Anybody buying Kodak B&W films nowadays?

[warden]

I mean - 14€/14$ for Trix or Tmax iso 400... double to cost of Ilford, and triple the cost of Foma.
As much as I want to buy and support them - I just cannot give 140€ for a box of 10 films.

I definitely sympathize with that pricing. Over here 120 TMax400 is priced between HP5 and Delta400 so It’s more of a decision about which one you like rather than price.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

The US has a personal import exemption of up to $800 on items that accompany you back from overseas. If you buy stuff overseas and don't exceed that, they are not going to charge you duties on it (there are other limits, i.e. on alcohol, etc). The VAT-free schemes in most European countries are worth doing if you are resident in the US and heading home and spent any real money there. It means you end up with no sales tax and unless you exceed the personal import exemption, you will owe no customs duty, either. There are some other limits e.g. on timing, certain products: https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-246?language=en_US . Even without the form you are supposed to declare what you are bringing, but they do make that hard. If they ask you should tell them (they sometimes do), but in general I find that they don't even ask most of the time now.

The custom's agent never asked. I guess they figured everyone lies so why bother.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I definitely sympathize with that pricing. Over here 120 TMax400 is priced between HP5 and Delta400 so It’s more of a decision about which one you like rather than price.

Why are prices so high in England? When my wife and I were there in May, and Paris too, prices were way higher in London for restaurants, taxis, hotels, and other stuff then Paris. I think inflation is more out of control in Great Britain and that's effecting the huge price differences between America and Britain and other countries. Also, Ilford in made in Britain, so prices should be cheaper there for it over imported American-made Kodak films.

 

[Don_ih]

Ilford in made in Britain, so prices should be cheaper there for it over imported American-made Kodak films.

That may be intuitive, but Ilford might sell a lot more film in the US than in the UK.

 

[lamerko]

On an amusing side, my wife dragged to England on our vacation from America about two kilograms worth in weight of old British coins. These had been collected by her sister on her many trips over the years to Great Britain. It was coins she had left in her pocket when she returned to America. So when we got to London, it turned out no one wanted them., Apparently their worth had run out when England recently changed their currency. So I called the Bank of England and eventually spoke to the British Mint. There was a nice guy there who listened intently. He asked me to send a photograph of the coins. So, I spread them out on the table and shot and emailed it to him. A couple of days later he said they couldn't do anything with them; that we should check to see if any banks would give us new money for them. They too weren't interested. Only old paper currency. We finally gave up dragging all the coins back to America where they sit again in the sock drawer.

Interesting. They look normal to me. I've been to the UK a few times - I must have picked up a kilo of coins, most of them £1. Great variety - on some of the coins the Queen is quite young. I wouldn't want to part with them. But the funniest thing is with the banknotes - I was in Northern Ireland for a while too. It turns out that UK central banks print their own banknotes which are different from the ones I know from England. I was specifically warned though that these notes cannot be exchanged outside the UK

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

That may be intuitive, but Ilford might sell a lot more film in the US than in the UK.

Ilford film has no VAT taxes in the US although there would be additionally shipping charges. Also, Kodak film has British import duties added making it realtively more expensive.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Interesting. They look normal to me. I've been to the UK a few times - I must have picked up a kilo of coins, most of them £1. Great variety - on some of the coins the Queen is quite young. I wouldn't want to part with them. But the funniest thing is with the banknotes - I was in Northern Ireland for a while too. It turns out that UK central banks print their own banknotes which are different from the ones I know from England. I was specifically warned though that these notes cannot be exchanged outside the UK

I think my wife was happier she didn't have to part with them. Her sister passed away and these coins that she inherited are like momentos she keeps in her drawer. Some things have more value than the amount engraved on them says they're worth.

 

[pentaxuser]

Alan in respect of #74 are these coins the pre-decimalisation ones when there were 240 pennies to the pound, 12 pennies in a shilling, 20 shillings in a pound etc ? We changed to decimal coinage in Feb 1971 - hardly recently. We now have some great grandparents who were not alive when we changed

pentaxuser

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Alan in respect of #74 are these coins the pre-decimalisation ones when there were 240 pennies to the pound, 12 pennies in a shilling, 20 shillings in a pound etc ? We changed to decimal coinage in Feb 1971 - hardly recently. We now have some great grandparents who were not alive when we changed

pentaxuser

My wife's sister died about 12 years ago. So they would have been collected during many years prior to that. I don't know anything about the British coin system, so I can't answer your question beyond that.

 

[pentaxuser]

My wife's sister died about 12 years ago. So they would have been collected during many years prior to that. I don't know anything about the British coin system, so I can't answer your question beyond that.

Thanks I asked because I was unable to see enough detail in any of the coins to decide if they were pre-decimal ones or not. Some post decimal coins since 1971 are no longer legal tender; of those the important ones are the old round £1 coins from before 2015 so yes it is possible that over the years prior to 2015 a visitor might have amassed quite a large number of £1 coins as small change making it worthwhile to exchange into current pound notes and then back into $ but which is now no longer possible

pentaxuser

 

[Don_ih]

Any coin that fits in a vending machine here is good enough legal tender - even the "nickles" we used to use as kids that were knocked out of electrical boxes. And I used to be able to put enough "english" on a penny to get it to trip the quarter counter in an arcade machine. I had one on a string once but lost it when the string snapped in the machine....

What are we talking about? Oh, yeah, how expensive Kodak is -- again.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Nope... although I did buy 5 rolls of 120 a few months ago, and I may.... MAY... spring for a 50 sheet box of TMY 4x5, but at almost $6 Cdn per sheet, I don't know...

 

[MattKing]

Ilford film has no VAT taxes in the US although there would be additionally shipping charges. Also, Kodak film has British import duties added making it realtively more expensive.

The US is Harman/Ilford's largest market. The distribution deal they negotiated with a division of Roberts Camera appears to be much more favourable than the self-distribution that Harman does in the UK.
Shipping is in large lots, by boat, to the distributor's warehouse in the US.
And Ilford makes and sells more black and white still film products then Kodak does.
Volumes, and distribution costs have much higher effects on pricing than most people believe.
And by the way, the price difference used to be larger, because there was an even lower priced distributor for US sold Ilford product.
And that distributor went suddenly into bankruptcy - which nearly put Harman out of business!

 

[warden]

And Ilford makes and sells more black and white still film products then Kodak does.

I would not have guessed that, at least on the film side.

 

[MattKing]

I would not have guessed that, at least on the film side.

I'm not sure about the photo-chemical part - but I wouldn't be surprised.
And of course, there is no Kodak branded photographic paper.
I'm not sure how the numbers would compare if Eastman 5222/7222 cine film was included.

 

[Sirius Glass]

When I bought some gifts from Harrods in London on our trip there from America in May, I was told I could fill some form out and then I could get the VAT tax reimbursed at the airport on the way back to the US. Of course, I was told that I would have to pay US import duty if VAT was waived when I got home. The process seemed too opaque. So we skipped it. The few things we bought just wasn't worth it. As it was, America customs never asked us if we were bringing in anything. Years ago, that was one of the questions they always asked on a written form. There was no form. The whole thing is very confusing.

On an amusing side, my wife dragged to England on our vacation from America about two kilograms worth in weight of old British coins. These had been collected by her sister on her many trips over the years to Great Britain. It was coins she had left in her pocket when she returned to America. So when we got to London, it turned out no one wanted them., Apparently their worth had run out when England recently changed their currency. So I called the Bank of England and eventually spoke to the British Mint. There was a nice guy there who listened intently. He asked me to send a photograph of the coins. So, I spread them out on the table and shot and emailed it to him. A couple of days later he said they couldn't do anything with them; that we should check to see if any banks would give us new money for them. They too weren't interested. Only old paper currency. We finally gave up dragging all the coins back to America where they sit again in the sock drawer.

We used to do the dance about the VAT, saved the money and US Customs ignored the purchases and was more concerned whether or not we had agricultural items in the baggage.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I think my wife was happier she didn't have to part with them. Her sister passed away and these coins that she inherited are like momentos she keeps in her drawer. Some things have more value than the amount engraved on them says they're worth.

I have often wondered how many Euros, preEuros [liras, marks, Franks] , UK, and UK £ s d, Crowns, two bob bits, bobs, tanners, thruppences, pennies, halfpennies and farthings there are in the clothing drawers across the US.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I have often wondered how many Euros, preEuros [liras, marks, Franks] , UK, and UK £ s d, Crowns, two bob bits, bobs, tanners, thruppences, pennies, halfpennies and farthings there are in the clothing drawers across the US.

We came home with no Euros or Pounds or change even though we spent five days in Paris and 5 days in London. I took about $500 in American dollars but didn't exchange even $1. We used credit cards exclusively. Pretty pretty amazing.
We did get stuck in one Paris cab who refused to take credit cards and threw us out of the taxi halfway to our destination when he found out we had no Euros.

 

[Sirius Glass]

We came home with no Euros or Pounds or change even though we spent five days in Paris and 5 days in London. I took about $500 in American dollars but didn't exchange even $1. We used credit cards exclusively. Pretty pretty amazing.
We did get stuck in one Paris cab who refused to take credit cards and threw us out of the taxi halfway to our destination when he found out we had no Euros.

So you found another cab and saved half the cab fare plus had an adventure to tell your friends back home. And you thought New York cabbies were tough.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

So you found another cab and saved half the cab fare plus had an adventure to tell your friends back home. And you thought New York cabbies were tough.

But we had to wait a half hour for another cab. What I should have done was offer him American dollars. He probably would have accepted. After all we did have cash just not the right kind.

 

[koraks]

Where did you get thrown out, btw? And how was your stay overall?

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Where did you get thrown out, btw? And how was your stay overall?

Someplace in Paris on the way to see some Monet's. Otherwise the stay was fine. Here're me and my wife in the Louvre hanging out with Mona.

 

[Bronson Dugnutt]

 

[greg zinselmeier]

I don’t think so !!!

 

[Louis Nargi]

There is other film available for less money and just as good Kodak has not learned, digital did them in and now they are to expensive.