[jyl]

I wonder if demand for negative film is holding up better, simply because the photographer can do more creative darkroom stuff w/ neg film and esp w/ B&W neg.

I used to be concerned that B&W film would no longer be available. I'm no longer worried about it. The equipment and facilities to make it are there, and as big companies like Kodak drop out, small companies will step in with operations scaled to a niche market and make artisanal B&W, priced accordingly. The medium will survive, just as oil paints are still available centuries after painting became "obsolete" as a mass medium.

That's my theory, anyway.