majority of Black and white film yeah not only do They produce the film themselves but Everything that you could possibly need Whether you're a beginner you're getting Into doing it in your bathroom or you're Someone that's a little bit more Advanced so Dave and I went on a field Trip to Longview just outside the city And we're so lucky because these guys Are local and they're making all this Stuff and so we're able to show you what The ins and outs are inside their Facility Can you tell us a little bit about what Flick film is all about
Uh Flex film is a very analog-centric Company everything we do is for analog Photography so we do film conversion Which is taking big reels of film raw Film and putting the 35 millimeter Canisters ready to go into a camera the Other thing we do is photochemicals so We do I do believe we have the broadest Spectrum of photochemicals available Anywhere in the world that we can Produce in very small quantities or Large quantities depending on what the Market is and we also have manufacturing And distribution Of the photo analog photo accessories What is the product are most excited About right now it's our biggest product Right now it's going to put a buzz Around the world is Electro 100 film Which is a c41 cover film and this is a Aerial photography film that we buy in Great quantities you have to buy a huge Amount of it to get it to finish and When you're putting that into cassettes And not just getting shipped literally All over the world so why do you think That there's this Resurgence of analog Photography why do you think people like To work with analog film and develop it And create these kind of tangible Photography pieces I can really only speak to my my own Personal experience kind of slowly Started drifting back into film I was
Doing odd stuff shooting with the six 617 camera and shooting with that I Started shooting more and more with film Uh and started seeing a response in my Little gallery A few years ago we were having an art Walk these before galleries in Longview And I stuck two photos that had taken Literally Seconds Apart one with my Nikon digital camera and one with a Pentax 645 in a medium format camera You've finished the two photos the same Mounted them the same way and didn't say A word to anybody just put them on the Counter and said please vote And we had about 160 people Through on that that voted and over 80 Percent of them voted for the film And I did you know I can't Put a reason as to why but it was Glaringly obvious to me that it wasn't Just me that was finding this attraction It was You know also found in the people Looking at the finished product there's Something magical a magical quality About it maybe yeah yeah you know I I I I can't even put anything to it other Than it is something it's real it's Tangible And uh you know I've always been Customer oriented so if my customers Prefer it I'm going to just listen to Them
Now I noticed you have a lot of c41 Products here can you talk a little bit About why you decided to get into c41 Chemistry and where there was maybe some Gaps in the market I mean a few years ago I started this Little camera store and just as kind of A lark actually it was a right after I Had that response on the on the walk Through and the voting on The you know Digital versus film I I started bringing In products that I thought were you know Not that available in the Canadian Market and distributed them just on a Sort of a casual basis and uh and we had Problems um with the the Kodak chemicals Kodak Alerus Soldier chemical division To sign up promise in China and that Lasted a year before they were in Receivership Products were very unreliable I knew how To blend this stuff you know it was it's Not rocket science uh you know it's just A matter of can you get the products and Do you have the wherewithal to do it Etc So We started blending black and white Products uh film products just for our Own use basically and and Then I had been Distributing c41 Um kits I had an order in for 450 kits And I had A delivery Six months late of 42 kids
And at that point I thought this is Ridiculous you know I I don't do Business like this Again it's not rocket science it's a Matter of diligence knowing how to you Know how to do the stuff and and being Able to obtain the materials so We started producing c41 kits I saw that as an opportunity to kind of Improve on that market After the demise of film the first Demise of film or the premature demise Of film C-41 became a sort of a Blix Centric Which is the bleach and fix uh Process has got stuck together that's Not Optimum you never see a photo lab Like a real photo lab doing that they All use a separated bleach and fix so we Use formulation from an old lab in California actually Rather legendary old lab we got their Formula and started producing a Separated bleach and fix kit the Advantages of that were you know it's a Much better Acuity you're going to get a Little bit sharper images and you get a Greater continuity and color Chemistry lasts longer but probably the Kind of coolest thing about it was that We only use 60 of the amount of Chemicals so environmentally it is Vastly superior to using a Blix kit so You have less material coming
Into the kits which means less impact And you have less material going back Into the into the Waste Recovery system which obviously Has much less environmental impact all Right Dave it's always good to meet Another Dave especially another one in The photo industry like this now this Takes me way back and I'm Blown Away by The production of what you have going Here years ago a lot of people don't Know this I actually owned a photo Finishing mini lab like lifetimes ago And back then back in Calgary there was Probably 100 Labs plus we could go get C41 developed but now there's maybe one Lab in Calgary that actually does a Consumer c41 is that part of the reason You brought all this chemical back to Life and give people an option Sure yeah as the labs disappeared to the Enthusiasts Stayed and a lot of them took to uh Buying kits to uh to work with but as a Film photography or analog photography Has kind of exploded uh with it I think The interest is there it's enthusiasts That are shooting film in the old days You know everybody that would would Currently be shooting on an iPhone shot On film because that's what was Available now if you're shooting film You're with you're an Enthusiast and so Enthusiasts have much higher tendency to
Develop their own film they want to have It under control exactly I mean it's Been interesting to watch the the whole Industry change I mean small digital Cameras came out and wiped out the photo Finishing industry I mean within like Three years do you think that's really What's going on with the what people Like about analog is like it's that kind Of do-it-yourself they're more involved With the whole process I I think the interest in film is Driving that interest in doing it Yourself in other words if you're so Interested in photography you're going To shoot film you then want to take a You know a good handle on the process And I know that just from the emails I Get people asking me questions about Process and how to improve what they're Doing and on there's a real push to uh To uh you know for people to wrap their Hands around the the entire process of Film photography and is it just the film Or is it like developing side of it as Well like doing the printing I see a lot Of people developing the negatives and Then scanning it to digital but you find People doing as much Printing and that Side of it is it mainly film chemicals Like or is it the paper chemicals that You're selling just as much of uh no we Saw weight loss paper chemical the film Chemical no doubt but paper chemical is
On the rise as well and in one term you Could buy in largers for you know 50 Cents or somebody to pay you two bucks To hold it away and the same enlarger Sell you know leopards so for a good Four by five color and large area again Fifteen hundred dollars yeah I mean That's certainly a big step to set up a Dark room in your house compared to Developing film now I like the idea of People being able to develop their film Both in the color which you make very Easy but even in black and white which Is very sort of very simple a very pure Style of photography I find now is what Is sort of your biggest seller when it Comes to black and white developing kids We actually made a full-size black and White development kit which I have right Behind me here you don't have one you've Got a ton of them yeah and they were Well we used to have I mean that's that Was more full I mean working at the Store when somebody comes in they're Like I want to develop my own black and White film that's a bit of a process Because we're explaining different Chemicals and different processes and Stuff you make it incredibly convenient And you provide instructions that for Developing 20 or 30 of the most popular Films the developing times and Everything else to make that whole Choice is super simple do you see
Another growth Market you see color film Kits are growing just as fast or is it Just black and white that's is really Pushing people cover film is if there Was more color film available right now We're having a problem worldwide with Color film but you're helping with that We are helping with that yeah we've Taken a different route on on how we Finish the film so we have a Unlimited Supply of cassettes unlike anybody else And we can have as many made as we want So C-41 developing we did we brought out a Very simple little thing which is a Temperature very accurate temperature Controlled water bath to help with the C41 developing and that has been it's Taken a lot of pressure off people they Felt the pressure with c41 you've got to Keep the temperature right on the money So People use sous-vides or various Different means of keeping the Temperatures together some of the aura Of mystery has come off Probably a bigger thing we've been doing It has a lot of growth is a ecn2 kits Which is movie film interesting and Movie film is the best film in the world In what way why does it make it better Than sort of consumer grade film uh it's Just it's made with a very very high Dynamic range they have a layer on the
Back anti-hellation layer called the REM Jet layer that absolutely sucks up Everything in excess excess light The film itself is very very high silver Content very very fine-grained they use The same a little technical here I've Been die couplers and and color Developer as slide film so you've got Very impactful colors they're really Really uh Great colors and for years it's not been Possible to develop at home you've got To take it to a Kodak machine which is Used to running a thousand feet of film At a time a little expensive with your Little chunk of 35 millimeter we made a Kit that you can use at home that uh Uh we'll run that and that's been very Popular so that's a that's a big growing Area ecn2 developing what Evelyn said Earlier I mean I am kind of Blown Away I Mean at one point you know there's a Thought that film is dead digital Cameras are taken over and destroying Film but we've seen film come back in Droves and it's a massive amount of Things so just I mean the sheer scale of What you're producing here you're moving All this product so it is there people Are buying film using film and enjoying Film and the whole process so much more Do you have so much product here and you Sell worldwide you know we saw it at the Camera store of course where else can
People kind of find and find more Information about your product we have a Website for flick film it is uh it is Just an information site as we're Strictly a wholesale Company Um But uh well you know there is a spot There to tell people where to buy Uh throughout North America into Asia Australia UK I know I'm you know I Wasn't sure what to expect when I came Down here today quite honestly I'm like Okay here's a guy making some film you Know and I was thinking yo is it bigger Than a garage no this place is massive And the scale of it is really blowing me Away quite honestly so you're doing Something right well we're just flat out Having fun doing it too well it Certainly shows that's a big part of it All right so I'm back here with Dalton Who is Dalton of all trades here it's Like found including the YouTube channel Yep can you tell us a little bit about What kind of content you have in your Channel right now uh so right now we Haven't made content in a little bit but We're looking to make more content but Uh we have just some basic c41 Developments off uh which was what day Was originally wanting us to do like the Whole c41 setup how to develop film if You've never developed before and we
Recently just started doing uh ecn2 Which is another form of development and Vision three uh Motion Picture film so We wanted to sort of advertise that out There because that was when Dave was Starting with the Motion Picture film And he wanted to let people know so Where can people find your channel do You have any other social accounts so People should check out so right now It's just the YouTube channel and we're Gonna be trying to do more YouTube stuff And this year hopefully more than last Year but uh yeah hopefully we want to Try and do like a video every few months And then of course you know make a bunch Of other stuff like Instagram or Tick Tock and just like little shorts of of What we're doing here and what the Products Dave has here and just given Sort of a spotlight to them absolutely So make sure you guys check out flick Film on YouTube watch out for that and You can check out more of Dalton's work Well Dave I certainly had fun checking Out flick film and hearing from the Other Dave about how he's been able to Work with all these products and create Some awesome kits it makes me excited to Pick one of these up bring it home and Do some 35 millimeter developing yeah You can really see that Dave loves what He does and he really appreciates what's Going on in the world and how film is so
Popular once again yeah Chris we want to Know what do you think are you someone That's interested in 35 millimeter film Did you shoot it before is this totally New for you let us know in the comments Below follow us both on Instagram and if You're new to the Channel Please Subscribe hit the notification Bell and We'll catch you again very soon Thank you I hope you enjoyed this episode as much As I'm enjoying this bathtub right now If you want to check out more of a Recent content click up here and if you Are local and want to shop Canadian Check out the camera store.com down here
