Ektar 100 not available in Australia

wotalegend · Aug 4, 2009

I have been informed by Vanbar that Kodak Australia have announced that they have no intention of releasing Ektar 100 in Australia. :confused:

Does anyone have a contact in Kodak who can give an informed answer on the reason for this decision?

Kevin Caulfield · Aug 4, 2009

wotalegend said:
I have been informed by Vanbar that Kodak Australia have announced that they have no intention of releasing Ektar 100 in Australia. :confused:

Does anyone have a contact in Kodak who can give an informed answer on the reason for this decision?

I used to have three contacts in Kodak, but they all lost their jobs when Kodak closed their Coburg facility.

Ektagraphic · Aug 4, 2009

I can send you some if you would like.

Leighgion · Aug 4, 2009

Maybe Kodak is taking an uncharacteristic stand on free speech issues in response to the Australian government's proposed nationwide web filtration?

Ektagraphic · Aug 4, 2009

It is listed on the Kodak Australia Website.

PhotoJim · Aug 4, 2009

It's probably cheaper to mail order ten rolls from the US than it would be to buy it locally, knowing Australian film prices.

wotalegend · Aug 4, 2009

Ektagraphic said:
It is listed on the Kodak Australia Website.

My point exactly. Kodak have it listed on their web site as being available "worldwide", yet I trust the advice from Vanbar who are one of the biggest photographic suppliers left in Australia. I can't see any logical reason to not release Ektar 100 in Australia, unlike Kodachrome which was withdrawn some years ago when they closed their plant here.

I will probably end up getting some from Freestyle or similar, but I do like to support local suppliers whenever I can or they will stop stocking the things we want.

ozphoto · Aug 4, 2009

I thought I saw Ektar 100 at my local store here in Adelaide as I remember thinking "Ahhh, that's the film they've been discussing on APUG."

08 8363 1783 - ask for Toby or Neil and tell them Nanette recommended you give them a call.

David Grenet · Aug 4, 2009

Vision Image Lab has it. $13 or so per 120 roll (they have 35mm but I didn't ask the price).

Alex Bishop-Thorpe · Aug 5, 2009

Yes it is - saw it about 2 hours ago. 35mm and 120. Total Photographic supplies, Kent Town, South Australia - Details here.
Sadly I lost faith in vanbar some time ago when they held onto my credit card details for 2 months before contacting me about my order, after a lot of emails. And so far as price goes, it was something like $10 a roll in 35mm, which was cheaper than the five rolls I ordered by mail earlier this year. Unusually reasonable.

EDIT: ahh, Nanette beat me to it.

nsouto · Aug 5, 2009

Still have to see it anywhere in Sydney...

David Grenet · Aug 5, 2009

nsouto said:
Still have to see it anywhere in Sydney...

Vision image lab is at 10 Danks St Waterloo - See here

Chris Nielsen · Aug 5, 2009

My fav photo place here in NZ has it for $12.50 in 135 thank God!

munz6869 · Aug 5, 2009

Vanbar was like that with Kodak Plus-X too, so now I reluctantly order it from the helpful folks at Freestyle...

Marc

Michael W · Aug 5, 2009

munz6869 said:
Vanbar was like that with Kodak Plus-X too, so now I reluctantly order it from the helpful folks at Freestyle...

Marc

Kodak Australia definitely do not bring Plus-X into Australia, so that's not Vanbar's responsibility. I'm not sure of the situation with Ektar, it is available at some places in Sydney but who knows where they're getting it from.

Mick Fagan · Aug 5, 2009

Whilst Vanbar is an extremely big supplier of most photographic consumables, there are some things they will not stock, seemingly sometimes without reason, other times with reason.

They have some limited supplies of certain B&W film brands, which I believe is because they are the importer of other brands of B&W film, I could be wrong, but it looks that way.

When Spotone left the scene, there was for a time, a dearth of this kind of product around. One day I was chatting to a saleswoman I knew well, when I mentioned that there was a replacement for this product.

This was news to her, so with a minute or two searching the web, we found the replacement product, her reaction was very positive. On a later visit to the store I enquired how she had gotten on regarding the Spotone replacement. She looked glum and mentioned something along the lines of, "the supplier of that product to this country has a like line of B&W film products in their imported range, so no go!"

Basically it can be politics, price, or just too hard.

Mick.

trotkiller · Aug 5, 2009

PhotoJim said:
It's probably cheaper to mail order ten rolls from the US than it would be to buy it locally, knowing Australian film prices.

With the current value of the aussie dollar (80 odd cents to the dollar) this is definitely the case

Silverhead · Aug 5, 2009

Freestyle ships worldwide, and they're definitely the closest Stateside source to Oz. I imagine ordering a brick or two of Ektar from them wouldn't break the bank, shipping-wise. It probably would come out to about the same or maybe a little cheaper than ordering it locally.

Michael W · Aug 5, 2009

Silverhead said:
Freestyle ships worldwide, and they're definitely the closest Stateside source to Oz. I imagine ordering a brick or two of Ektar from them wouldn't break the bank, shipping-wise. It probably would come out to about the same or maybe a little cheaper than ordering it locally.

Not the case, unfortunately. The basic shipping charge starts around $40 no matter what. It only gets economical if you buy a fair amount of stuff. Same with B&H.

Kevin Caulfield · Aug 5, 2009

Yeah, you need to go up to about 4 bricks to make it econnomical.

PhotoJim · Aug 5, 2009

At $40, 10 rolls would cost you $4 US a roll to ship.

Ektar is about $5 US a roll in the US and Canada. Is it less than $9 US in Australia?

andrewkirkby · Aug 5, 2009

I just bought two rolls from Vision Image lab in Sydney.

They are always friendly and the film is there in the fridge.

www.visionimagelab.com.au

You can also order it online from their website.

wotalegend · Aug 6, 2009

I asked the man at Vanbar if Kodak Australia had given a reason for not releasing Ektar 100 here and his response was "Kodak Australia’s only response is that they don’t believe there is enough demand".

Mark Antony · Aug 6, 2009

I know this sounds stupid but why call Vanbar? Why not just call Kodak? The head office is in Melbourne- (03) 8417-8000
They might be able to clear up if/why in isn't imported, they might also like to know that big dealers are saying there is no official import.
Obviously some Australian outlets have it.
Mark

wogster · Aug 7, 2009

Mark Antony said:
I know this sounds stupid but why call Vanbar? Why not just call Kodak? The head office is in Melbourne- (03) 8417-8000
They might be able to clear up if/why in isn't imported, they might also like to know that big dealers are saying there is no official import.
Obviously some Australian outlets have it.
Mark

It wouldn't be the first time a dealer has said a product was not available, then blamed the distributor, when in reality they simply don't want to carry it. Personally I couldn't see Kodak Australia not assigning a SKU as a special order item, then let the dealers decide if the demand was there or not.

Ektar 100 not available in Australia

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