Decreasing film prices

I have compared the film prices of the bigger european distributors in the last months, and some of them are offering films at significantly lower prices.
With some film brands the price decrease is quite strong, especially AgfaPhoto, Efke and Rollei.
For example the Efke Films (25, 50 and 100), which are completely identical to Adox CHS (only other name, same technology) are now about 30% cheaper! I have never seen these films so cheap.
AgfaPhoto APX 100 is at 1,49€. And Rollei Retro 100 costs only 1,19€ (!) per roll. Incredible.
I think it is time for me to make some bargains, there is still place in the fridge .

Well, regarding Agfaphoto and Rollei Retro: this is simply the rest of the materials Agfa coated in Leverkusen back in 2005. This is not exactly fresh stuff and since it was bought from the insolvency in no way reflects the true costs of manufacturing film.

Efke 25/50/100: I remember that the 100ft roll was 30 DM (yes, this is about 15€!) 10 years ago. The price went up significantly in the following years. After trying a few I gave up due to marketing hype and quality issues (don't know the quality today).

I think you've not looked realistically, they've gone up from the manufacurers, but as the Euro has risen against the $ £ & Yen they look OK in some markets.

Kodak & Ilford have increase their prices, but that's been more than covered in some markets by the exchange rate fluctuations. Expect other compaies prices to rise too.

Ian

Ian Grant said:

I think you've not looked realistically, they've gone up from the manufacurers, but as the Euro has risen against the $ £ & Yen they look OK in some markets.

Kodak & Ilford have increase their prices, but that's been more than covered in some markets by the exchange rate fluctuations. Expect other compaies prices to rise too.

Ian

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Well, I have looked primarily at distributors on the continent (mainly France, Austria, Germany), so prices are in Euro. And the prices for some films are very low. Not only for some Efke and Rollei films (Rollei ATP, Pan 25 and Ortho 25 have lower prices than a year ago as well), some Fuji films are also very cheap, Acros 100 for about 3€ e.g.
Some distributors have lowered the prices for Ilford Delta 100 from 4,50€ to 4€.
I don't know whether this is a manufacturer, or a distributer or an exchange rate issue. Probably many factors come together. But prices at some distributors I regularly look at are lower now than in the last year.

These are the exceptions that "prove" (test, try) the rule.

I remember back in '06 there was a local pharmacy that went out of business. One of my friends stopped by the studio, and told me that everything was 75% off, including film.

I went down and bought every single roll of film there at around 50¢ a piece.

ath said:

Well, regarding Agfaphoto and Rollei Retro: this is simply the rest of the materials Agfa coated in Leverkusen back in 2005. This is not exactly fresh stuff and since it was bought from the insolvency in no way reflects the true costs of manufacturing film.

Efke 25/50/100: I remember that the 100ft roll was 30 DM (yes, this is about 15€!) 10 years ago. The price went up significantly in the following years. After trying a few I gave up due to marketing hype and quality issues (don't know the quality today).

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Hello Andreas,

concerning AgfaPhoto and Rollei Retro you are generally right.
But 1,49€ or 1,19€ for a 36Exp. 135 film is not so far away from the current production costs.
Look at Arista Premium (Kodak Tri-X and Plus-X): 1,99$ for 36Exp. 135 film. That is about 1,56€. Arista LegacyPro (Fuji) is only bit more expensive.
That is only a bit more than the Agfa APX prices.
So Kodak, Fuji and Freestyle are able to make profit with films in this price range. From fresh production.

During the last months there were some official statements and interviews from Kodak concerning their successful restructuring efforts. They have invested in cost reducing technology and can now make much smaller batches due to current demand at profitable prices. They said that all of their film products are profitable.
I think Fuji has done similar investing in cost reduction. At least their Neopan films are cheaper than some years ago. I remember paying 4,50 € for Acros 100 in 2004. Now I pay only 3,07€.

Concerning the falling prices for Efke films (at least in Europe), that is quite simple: It is an advertising initiative from Fotokemika (Efke). They want to increase their market share, and now offer more attractive prices than before (there were official statements from Efke distributors concerning this topic). That is the reason why the original Efke films are now cheaper than the identical Adox CHS films.

Regards, Jana

JanaM said:

...............During the last months there were some official statements and interviews from Kodak concerning their successful restructuring efforts. They have invested in cost reducing technology and can now make much smaller batches due to current demand at profitable prices. They said that all of their film products are profitable.
I think Fuji has done similar investing in cost reduction. At least their Neopan films are cheaper than some years ago. I remember paying 4,50 € for Acros 100 in 2004. Now I pay only 3,07€.
Regards, Jana

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This is incrediblyy good news. That the manufacturers have been able to adjust to the "Digi Tsunami" certainly reduces my fears for the future. Unless companies can sell profitably they won't sell at all - and that's fair enough.

Thanks for that - I'm a happy camper today! (But today only. Understand?)

Bob H