From the Arch Club Journal

Film photography is making a comeback

Discontinued films have returned, new cameras are being made, and labs are busy again. How it happened.

Written by Arch Club, a members' club that shoots only on film.

By the early 2010s, film looked finished. Stocks were discontinued, labs closed and cameras filled drawers. Then the curve turned.

The signs

I
Films came back.Kodak returned Ektachrome slide film to production in 2018, years after it had been discontinued.
II
New films arrived.Smaller makers have released new stocks, from repackaged cinema films to Harman's Phoenix, a new colour film from the makers of Ilford.
III
New cameras appeared.Leica put the M6 back into production in 2022, and Pentax released the 17, a new half-frame camera, in 2024.
IV
Used prices climbed.Cameras that once sold for little now command real money, especially fine compacts and medium format bodies.
V
Labs got busy.Independent labs have opened, and many offer mail-in developing and scanning.
Film did not return as a novelty. It returned as a choice.

Why it lasted

Fashions fade. This one hasn't, because film gives something a phone can't: a slower way of seeing and an original you can hold. Every Arch Club photograph is made this way, on purpose.

White marble stilettos with red marble straps on a black marble plinth
Shot on film at Arch Club

ARCH CLUB

A members' club for foot photography, shot only on film.

Every Arch Club photograph is made on a Canon EOS-1V, a Mamiya 7 or a Fuji GW690II, with real models in New York and never AI. Members receive new film photographs every month, and collectors can own the original negative, sealed in display resin with a print of their choice.

Membership$49.99/mo
Polaroid$111
4×6 print$200
Negatives$1,100 to $2,000
Cameras35mm, 6×7, 6×9
Become a MemberBecome a Model

Anyone can find a picture. Few will ever hold a photograph.

Visit Arch Club

Published by Arch Club, Brooklyn, New York.