35mm colour neg availability in the UK

xtolsniffer · Nov 17, 2022

What on earth is going on with 35mm colour neg availability in the UK? It has been getting worse over the year but all my usual suppliers seems to be out of everything from Portra to Ektar to Fuji Superia. I have been sourcing expired stuff from eBay and camera fairs, and there are a few suppliers offering limited rolls of Kodak at very high prices but that's about it. Even during the height of the pandemic I could still get most stock. Is it this bad globally? What about in the rest of Europe? I appreciate that demand has gone up, but there must be some serious issues in the supply train. One camera shop owner told me that it was all just unavailable, when they do get some in they are limited to a few rolls and they go within a day.

koraks · Nov 17, 2022

xtolsniffer said:
Is it this bad globally?

Yes.

xtolsniffer said:
What about in the rest of Europe?

Color negative film availability is a nightmare, and has been for many months. There's just not enough manufacturing to keep up with demand. As you can read in many places, Kodak is frantically trying to ramp up production; no doubt Fuji does the same but they're not the kind of company to talk about it openly.

PS: I added 'availability' to the thread title to make it more descriptive; hope you don't mind!

Mike Crawford · Nov 17, 2022

Certainly worth giving Process Supplies a call if you haven't already!
https://www.processuk.net/Film/cat740598_657461.aspx

xtolsniffer · Nov 17, 2022

Thanks for the tip!

Arcadia4 · Nov 17, 2022

I would say availability has actually improved slightly in the last few months. Generally most films are available at ok prices but you have to be prepared to shop around, some suppliers are more competitive only on certain films and no one has everything, and also use some of the less obvious suppliers. supplies last only a short while for some stocks

Fujifilm 200 (gold) , Superia, gold200, Ultramax, ektar, portra 160, 400, 800 - usually someone will have them. Of these superia 400, Ultramax x36 and Portra 400 are harder to find with fewer suppliers at sensible prices,

lomography - buy direct from their site

rare - colorplus. Occasional limited stock be quick.

unobtainable - pro image 100 , get lomo 100 instead.

xtolsniffer · Nov 17, 2022

Thanks for the useful info. Superia 400 was my usual winter film for the UK due to the extra speed and a bit of colour pop to brighten dull days.

pentaxuser · Nov 17, 2022

Maybe demand will lessen when inflation, less disposable income and the likely general recession all bite together so Kodak will be able to catch up with demand?

On the other hand maybe the demand is created by those who are unaffected by any of the above 3 horsemen of the Apocalypse so we need to wait until Kodak can increase production to match what is a demand that will remain unaffected by any economically adverse factors?

pentaxuser

MattKing · Nov 17, 2022

It isn't just production.
The distribution channels are like a snake that has swallowed a cow!

pentaxuser · Nov 17, 2022

MattKing said:
It isn't just production.
The distribution channels are like a snake that has swallowed a cow!

So we need to wait until Kodak's supply matches the demand and until the distribution channels are working properly? We have had an indication of what Kodak is trying to do to increase production but none as to how successful it has been or when it anticipates meeting demand. Do we know anything about the specific distribution channels problems in which areas such as the U.S. Europe, Asia and what those problems are and when they might be solved?

Thanks

pentaxuser

MattKing · Nov 17, 2022

No - none of the specifics are publicly available.
The last specific that I heard was from quite a while ago in the midst of Covid, when Sino-Promise wasn't able to obtain commitments for any containers to ship product to the North American and European markets.

Sirius Glass · Nov 18, 2022

pentaxuser said:
So we need to wait until Kodak's supply matches the demand and until the distribution channels are working properly? We have had an indication of what Kodak is trying to do to increase production but none as to how successful it has been or when it anticipates meeting demand. Do we know anything about the specific distribution channels problems in which areas such as the U.S. Europe, Asia and what those problems are and when they might be solved?

Thanks

pentaxuser

Just hop on an airplane and drop over to the US to pick up all the film you want.

c41 · Apr 12, 2023

My question is about Australia, rather than the UK, but if this is global it seems just as relevant here.
How's this global supply shortage of colour negative 35mm film looking? Any hope?
Unable to source any at all here in Australia at the moment.

koraks · Apr 13, 2023

c41 said:
How's this global supply shortage of colour negative 35mm film looking?

As far as I can tell the situation has improved marginally, but mostly for the US market. For all I know, personally, only Kodak is currently manufacturing color negative film. Despite their investments in expanding capacity specifically for 35mm film, it seems that this does not (yet) translate into better availability in e.g. Europe - and apparently Australia, going by your question. Note that the improvements (especially in confectioning 35mm rolls) at Kodak were allegedly done around September 2022, so you would have expected that logistics to have been able to catch up with demand by now. Evidently, this hasn't happened yet.

Any hope? Sure, at some point you'll get some film in your hands, I suppose. But as it is, apparently supply still cannot keep up with demand, and there are no concrete clues that this is changing very rapidly.

pentaxuser · Apr 13, 2023

Presumably there comes a point where it may not pay Kodak to satisfy all the available demand if that section of demand consists of those who will either buy less or almost no film unless the price falls

If Kodak now has enough skilled staff to just about meet current actual demand at the current price then it's profit may already be at a maximum vis a vis the cost of employing its current staff and facilities which are now large enough to cope but only just cope with the demand from those who willingly buy all they can at current prices

So there is a chance that Kodak decides it has reached the point of maximum profit vis a vis cost and we are at a kind of equilibrium which is the right one for Kodak

If no other maker is anywhere close to being a rival then we are where we are and that is where we may stay

No doubt there will be counter arguments but we may be close to a steady state situation where colour film will never be on the shelves of retailers in quantities that was once the case

Just some thoughts

pentaxuser

c41 · Apr 13, 2023

koraks said:
As far as I can tell the situation has improved marginally, but mostly for the US market. For all I know, personally, only Kodak is currently manufacturing color negative film. Despite their investments in expanding capacity specifically for 35mm film, it seems that this does not (yet) translate into better availability in e.g. Europe - and apparently Australia, going by your question. Note that the improvements (especially in confectioning 35mm rolls) at Kodak were allegedly done around September 2022, so you would have expected that logistics to have been able to catch up with demand by now. Evidently, this hasn't happened yet.

Any hope? Sure, at some point you'll get some film in your hands, I suppose. But as it is, apparently supply still cannot keep up with demand, and there are no concrete clues that this is changing very rapidly.

Thank you. It's good to know there is some uplift in availability. It hasn't reached this far out yet. It's shocking to me just how hard colour negative film is to find over such an extended period and how it has at least doubled in price overnight or at least that's my feeling.
I'll try US sources in the meantime, thanks. I will also refrain from sharing the political commentary on cost/supply/wages I am thinking! Deep breath and go shoot some film!

Brad Deputy · Apr 13, 2023

I picked up a roll of Fuji Superia Xtra 400 yesterday at a local camera store. Made in Japan, expiration late 2025. They had plenty of them. They also had a lot of US made Fuji 200.

Honestly it's the first time I've seen film on the shelves that wasn't one of those Lomo-types, in a very long time.

Gone are the days of $12 3-packs of Fuji 200 (Japan)

But it's good to see it coming back for sure.

Agulliver · Oct 26, 2023

Reliable supplies of Kodak gold 200 seem to be getting through, in the UK at least. My local camera shop has had it in stock for the last couple of months and is able to restock when they sell out. Prior to that the last three to four years has been them scrabbling to get whatever C41 film they can. They actually prefer to stock Ultramax and Color Plus, but Gold suits most of their customers just as well.

35mm colour neg availability in the UK

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