Do you feel like a film hermit?

[Colin Graham]

You wanted a tale and now you'll get one
I live in a 3rd largest city in Russia, population-wise (1,4mln). It's named Novosibirsk. The fact is, the film is almost 99% dead here and all business is digital. You can buy any of the latest top dSLR's and accessories for them, but you can't, for example, buy a single roll of slide film - it's simply not sold and not comercially processed here. Next, 120 format is completely absent and unheard of. There's just one small firm that can process C41 120 films - provided you have them, because 120 film is not sold here I'm not even talking about larger formats. In fact, there's no professional film lab in the whole 1.4 million city!

The problem with film in Russia is that almost everything is in Moscow. But, unlike your story about Crete/Greece, Moscow is 3000km from me and it takes 2 complete days just to get there by train or 4 hours by flight (in one direction). Both ways will cost you about half of your 'normal' average salary (for many, many people it would be even bigger part of their salaries).

Mail orders are also hard, there's just one store that sells chemicals over internet and Russian post also leaves much to be desired. I don't know of any e-shops that will send you film.

So, to sum it up, messing with film in parts of Russia that are far from Moscow is complete insanity nowadays. Yes, I am insane

Wow, you have my total respect and admiration. I'll pause before I do any bitching about postal or ups...for awhile anyway :->

 

[Steve Smith]

Oh, I didn't know. But you're still driving in the wrong side

We drive on the right side.... the left!


Steve.

 

[Roger Hicks]

We drive on the right side.... the left!


Steve.

This one always intrigues me. Even Frenchmen and Americans get onto a horse (or indeed a motorcycle) from the right side. In those countries that drive on the proper side of the road (including India, don't forget) you can do this from the kerb. People who drive on the wrong side of the road have to go out into the street. Now, who thought this one through...?

Cheers,

R.

 

[Struan Gray]

Blame the frenchies:

http://users.pandora.be/worldstandards/driving on the left.htm

I have also seen arguments that canal and river traffic and the need to keep steering oars (which are usually on the starboard side, for right handed helmsmen) out in the stream away from the banks, led to a left hand rule for rivers. Except that a horse or man-drawn barge would require a keep right rule on the towpath, and there is the awkward fact that river traffic almost always keeps right, all over the world.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Blame the frenchies:

http://users.pandora.be/worldstandards/driving on the left.htm

I have also seen arguments that canal and river traffic and the need to keep steering oars (which are usually on the starboard side, for right handed helmsmen) out in the stream away from the banks, led to a left hand rule for rivers. Except that a horse or man-drawn barge would require a keep right rule on the towpath, and there is the awkward fact that river traffic almost always keeps right, all over the world.

Dear Struan,

Next time I'm pullng a barge down the road with a horse on the sidewalk, I'll remember that...

Cheers,

R.

 

[Steve Smith]

This one always intrigues me. Even Frenchmen and Americans get onto a horse (or indeed a motorcycle) from the right side. In those countries that drive on the proper side of the road (including India, don't forget) you can do this from the kerb. People who drive on the wrong side of the road have to go out into the street. Now, who thought this one through...?

Cheers,

R.

I read somewhere that it pre-dates driving and was about being in the correct place to defend yourself with your sword when walking along a path. i.e. with your sword hanging by your left side, you pull it from it's holder with your right hand.
If you were walking along the left of the path then you can only be attacked by someone to your right - where your sword is!

Steve.

 

[Struan Gray]

Next time I'm pullng a barge down the road with a horse on the sidewalk, I'll remember that...

You'll go faster if you get the horse to help.

As for hermitage. I'm a hermit because I am reluctant to pay the local prices - which for MF and LF are geared to the price-insensitive commercial photographers. We have a good postal service, so it's no big deal for me to order film from the USA and to send it for processing in the UK. I can't say I get any tinge of regret when I hit the 'checkout' button.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I read somewhere that it pre-dates driving and was about being in the correct place to defend yourself with your sword when walking along a path. i.e. with your sword hanging by your left side, you pull it from it's holder with your right hand.
If you were walking along the left of the path then you can only be attacked by someone to your right - where your sword is!

Steve.

Dear Steve,

Yeah, I've heard that one too, and it strikes me as a good story but probably not true. Under the ancien régime in France and as far as I am aware, everywhere else, 'right of way' was with the rich -- who would seldom meet on the road. Everyone else got out of their way. There's something about bullock carts, too, but I have yet to discover whether it's true or a load of bullocks.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Roger Hicks]

You'll go faster if you get the horse to help.

As for hermitage. I'm a hermit because I am reluctant to pay the local prices - which for MF and LF are geared to the price-insensitive commercial photographers. We have a good postal service, so it's no big deal for me to order film from the USA and to send it for processing in the UK. I can't say I get any tinge of regret when I hit the 'checkout' button.

Oh, bugger! I thought I was supposed to pull the barge and the horse!

I fully take your point about local dealers. A story:

A friend of mine who lives maybe three doors from her nearest camera store (she used to run the restaurant on the ground floor of her house) went in to buy some 8x10 glossy Multigrade IV. The owner said, "It will take at least 10 days because I have to put in a minimum order, and I haven't got one yet."

For £10 less, including next-day delivery, she could buy it by mail order. Guess which she chose?

Sure, support your local dealer -- but not when you get lousy prices AND lousy service!

Cheers,

R.

 

[Struan Gray]

To be fair, local dealers are at the mercy of the distributors. In small markets that can be hell.

Our local camera shop is very good. Still staffed by people who know about photography, but largely selling digicams and printing services these days. They have always been helpful and flexible as I have moved away from the average demographic (putting a roll or two of 120 through their processors, because they can, even if they don't normally, and I needed it fast). In return I send people there who want or need service rather than the absolute lowest prices. They can't compete in any way for my occasional need for a box of 4x5 at short notice, or a MF rear lens cover, or negative sheets that are truly archival: the distributor won't let them have it at any price that makes sense.

 

[BrianShaw]

This one always intrigues me. Even Frenchmen and Americans get onto a horse (or indeed a motorcycle) from the right side.

Really?? I stopped riding motorcycles about two decades ago, but I ALWAYS mounted it from the left side; same with bicycles. I only rode a horse once and I recall mounting the saddle from the left. Now I have a dilemna... and strong sense of cognitive dissonance: am I really an American, or am I living in the shadow of my Scottish ancestry?

p.s. I approach my tripod-mounted camera from the left, too!

 

[Roger Hicks]

Really?? I stopped riding motorcycles about two decades ago, but I ALWAYS mounted it from the left side; same with bicycles. I only rode a horse once and I recall mounting the saddle from the left. Now I have a dilemna... and strong sense of cognitive dissonance: am I really an American, or am I living in the shadow of my Scottish ancestry?

p.s. I approach my tripod-mounted camera from the left, too!

Sorry. Duh. It's ON your right, so you mounr FROM the left. My fault. Brain fade.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Roger Hicks]

To be fair, local dealers are at the mercy of the distributors. In small markets that can be hell.

Very true -- but there comes a point where supporting them no longer makes sense, as they cannot do ANYTHING for you (even if they can be bothered).

I don't know if that shop is still in business, but the problem was that there were far too many small photo shops in a very small area: as I recall, four or five in Canterbury (including not one but two Jessopses), two in Margate (20 km away), one in Ramsgate (3 km from Margate), another in Faversham (maybe 10 km from Canterbury) and more. That's not counting the consumer electronics shops like Dixons who sold digicams. Realistically, there was only business for one decent camera store (which indeed I patronized to the tune of a few hundred pounds a year).

Cheers,

R.

 

[jstraw]

Really?? I stopped riding motorcycles about two decades ago, but I ALWAYS mounted it from the left side; same with bicycles. I only rode a horse once and I recall mounting the saddle from the left. Now I have a dilemna... and strong sense of cognitive dissonance: am I really an American, or am I living in the shadow of my Scottish ancestry?

p.s. I approach my tripod-mounted camera from the left, too!

Bicycles and motorcycles without centerstands have kickstands on the left side. Of course you mount them from the left, they're parked leaning to the left. I was also taught to mount a horse on the left.

 

[PatTrent]

I was also taught to mount a horse on the left.

Me, too. Maybe that's why I took so many "unplanned flights" through the air?

 

[Bob F.]

I suspect one tends to mount assorted transportation devices from the left because most people are right hand/footed and it is thus easier to cock your right leg over than it is the left and keep your balance. Alternately, going back in history far enough, if you are wearing a sword, it will dangle down out of the way as you mount your horse instead of being flung about as your leg comes over or getting stuck behind you - very undignified!

As for postage to continental Europe, even the Post Office gets in on that act. It costs 44p to pop a letter across the North Sea to The Netherlands or elsewhere in Europe, but only 6p more to send one all the way to New Zealand...

Cheers, Bob.

 

[Mick Fagan]

The reason vehicles drive on the right hand side of the road is because of the French.

Virtually all horse drawn vehicles, were driven with the driver on the R/H side. The reason was simple, the brake was on the right side as the strongest arm (generally) is the right arm, except for those unfortunate enough to be left handed.

Prior to about 1903 all vehicles, if they weren't centrally steered, were steered from the right side of the vehicle body.

In 1902 (I think) the first international automobile race was held in France, I cannot remember who won, but it was basically between the French, Germans and the English.

The next year, the French announced about 2 weeks before the race, that the direction of the race was to be reversed, from a clockwise direction around the oval shaped circuit, to anti-clockwise.

Accordingly, the French had re-located their driving position to the left side of the vehicle so that the driver was on the inside of the turn of the track. The French won the race with the Germans on their heels and the English a poor third.

The Germans, who were mainly driving the 1902 Benz racing auto, requested the company to alter the design of the 1901-1902 auto to have a left seated driver. This Benz did in their 1903 racing auto, which was on display the last time I visited the Daimler-Benz museum in Cannstatt near Stuttgart.

Henry Ford produced right hand drive vehicles, as did other manufacturers in the USA up until just under a century ago. The Swiss French racing driver, Louis Chevrolet, was a driving force in changing the side that the steering wheel was on in the North Americas. Louis Chevrolet produced a pilot car in 1911 which was big, powerful and left hand drive. In 1912 this car hit the streets and it became a symbol of prestige and people wanted it, but generally couldn't afford it. So they looked at lesser automobiles, but wanted left hand drive like the Chevrolet.

Henry Ford's Fordmobile in 1903, which was renamed the Model-A, was a right hand drive vehicle. Basically that was the first successful vehicle Ford manufactured. During the reign of the later Model-T automobile, Henry Ford declared that from now on all of our vehicles will be left hand drive.

As in interesting aside, in 1923 there were 1,817,891 Model-T Ford automobiles sold. This is a single model and make record that still stands to this day.

Mick.

 

[arigram]

*yawn*
and I thought this thread would be interesting and informative...
atleast there was the report from iliks from the depths of Siberia...

Good luck to all the analog photographers that struggle for their material, I hope you don't lose hope.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

*yawn*
and I thought this thread would be interesting and informative...
atleast there was the report from iliks from the depths of Siberia...

Good luck to all the analog photographers that struggle for their material, I hope you don't lose hope.

What, you did not expect spoilt north american and brits to ignore totally your situation? That's not even news, you know.

 

[ADOX Fotoimpex]

Mail orders are also hard, there's just one store that sells chemicals over internet and Russian post also leaves much to be desired. I don't know of any e-shops that will send you film.

We can ship to everywhere in Russia for 25 EUR / 1 KG to about 40 EUR / 31 KG

I don´t know if this helps you.

Regards,

Mirko

FOTOIMPEX Berlin

 

[ooze]

For Mirko (Fotoimpex)

Hi Mirko,

Although I can find the most important stuff locally, there have been times when I thought about ordering some items from Fotoimpex. But then I start to imagine a customs officer checking the package and opening paper boxes etc.

Do you have any feedback regarding how your packages are treated at non-EU customs? Do you label packages that contain light-sensitive material as such? How about chemicals?

Vielen Dank!
omar

 

[arigram]

Mirko of Fotoimpex was exactly the kind of reason I started this thread, so analog photographers with problems getting their material would find a solution.
Now Iliks and Omar may find an answer.
Any more needing help?

 

[ADOX Fotoimpex]

Customs

sofar we had not a single severe problem and we ship to anywhere in the world using Deutsche Post (DHL).

We also give the customs officials our telephone number and web-address.
Usually when they see that there is a real company they don´t cause any problem.
We never had a box of film opened by customs in business to consumer sales.
All parcels are labeled: DO NOT XRAY, Light and heat sensitive materials inside.

Just this week we had one parcel returned which was intended for Canada where DHL rang us and excused themselves that a box was xrayed by mistake even though clearly labeled.
This is now in transfer back to us and we already sent a new shippment to the customer.
As far as chemicals are concerned we stick to the law and only include per carton the amount allowed. Normaly if you order a photographers mix of products there are no issues. In Air freight different laws apply than in passenger transfer. Sure, we cannot ship explosives like Protectan or canned air but there are ways around these products like camel hair brushes or glas marbels.

We also never had a lost parcel which was eventually not replaced.

Ofcourse every hundred shippments or so there are small problems if you sell worldwide but I would not say there are fundamental problems.
The girls do a great job on the phone and talk to DHL almost everyday trying to sort out any issues for our customers.

Regards,

Mirko

 

[ajuk]

I herd Emulsion magazine is going to be featured in Have I Got News For You!

 

[iliks]

We can ship to everywhere in Russia for 25 EUR / 1 KG to about 40 EUR / 31 KG

Thanks, Mirko! I'll add this to the list of my options.