35mm Tmax 100 bulk rolls are getting pricey

Dave Krueger · May 20, 2011

I'm about to place an order for 100 feet of Tmax 100 and I noticed that B&H has bumped the price up to $66 versus $55 for Tmax 400. Furthermore, Adorama doesn't even have it. Does anyone know why this is happening? If bulk Tmax 100 is going to be phased out, I will transition to Ilford Delta 100 (only $48). In fact, the price alone makes a case for transitioning.

In any case, I was just wondering if anyone knows why the price is so high and its availability seems to be weakening.

brucemuir · May 20, 2011

I would imagine Tmax will be the last one standing.
Don't know about bulk availability though.
This is merely my speculation so take it with a grain.

Moopheus · May 20, 2011

I am not privy to their pricing info, but since Freestyle has raised the prices on Ilford 100' rolls, I'm guessing B&H will have to at some point as well. My guess would be that these pricing discrepancies are only due to the ordering cycle--the retailers can hold the old price only as long as they have inventory, and then have to reorder at the new price. Freestyle has Tmax 100 and 400 at the same price--$62.

herb · May 20, 2011

Put your hand over your heart and the other hand on a lightining rod and decide who will be in the film bidness - Kodak or the Harman/Iford group. I think the latter
my self

Uncle Bill · May 20, 2011

Has anyone noticed where the price of silver has been lately?

Sirius Glass · May 20, 2011

The cost advantage for bulk loading 35mm film disappeared for me years ago.

Steve

waynecrider · May 20, 2011

I wonder if it comes down to more sales of the 400 compared to the 100, but I do agree with the reorder pricing as well.

BetterSense · May 20, 2011

That seems pretty expensive. I buy bulk TMY because it's substantially cheaper than pre-loaded TMY cassettes, but I have been using LegacyPro 100 instead of TMX.

nworth · May 20, 2011

Film makers have all raised prices recently due to the rapid and huge increase in the price of silver. Fortunately, the price seems to have been easing over the past week or so, so further increases in film and paper prices may not be needed. AFIK, TMX is still selling pretty well, and I haven't heard any rumors that it will be discontinued anytime soon.

Gerald C Koch · May 20, 2011

The high price of gold has caused speculation in other precious metals such as silver and platinum.

Mustafa Umut Sarac · May 20, 2011

100 foot Kodak 5222 BW Negative Short End Movie Film without ram jet costs 16 dollar or less. If I would be needed to buy film , I would only select it.
My neighbor is an old photographer and used short end movie films 40 years ago. He says they found in these films indians attacking cowboys parts ! This is the suprise part also.

Umut

Richard S. (rich815) · May 20, 2011

My film freezer just gets more and more valuable it seems....

DavidLyga · May 20, 2011

Has anyone heard any rumors of the film being discontinued ?

Richard S. (rich815) · May 20, 2011

DavidLyga said:
Has anyone heard any rumors of the film being discontinued ?

Yes! Over at photo.net they were saying within 3-5 years it will be very hard to find film. But that was around 2002. Then later in 2007 someone made a point of that again. I think they still say that now.

frobozz · May 20, 2011

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:
100 foot Kodak 5222 BW Negative Short End Movie Film without ram jet costs 16 dollar or less. If I would be needed to buy film , I would only select it.
My neighbor is an old photographer and used short end movie films 40 years ago. He says they found in these films indians attacking cowboys parts ! This is the suprise part also.

Umut

Haha, I think I'd have to find a new source for short ends if they were sending me used film like that!

It is very hard to find short ends of Double X (5222) because it is not used very often these days...and probably more so by indie productions, who aren't going to end up with a lot of waste.

A 400 ft roll direct from Kodak is reasonably priced though. I paid $140 late last year, which works out to $35 per 100 ft. No doubt it's gone up a bit since then but probably still compares favorably in price to the normal B&W still films in 100 ft rolls. Of course you have to deal with the fact that it's 400 ft and won't fit in your bulk loader...

Duncan

Mustafa Umut Sarac · May 20, 2011

Duncan ,

I really have had no hard time to find this film 0.16 cent per foot from Google Search. And You can buy any lenght you want from these dealers plus color film. If you look to the newest threads someone found ECN2 Color Movie Negative Film developing company also. You dont need to buy 400 Ft.
If you want , I can help you.

Umut

puptent · May 20, 2011

Gerald C Koch said:
The high price of gold has caused speculation in other precious metals such as silver and platinum.

I think that it's more likely that the wholesale devaluation of the dollar is driving people to the metal and commodity markets, and helping make $100 a barrel oil possible. The prices for EVERYTHING are going up, you're going to have to adapt, or buy gold.

frobozz · May 20, 2011

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:
Duncan ,

I really have had no hard time to find this film 0.16 cent per foot from Google Search. And You can buy any lenght you want from these dealers plus color film. If you look to the newest threads someone found ECN2 Color Movie Negative Film developing company also. You dont need to buy 400 Ft.
If you want , I can help you.

Umut

Color movie film at 16 cents a foot I can find all day long, it's the B&W that nobody ever seems to have in stock... at least here in the US. Which is why I bought the 5222 new - everything else I've been gathering for my color tests has been short ends.

Duncan

2F/2F · May 20, 2011

I would imagine that bulk rolls are one of the lowest-demand products made by any film manufacturer. I would not be surprised if they are phased out, even with a popular film like T-Max.

ArtTwisted · May 21, 2011

ya its expensive... ya that sucks... developing two rolls of tmax 100 now... i bet it will be pretty, so worth it. Also Delta 100 imo is a fine fine film, and so is acros, and both are currently much cheaper (especially acros through freestyle)

yeknom02 · May 21, 2011

Sirius Glass said:
The cost advantage for bulk loading 35mm film disappeared for me years ago.

Come to think of it, price is probably one of my lesser reasons for bulk loading. (a) I find the process a bit more enjoyable than opening up a new box of 36 exposures, and (b) I like cutting down on waste... of packaging, empty cassettes, and the film itself if I feel like shooting less than either 36 or 24 exposures at a time.

Dave Krueger · May 21, 2011

Thanks for all the replies.

I was just wondering if someone knew something I didn't know about this jump in pricing, but apparently no one has heard anything that suggests that bulk Tmax 100 is going to disappear in the near future.

Since there are no budget priced t-grain films, I'm obviously going to have to deal with the high prices.

One thing more of interest is that, while bulk Delta 100 is $18 cheaper than Tmax 100 at B&H ($66 vs $48), if you get it in 36 exposure rolls, Tmax 100 ($4.25) is cheaper than Delta 100 ($5.31). And Plus-x is a whopping $6.39.

So, Tmax 100 in bulk doesn't save much over buying in rolls, but Delta 100 in bulk saves a lot over rolls. Plus-X isn't available at B&H or Adorama in bulk.

Thanks again for all the responses.

cmacd123 · May 21, 2011

Dave Krueger said:
Plus-X isn't available at B&H or Adorama in bulk.

Plus-x is Not going to be available in bulk period judging from past threads. The Plux-x Motion Picture film (5231) is discontinued.

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:
100 foot Kodak 5222 BW Negative Short End Movie Film without ram jet costs 16 dollar or less. If I would be needed to buy film , I would only select it.

I wonder if the situation in Turkey is quite a bit different than in North America. Short ends of 5222 have not been seen here for years, unless they are are unadvertised. Are you talking about a North American dealer? I have all sorts of ECN2 short ends, I was planning on using Dale labs but I no sooner got my freezer filled than Dale stopped the service. There is supposed to be a new ECN still film service available but it seems to be just starting up.

I Understand that Filmotec (AKA ORWO) has started a new North American dealer for their Motion Picture films, and I must check it out. It this point they are probaly the only other maker of B&W motion Picture film. (other than FOMA reversal if they can get the right base)

Diapositivo · May 21, 2011

2F/2F said:
I would imagine that bulk rolls are one of the lowest-demand products made by any film manufacturer. I would not be surprised if they are phased out, even with a popular film like T-Max.

When I made a "research" on how convenient would be bulk loading I found a very mixed situation. It's as if some producers did not care at all about it, the roll costs almost as much as buying "bricks" of film.

On the other hand, some other producers seem to bet on it. As an example, in the colour sector where nobody seems to sell bulk rolls, Rollei distributes bulk rolls of both CR 200 (colour slide) and CN 200 (colour negative) that seem to be quite cheap if compared to the factory-made rolls. I suppose this is because small firms like Rollei (Rollei is just the brand, I know that) mainly rely on the "advanced-amateur" market which very naturally leans toward bulk loading if there is a reward.

I also suppose that distribution (intermediaries and final retailer) eat a big part of the retail price. By selling bulk rolls through a "shorter" distributive chain the film makers probably profit more.

The distributive chain of niche producers is short in any case (think Foma, Rollei, etc. on the one hand, and big firms like Kodak and Fuji which are distributed by anybody) and so it makes sense to distribute in bulk rolls.

So I might be wrong but I think it is a matter of distributive structure. Small firms manage to remain competitive, notwithstanding higher per-unit costs - less economies of scale - by using a shorter distributor chain and by "leveraging" it with bulk rolls.

Fabrizio

Neil Purling · Jun 18, 2017

Some sellers of film seem as if they are on another planet when it comes to pricing of long rolls of 35mm Kodak TMX 30m.
Does 151.00 surprise you? Ah yes. That is UK Pounds, not US dollars. Furthermore it is a weeks pay for me.
The place that I usually use doesn't have any Kodak B&W emulsion in bulk rolls. I figure around £100.00 given the price difference of Kodak TMX over Ilford Delta 100 for the cassettes of film.

I have used Kodak TMX stand developed and liked it. I would probably not buy any in bulk, just odd cassettes if the situation warranted it. For everyday usage I would look at Kentmere film.

35mm Tmax 100 bulk rolls are getting pricey

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