35mm Velvia 50 is back and very expensive!

[faberryman]

As a percentage of average income, it's still cheaper than Ektachrome was in the mid 1970s (the documentary evidence is not hard to find). Do you want sustainable production of a specialty product or not? The whiny entitlement of aged hobbyists about what were effectively massively subsidised 'halo' product lines post-1990-ish isn't going to cut it.

I may be an aged hobbyist, but I am not exactly sure because I don't how old you have to be to be aged. I am not whining about the price of Velvia because I haven't shot slides in decades, and when I did, I shot mostly Kodachrome 25, so I am really not a potential Velvia customer. I am curious though about how much young film enthusiasts would be willing to pay to shoot a roll of Velvia. If it's $34/roll and you add in processing, mounts and scans, it seems like $50/roll is a fair cost estimate. Are young film enthusiasts ready, willing, and able to pay $50/roll to shoot Velvia and, if so, how many rolls of Velvia would they shoot a year. Is that going to be enough to sustain production? I am not in touch with young film enthusiasts very often so I don't know. I was taking a course at my community college a few years ago and the students were expressing concern about $5.99/roll for black and white film. Maybe that's just a different demographic though. Speaking of demographics, it might be interesting to examine the demographics of young film enthusiasts.

 

[Larryc001]

Could be. It seems funny to me how if you buy more than one of a thing you are a “hoarder.” When I was filming commercially I would buy 100 rolls of Kodachrome for a trip. Now I can only buy 6 rolls of ilford. When the pandemic hit, anyone buying more than 2 packs of tp was a hoarder. Never give a thought to the fact that people were no longer going to work, school, on trips etc. so everyone affected was now crapping at home. No wonder they needed 6 packs of tp a week.

 

[sruddy]

How did you find this?

I Googled eBay Japan, then did a search for 35mm Fuji Velvia. I also made an offer and was approved for another $10 off so I may purchase 10 more but I may decide to wait to see how it all pans out.

 

[mshchem]

I Googled eBay Japan, then did a search for 35mm Fuji Velvia. I also made an offer and was approved for another $10 off so I may purchase 10 more but I may decide to wait to see how it all pans out.

Be careful!

 

[sruddy]

Be careful!

Always

 

[mshchem]

eBay Japan in English: A Guide to Japanese Equivalents of eBay

This article serves as a comprehensive guide to Japanese e-commerce platforms and will present alternatives to eBay Japan for international private buyers, frequent buyers, resellers, and businesses.

www.remambo.jp

I am ignorant of what is going on in Japan. But it looks suspicious to me.

 

[sruddy]

eBay Japan in English: A Guide to Japanese Equivalents of eBay

This article serves as a comprehensive guide to Japanese e-commerce platforms and will present alternatives to eBay Japan for international private buyers, frequent buyers, resellers, and businesses.

www.remambo.jp

I am ignorant of what is going on in Japan. But it looks suspicious to me.

I’ll report back when I receive my order. Your right there really is no specific eBay for Japan, my mistake.

 

[Moose22]

I’ll report back when I receive my order. Your right there really is no specific eBay for Japan, my mistake.

Thanks, we'll appreciate that.

Folks can just search ebay for Velvia 50 -expired (you have to weed out most of the sellers of expired crap) and you'll see several 100% sellers with similar prices. Provia expiry 2024, velvia 2023 -- so new enough and about the price it was locally when it was available. Velvia was over $20 here at the beginning of the year, the japanese sellers seem to have it for $22-25 a roll.

 

[warden]

Well we needed someone to step up to the plate and make Ektachrome look affordable, and Fuji came to the rescue!

 

[markjwyatt]

I bought a 5-pack of 120 for $69.99from Freestyle (plus a few other items I needed). I have not shot E-6 in a long time.

 

[eli griggs]

I bought a 5-pack of 120 for $69.99from Freestyle (plus a few other items I needed). I have not shot E-6 in a long time.

At least you'll be able to process it yourself, but you might want to shoot and develope some short rolls of Ektachromes to get led up to speed on the process.

Using some 'tails and leaders' with reloadable cassettes, a 36 frame roll can make up three 12 frame rolls for varied light exposure.

I know I'll be doing that in the near future, I've too many colour rolls in E6, which I've no developed since about '85, and some C41 which I've never tried my arm against.

IMO.

I guess I'll do both negatives and slides this way this weekend just to have on hand.

 

[markjwyatt]

At least you'll be able to process it yourself, but you might want to shoot and develope some short rolls of Ektachromes to get led up to speed on the process.

Using some 'tails and leaders' with reloadable cassettes, a 36 frame roll can make up three 12 frame rolls for varied light exposure.

I know I'll be doing that in the near future, I've too many colour rolls in E6, which I've no developed since about '85, and some C41 which I've never tried my arm against.

IMO.

I guess I'll do both negatives and slides this way this weekend just to have on hand.

I only process B&W at home. I will probably send the Velvia to a lab.

 

[eli griggs]

Which lab do you choose for colour development?

 

[markjwyatt]

I will use The Darkroom in San Clemente,. CA.

 

[mshchem]

My first time developing slide film was around 1971-72, I was in 9th grade. 1/2 gallon E3, I was storing the solution in huge Mason jars. I remember the smell of formalin, poison, but I was fond of the smell. The emulsion was so soft it would scrape off with out much effort.
Something like 9 bathes, had to do the "reverse exposure" with a photoflood. So much fun. I highly recommend trying E6 if you have the space, time, equipment etc.

 

[jtk]

My first time developing slide film was around 1971-72, I was in 9th grade. 1/2 gallon E3, I was storing the solution in huge Mason jars. I remember the smell of formalin, poison, but I was fond of the smell. The emulsion was so soft it would scrape off with out much effort.
Something like 9 bathes, had to do the "reverse exposure" with a photoflood. So much fun. I highly recommend trying E6 if you have the space, time, equipment etc.

While you were in 9th grade I was managing an E4 slide processing/duplication for a multi-projector-slide-show operation (Media Generalists in San Francisco). Hundreds of 35mm rolls every week. Calumet nitrogen burst/Nikor reels. We modified the E4 color developer with citrazinic acid to get longer scale. Long hours, big fun. Like you, I ran E3 at home (can't remember why vs E4 at the lab). E3 duplicating film...lovely stuff.

 

[Sonynolta User]

My first time developing slide film was around 1971-72, I was in 9th grade. 1/2 gallon E3, I was storing the solution in huge Mason jars. I remember the smell of formalin, poison, but I was fond of the smell. The emulsion was so soft it would scrape off with out much effort.
Something like 9 bathes, had to do the "reverse exposure" with a photoflood. So much fun. I highly recommend trying E6 if you have the space, time, equipment etc.

There's always something special about pulling the reel from the tank, wondering, did it work, or did I screw it up?

 

[mshchem]

While you were in 9th grade I was managing an E4 slide processing/duplication for a multi-projector-slide-show operation (Media Generalists in San Francisco). Hundreds of 35mm rolls every week. Calumet nitrogen burst/Nikor reels. We modified the E4 color developer with citrazinic acid to get longer scale. Long hours, big fun. Like you, I ran E3 at home (can't remember why vs E4 at the lab). E3 duplicating film...lovely stuff.

Wow, that's great. I've never even seen a big deep tank setup in operation. I have a nice Arkay 1 gallon setup, but I rarely use it. I just love playing around in a darkroom.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Could be. It seems funny to me how if you buy more than one of a thing you are a “hoarder.” When I was filming commercially I would buy 100 rolls of Kodachrome for a trip. Now I can only buy 6 rolls of ilford. When the pandemic hit, anyone buying more than 2 packs of tp was a hoarder. Never give a thought to the fact that people were no longer going to work, school, on trips etc. so everyone affected was now crapping at home. No wonder they needed 6 packs of tp a week.

No, you do not understand the concept: You are keeping it from the hoarders, not hoarding.

 

[mshchem]

35mm film has become the new 22 cartridges. Everytime people see it in stock they buy more than they can use for fear it won't be available.

 

[eli griggs]

35mm film has become the new 22 cartridges. Everytime people see it in stock they buy more than they can use for fear it won't be available.

True enough.

You can never have too many .22 shorts, 22, .22 LR, sniper, magnum, bb, cb, Winchester shot (won't ever buy that Remington crap shot round again), etc.

When I'm able, I wait to see what expired films are offered here and I never throw a roll out, even Walmart colour negative.

I guess when I've shot my "stock pile" of colour 135 and 120 (no 70mm stuff to hand) I'll have to buy new again so I hope I'll have less expensive than today options to select from.

I'll no hold my breath until then though.

 

[mshchem]

Film, like what Kodak, Fuji ,Ilford make is always going to be somewhat pricey. I don't see myself paying $36 a roll. I'm darn glad that it's available again. High prices act like rationing, that's a positive thing. Let Fuji and Kodak fill the distribution chain.

Better it's expensive than gone.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

View attachment 319627

Velvia 50 is out of stock.

Matt Velvia 100 is illegal in the USA due to a chemical within it. Only Velvia 50 is OK.

 

[markjwyatt]

Film, like what Kodak, Fuji ,Ilford make is always going to be somewhat pricey. I don't see myself paying $36 a roll. I'm darn glad that it's available again. High prices act like rationing, that's a positive thing. Let Fuji and Kodak fill the distribution chain.

Better it's expensive than gone.

Ilford is still very reasonable for the quality (thinking Fp4+, HP5+)

 

[Huss]

Continentalphoto.com has Velvia 50 36exp for $25/roll