Acros 100 in peril?

bvy · Mar 30, 2018

Here we go again.
https://www.casualphotophile.com/2018/03/30/fujifilm-to-discontinue-acros-100-film-in-october-2018/

From the link:
This information is pulled from translations of Japanese dealer-distributed documents. As of this writing, consumers and US-based distributors haven’t seen any direct announcement from Fuji and my requests for confirmation from Fuji have not yet been answered. That said, this is technically a rumor, but these sources should be reliable and this follows a historically consistent pattern

1kgcoffee · Mar 30, 2018

I just read about this on rangerfinderforum. Would not surprise me, nor would it surprise me to see velvia gone in the next 12 months.

Andrew O'Neill · Mar 30, 2018

Looks like the only film they will eventually only be making is that instant stuff. My wife is going to Japan next month so I'll get her to buy a couple of bricks of 120... just in case.

Andrew O'Neill · Mar 30, 2018

I see Bic Camera still lists it in 4x5 and 8x10. I'll see if my wife can get her hands on a couple boxes...

Alan9940 · Mar 30, 2018

It's my understanding that it was discontinued (manufacturing wise) last year and the dates we're looking at now (Oct 2018) is Fuji's prediction for how long the current supply will last, The actual facts might be a little different. For example, I buy Acros sheet film directly from Japan and it's my understanding that even Yodobashi doesn't have it anymore. I'm just glad I bought a stock of it a couple of years ago that's waiting in my freezer.

Prest_400 · Mar 30, 2018

I saw there's a supposed schedule for discontinuing Acros 135 and 120 on October 2018. Through IG and this blog was linked:

https://aremo-koremo.hatenablog.com/entry/fuji_acros_end_of_sale_mar_2018

Sad, Fuji seems to converge just to Instax.

RattyMouse · Mar 30, 2018

bvy said:
Here we go again.
https://www.casualphotophile.com/2018/03/30/fujifilm-to-discontinue-acros-100-film-in-october-2018/

From the link:
This information is pulled from translations of Japanese dealer-distributed documents. As of this writing, consumers and US-based distributors haven’t seen any direct announcement from Fuji and my requests for confirmation from Fuji have not yet been answered. That said, this is technically a rumor, but these sources should be reliable and this follows a historically consistent pattern

I just came up from the basement after developing two rolls of Neopan Acros and find this news. Just frick'en great.

God damn you Fujifilm.

Andrew O'Neill · Mar 30, 2018

Alan9940 said:
It's my understanding that it was discontinued (manufacturing wise) last year and the dates we're looking at now (Oct 2018) is Fuji's prediction for how long the current supply will last, The actual facts might be a little different. For example, I buy Acros sheet film directly from Japan and it's my understanding that even Yodobashi doesn't have it anymore. I'm just glad I bought a stock of it a couple of years ago that's waiting in my freezer.

I bought a few 4x5 boxes when I was over there last year. It was my understanding at that time was that only the sheet film sizes were affected...

RattyMouse · Mar 30, 2018

Alan9940 said:
It's my understanding that it was discontinued (manufacturing wise) last year and the dates we're looking at now (Oct 2018) is Fuji's prediction for how long the current supply will last, The actual facts might be a little different. For example, I buy Acros sheet film directly from Japan and it's my understanding that even Yodobashi doesn't have it anymore. I'm just glad I bought a stock of it a couple of years ago that's waiting in my freezer.

Yodobashi in Kyoto had Acros in 4 x 5 size two weeks ago.

Alan9940 · Mar 30, 2018

Yes, sorry, I was referring to sheet film.

@RattyMouse, great! If you find a source for 8x10, please let me know.

RattyMouse · Mar 30, 2018

Alan9940 said:
Yes, sorry, I was referring to sheet film.

@RattyMouse, great! If you find a source for 8x10, please let me know.

I'm not in Kyoto anymore, or even Japan. Search the web as best you can.

lantau · Mar 30, 2018

I just saw a shop from Hong Kong post a Japanese language notice. Having read the OP I knew what it was and that it is officially over now. Screw Kodachrome, this is a real loss. And I take it that E6 will be next.

I won't buy a ticket to HK this year and instead buy a larger freezer and as much Fujifilm as I can manage. Maybe it was a mistake to get hooked on film...

RattyMouse · Mar 30, 2018

lantau said:
I just saw a shop from Hong Kong post a Japanese language notice. Having read the OP I knew what it was and that it is officially over now. Screw Kodachrome, this is a real loss. And I take it that E6 will be next.

I won't buy a ticket to HK this year and instead buy a larger freezer and as much Fujifilm as I can manage. Maybe it was a mistake to get hooked on film...

Beautifully put. The loss of Acros is indeed a tragedy for us film shooters who rely on this film. Blathering on about Kodachrome is utterly insignificant.

My archives have well over 500 rolls of this film (9 binders) from shooting just the past 5 years. I would rather lose every other film on the planet than Acros. It is my go to film.

How long will this film last at room temperature? I do not have much fridge space to store more than 50 or so rolls. I want to buy more, much more than that.

pentaxuser · Mar 30, 2018

So with Andrew O'Neill's understanding that it was a deletion of sheet film and Alan's confirmation that he was referring to sheet film only can we roll film users take this as read i.e. the discontinuation was only of sheet film and the Oct 2018 date was an estimated date by which remaining stocks will all be sold. Acros roll film this is unaffected?

Yes it is sad as we said when this was first announced but we need to avoid "setting any new Fuji hares running" if the hares are not real.

pentaxuser

Poisson Du Jour · Mar 30, 2018

ACROS 100 has been on scarce availability here in Australia for more than 12 months -- certainly before Easter 2017 and likely as far back as August-September 2016.
Meanwhile, Fuji is no longer stocking two dealers here [Provia, Velvia] as of mid-March. Given quite large and ambiguous price variations ("profit-taking" if you will), this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does have a forboding ring to it.
There is good and ready availability from online sellers for now, including ACROS 100.

mshchem · Mar 30, 2018

B&H has 5 packs of 120 for 24 bucks. B&H Is closed next week for Passover. The soonest that panic buying can begin is a week from Sunday to ship on Monday the 10th. Freestyle will be open. I cleaned out my local shop, because he's closing. I have a 22 cu. ft. Fridge/freezer full of paper and film. Nuts!
Mike

Andrew O'Neill · Mar 31, 2018

I'm leaning more towards deletion of sheet film only... for now. I cannot believe that they would completely stop production of their one and only B/W film...and a great film that it is. At any rate, my wife will try to scoop up some 120 and sheet film next month over there.

Andrew O'Neill · Mar 31, 2018

What's really nice about this film? Well... last weekend I exposed a few sheet ranging from 16 to 32 seconds... no reciprocity compensation added. How nice is that? There is NO film that can do that.

Larry Cloetta · Mar 31, 2018

Andrew O'Neill said:
There is NO film that can do that.

With the loss of ACROS, this sentence becomes the exact truth.

Andrew O'Neill · Mar 31, 2018

My wife is at this very moment is poking around various camera shops' websites, including Yodobashi, Bic Camera... Yodobashi all formats of Acros sold out and not selling anymore. Bic Camera has 35mm and 120. No sheet film sizes. She's going to order some 120 5 packs for me and have it sent to her parents' house. Hopefully she'll remember to stick it in her carry on bag!!
I have one box of 4x5 left in the freezer. This is exactly how I felt when I was down to my last box of HIE sheet film. Not happy.

Adrian Bacon · Mar 31, 2018

Meh. Fuji’s been leaving for a while. There’s plenty of alternatives that make just as nice pictures.

I prefer TMAX 100 if I really want the resolution, otherwise if you want predictable with little to no complaints, it’s FP4+ With a nice classical grain structure. You can get it up to 20x24 inch sheets. If you need more speed, Tmax 400 is awesome especially in XTOL. Develop it to 0.62 contrast, yowza! It’s like the two were made for each other. Loads of DR, loads of shadow detail, loads of resolution, and way finer grain than pretty much every other 400 speed film I’ve seen. It’s excellent.

Less expensive is Arista.edu (it’s fomapan), you,can get it in sheet form, the 200 speed shot at 160 or 125 is pretty nice for the price. The 100 and 400 also mice, but I prefer more antihalation, otherwise the glow is OK if that’s what you want.

Poisson Du Jour · Mar 31, 2018

Andrew O'Neill said:
What's really nice about this film? Well... last weekend I exposed a few sheet ranging from 16 to 32 seconds... no reciprocity compensation added. How nice is that? There is NO film that can do that.

But that is not exactly pushing ACROS to its limits. My work is rarely less than a minute. Try 2 to 5 minutes, or even a 20 minute pinhole exposure...
I think TMax100 is a very worthy substitute and with a little development tweaking would be just fine.

RattyMouse · Mar 31, 2018

Andrew O'Neill said:
My wife is at this very moment is poking around various camera shops' websites, including Yodobashi, Bic Camera... Yodobashi all formats of Acros sold out and not selling anymore. Bic Camera has 35mm and 120. No sheet film sizes. She's going to order some 120 5 packs for me and have it sent to her parents' house. Hopefully she'll remember to stick it in her carry on bag!!
I have one box of 4x5 left in the freezer. This is exactly how I felt when I was down to my last box of HIE sheet film. Not happy.

Two weeks ago I was in Japan (Kyoto) and Yodobashi had plenty of Acros in 120, 35mm, and 4 x 5 size.

Arcadia4 · Mar 31, 2018

This is a copy of the notification being discussed , which was apparently taken as a screen grab from an official fujifilm notification to dealers in Japan and posted by an owner of a tokyo darkroom.

This states discontinuation of;
Acros 135 (36 exp and 3x36 exp packs - latter sold in japan) and 120 format, 5 packs
Fuji B&W papers (only sold in Japan) .
In the case of Acros the first date 10/2018 is the final shipment (presumably from the factory) with stock expected to last 12 months to 10/2019 (but this is subject to demand)

The public announcement is quoted as being due April 6th...(so this would give dealers a weeks notice). https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg8j493nqmn/?taken-by=tokyocamerastyle

One aspect is that often by the time fujifilm formally announce a discontination, the film has already been withdrawn from distributon outside Japan, which may explain the difficulty of obtaining it in Australia for example. Presumably this is because its easier to manage the final production sale to the home market. Whether this is the case for Acros remains to be seen.

mooseontheloose · Mar 31, 2018

This bothers me so much! Damn you Fuji! I go through more of this film in a year than all others combined. I need to stock up now, but I really can't afford to - my credit card is not going to like me, but I really have no choice. Maybe I can sell my Fuji x100s to help pay for it.

And the Fujibro paper...it's one of the few truly lithable papers out there. I know it's not available outside of Japan, and maybe has limited appeal because it's RC paper, but it produces beautiful sandy tones. I'd like to stock up on this too, but there aren't too many options left (it's been apparent for some time that it's going - the paper selection in Yodobashi, while not great, always had huge amounts of Fuji paper. For some now it's just been a couple of boxes, just the hard grades, glossy, which of course have less appeal).

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