Confirmed: Ilford Postcard Paper

pentaxuser · Feb 14, 2006

simulatordan said:
Hello Andy K,

I have been trying to track down Ilford Postcard Paper for the last couple of months. I spoke to Paul at the Imaging Warehouse - www.navadarkroom.com some time ago; they are stocking the Postcard paper but only in pearl at the moment: the price is £19.39 for 100 sheets. However it is not on the website currently because of pressure getting ready for the Focus show.
If you phone 01926 - 403090, select option 1 ( presales advice/ordering ) you can order over the phone. Standard postage is £4.95 so why not order some Ilford warmtone or cooltone developer at the same time at £ 7.95 for 1 Ltr. These prices include a 10% discount so can't be bad.
Hope this is useful. Cheers Daniel

Good news. Thanks. Not a bad price either. Most people will know Nova anyway but just in case, be aware it is novadarkroom. Anyone clicking navadarkroom will fail. I hope you don't me pointing this out. I'd hate anyone to give up if they click on nava to browse what is a very good selection of goods.

Pentaxuser

simulatordan · Feb 14, 2006

Hello pentaxuser,

No I don't mind at all; fill you boots as they say. hope I haven't sent too many on a wild goose chase. The more that buy the merrier.

cheers. Daniel ( another pentax user )

leeturner · Feb 15, 2006

Andy K said:
I do the same, place the card on a hard surface.

Still waiting for the paper to appear anywhere in Britain though...

Andy, I emailed Nova yesterday and they have some on the shelf. Retail price, excluding delivery, is £22.50 inc. VAT for a 100 sheet box.

Andy K · Feb 15, 2006

£22.50!!!! I can get 100 sheets of 5x7 for £7.00 less. A packet of labels to stiffen then will only be a couple of quid too. Are prices in the rest of the world going to be as high?
In fact I can also get 100 sheets of 8x10 for £2.50 less.

leeturner · Feb 15, 2006

Andy K said:
£22.50!!!! I can get 100 sheets of 5x7 for £7.00 less. A packet of labels to stiffen then will only be a couple of quid too. Are prices in the rest of the world going to be as high?
In fact I can also get 100 sheets of 8x10 for £2.50 less.

That was my reaction as well. I just paid £20 for a box a 10x8 which included 3 films. I was wondering what the retail price is in the USA as Simon said that a large order had been placed from there? Do Ilford have a RRP or is it just up to the individual retailer? I'll email Silverprint and see what their prices are like.

FrankB · Feb 15, 2006

Hmm... Nova's website price for 7x5 x100 MGIV RC is £17.50

Taking this price, adding in the cost of additional labels, a bit for the convenience factor and marking up for the novelty factor of a new (or reincarnated) product and I can sort of see where they're coming from. Of course they do kind of shoot themselves in the foot when they're knocking out boxes of 8x10 x100 MGIV RC at £20 a pop...

If we base our price expectations for a previously unavailable product on the discounted prices of products that have been around since God was a boy then, let's face it - we're going to be disappointed!

Silverprint are excellent for specialist items, but tend not to be the cheapest for most materials. 7x5 is currently £13.25 on their site... ...but it's marked down from about £19 so I'd expect their postcard stock to be even more than Nova's. It'll be interesting to see whether Calumet or Jessops are planning to have any available for order (although the pair of them get more like PC World everyday...! )

Andy, where did you get your 7x5 from?

Andy K · Feb 15, 2006

The price I quoted for 5x7 was Jessops price (because that's the last place I bought some), so I know it can be found cheaper, the 8x10 was Silverprint's price.

FrankB · Feb 15, 2006

If Jessops and/or Calumet decide to stock it, then we may see it at lower prices (probably once a decent interval from the launch has passed - anything new is always at a premium). If it stays with the specialist suppliers only, then it'll probably stay at its current price point.

'course if nobody buys it then it'll stay at the specialist suppliers and probably eventually get phased out again!

Personally, I'll almost certainly buy a box (especially if it's a Pearl finish!) - It'll placate some relatives who grumble that:

a) I never send them postcards
b) They never see any of my prints

leeturner · Feb 15, 2006

The email I received from Steve at Nova was for gloss finish. If you are buying something else from Nova then postage is effectively free as they charge £4.95 for one item or several items.

FrankB · Feb 15, 2006

I like pearl better, but I can live with gloss.

Thanks Lee!

Andy K · Feb 15, 2006

I prefer pearl too, but sometimes you take what you can get. Last time I was in Jessops they only had glossy and I needed paper!

Now I also have a box of pearl 5x7 in the fridge (same price).

leeturner · Feb 15, 2006

The way it's going I'll have to make test prints on 8x10 and final prints on postcard stock.

EDIT ----

Looking through Nova's prices the 8x10 is well cheap compared to other paper sizes. Even the 8 1/2x 6 1/2 is £27.50.

If I'd have wanted a cheap hobby I'd have taken up golf

Steve Roberts · Feb 15, 2006

Andy K said:
£22.50!!!! I can get 100 sheets of 5x7 for £7.00 less. A packet of labels to stiffen then will only be a couple of quid too. Are prices in the rest of the world going to be as high?
In fact I can also get 100 sheets of 8x10 for £2.50 less.

Perhaps each card comes pre-stamped for the Royal Mail!! ;-))

Steve

mikeg · Feb 15, 2006

Andy K said:
£22.50!!!! I can get 100 sheets of 5x7 for £7.00 less. A packet of labels to stiffen then will only be a couple of quid too. Are prices in the rest of the world going to be as high?
In fact I can also get 100 sheets of 8x10 for £2.50 less.

£22.50 does sound a bit steep but remember that it is Portfolio stock which is thicker than normal MGIV RC.

Many of us on the postcard exchange have found that the pearl surface seems to survive the journey through the postal system much better than the gloss surface. For some reason glossy prints often have small bits of the emulsion worn off.

Mike

simulatordan · Feb 15, 2006

Hello everybody,
When I posted the details of www.novadarkroom.com prices for "postcard" paper yesterday I did so within minutes of talking to Paul at their sales dept. They are going to stock both Pearl and Gloss finish. This "postcard" is multigrade portfolio RC paper which is postcard printed on the back, not the 6 x 4 standard MGvcRC which can be bought almost anywhere for £8.00p. I was quoted £19.49 which is the price they sell at to all comers and includes a 10% discount; until now this discount was give only to 'ERIC' card holders ( these have from yesterday been discontinued ).

I for one don't see the point in buying cheaper paper + card to stiffen + glue/paste and then spending my time glueing and trimming. We did after all encourage Ilford to re-introduce this paper let's at least have the grace to use it.

The £4.95 postage is a fixed fee whether you buy 1 or 10 boxes, so buy in bulk and save. Long live Ilford

Cheers Daniel

Andy K · Feb 15, 2006

I already have some of the old postcard paper, printed on the back etc. I still think £22.50 is a bit steep. I will buy it, but at that price I will not buy it often.

leeturner · Feb 15, 2006

simulatordan said:
I was quoted £19.49 which is the price they sell at to all comers and includes a 10% discount; until now this discount was give only to 'ERIC' card holders ( these have from yesterday been discontinued ).

Cheers Daniel

Glad to see the guys at Nova talking to each other. My email from Steve was received at 16:05 yesterday and he was quoting me £22.50!

Just a minute. Don't tell me we have to pay more cause we're oop north

simulatordan · Feb 15, 2006

Hello Leeturner,

You might think its tough in t' north, but done here in west Cornwall everything happens 'drekly' which is a bit like manjana but without the urgency.

regards Daniel

kraker · Feb 15, 2006

simulatordan said:
I for one don't see the point in buying cheaper paper + card to stiffen + glue/paste and then spending my time glueing and trimming.

Exactly. Let me stick to the photography, not glueing.

simulatordan said:
We did after all encourage Ilford to re-introduce this paper let's at least have the grace to use it.

Hear, hear. You are absolutely right. I'm going to ask my local photo store tomorrow if they can order a few packs! Don't complain about the price, at least Ilford listens to their customers. They are committed, so we should be committed too.

pentaxuser · Feb 15, 2006

As some have said, this paper(Portfolio) is much heavier weight than Multigrade RC. The real comparison is between Postcard at £19.49 with the postcard backing and obtaining a normal pack of Portfolio at say 8 x 10 and cutting it to 6 x 4 and pasting a postcard backing to it.

There are a number of potential stockists of Ilford paper. If it turns out we are paying over the odds then market forces will ensure that if there is real demand for it the other stockists will get into the market and prices should reduce.

However I wouldn't hold my breath as this may always be a specialist paper and if so we need to accept that stocking it, will remain the province of people like Nova who need to make it worth their while.

Pentaxuser

kraker · Feb 16, 2006

kraker said:
I'm going to ask my local photo store tomorrow if they can order a few packs!

Tomorrow is now today; of course, I can (and will) describe to them which re-introduced product I'm looking for, but some product or ordering number/code might be easier for them to handle. Simon or any other APUGer, can you help me with that?

leeturner · Feb 16, 2006

kraker said:
Tomorrow is now today; of course, I can (and will) describe to them which re-introduced product I'm looking for, but some product or ordering number/code might be easier for them to handle. Simon or any other APUGer, can you help me with that?

The reference number that Nova gave me is - code AI1834846. That's probably an internal code but at least they'll know what you want. If you're ordering a few boxes then the postage charge remains at £4.95 so it's minimal per box.

kraker · Feb 16, 2006

leeturner said:
The reference number that Nova gave me is - code AI1834846. That's probably an internal code but at least they'll know what you want. If you're ordering a few boxes then the postage charge remains at £4.95 so it's minimal per box.

Thanks, Lee, I might order from Nova, but I'll first try my local shop. They too have my support ;-)

leeturner · Feb 16, 2006

kraker said:
Thanks, Lee, I might order from Nova, but I'll first try my local shop. They too have my support ;-)

I'd like to do the same but I don't have a local shop .
Coupled with the fact that all the ones within half an hour are Jessops stores. I bought the last bottles of film dev and fixer in stock at Jessops in Halifax! The sales guy said to me "We've only got two film cameras on display and they're both crap".

Andy K · Feb 16, 2006

Jessops is not much different to PC World these days. They still have film in a cabinet at the back of the shop, and half a dozen packets of paper and some chems on two small shelves, but everything else they sell can be found in PC World or Curries. I reckon Jessops will be out of business within five years or so.

Confirmed: Ilford Postcard Paper

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