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Film : where you live

LAG

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Aug 8, 2016
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Location
The moon
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Hello everyone!

In the city where I live, there are some Photography shops. Until not so long ago there were only six of them where one could have access to some film. Currently (Jan/2017) only four are the ones that remain, and these are their existences to this day:

Shop nº1 (5 minutes walk)

Kodak ColorPlus 200
Fujifilm Instax


Shop nº2 (20 minutes walk or 14 minutes by bus)

FujiColor 200 . Fujifilm Instax
Kodak ColorPlus 200 . Portra 160 [135 / 120] . TriX [135] . Tmax 400 [135]
Ilford Hp5 [135 / 120] . Fp4 [135 / 120]


Shop nº3 (25 minutes walk, 10 minutes by bus)

FujiColor 200 . Fujifilm Instax
Kodak ColorPlus 200 . Portra 160 [135 / 120] . TriX [135 / 120] . Tmax 100 & 400 [135] . Ultramax 400
Ilford Hp5 [135 / 120] . Fp4 [135 / 120]
AgfaPhoto 200

Shop nº4 (25 minutes walk, 10 minutes by bus)

FujiColor 200
AgfaPhoto 200 [135]

I just wanted to share with you the amount of "physical film" that surrounds me, and I'd like to know what your case is, near your homes.

Thank you all!
 
I live in a small town in Greece and the only film that you can find in some shops is Kodak Color Plus 200. It will be accepted for development by several shops, but you'll be warned that it will be ready in a week or so. The truth is that only one lab processes C41 in the greater area and everyone sends film there.
 
no photography shops at all where I live, Boots the Chemist, part of a large chain, sell film, some color and some Ilford b/w but only stock limited number of rolls, ten of Ilford HP5+/FP4+ in 120 and 35mm, and at twice the price of any mail order supplier,
 
I rarely buy film in Australia. It's just ridiculously expensive. I can get it to here from Freestyle or B&H for less than half the price including shipping. But LAG you are so lucky to have a choice of film retailers so close.
 
Here in Taipei, I can think of 6 places off the top of my head where I can buy film off the street. We have access to Ilford, Kodak, Double-X, Fuji, Rollei and Foma. We have 135, 120, and 4x5. Since there is no import tariff on film and photo paper, it can be cheaper to buy from Fotoimpex....
 
When I lived in Shanghai, there were a few stores that had every (and I mean EVERY) film possible that was still current or discontinued within the past 3-4 years. It was a 45 minute journey to that location but I made it many times.

Today there's one photo store that carries most films and even chemicals about a 20 min walk from my house. Prices are much higher than online so I rarely ever buy from them.
 
30 minute drive from my house is a photo shop that sells film, chemicals, etc... They also develop, which what I mainly use them for (admittedly only 35mm C41, 120 and B&W is mailed out). I usually order film from B&H or a cheap seller on Amazon.
 
I live in a very small town, which has few shops of any sort. But, I can buy film and some supplies in any of three different camera shops that are between 30 minutes and 1 hour's drive.
The prices tend to be high though and the selection is limited, I mostly buy by mail order. Two of the shops have in-house C-41 processing and I use them regularly for that.
 
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Like a lot of places in UK, there are no film outlets that sell it at reasonable prices. I think that most of those that use film - like me do so via mail order. Most of the places I deal with sell it by the '10' pack at reasonable prices. As for processing I do all of my own so have no problem with getting the results.
Most are scanned and printed on an Epson printer, but those that are a little bit better, I enlarge to anything up to 16x12 onto Kodak Paper from a bulk roll via a home made light tight dispenser.
 
i have 2-3 real camera shops in south florida pretty far drive so i typically order everything online
 
Here in Phoenix Metro Tempe Camera carry a rather complete line up Kodak and Ilford film from 35mm to 4X5 and Ilford papers. We have a few other shops that carry a smaller selection of film and paper. As I shoot Foma I order online.
 
I'm lucky... both Freestyle and Samy's Camera are nearby. Between the two I want not.
 
In the mountains of North Carolina, FujiColor 200 in 24 exposure rolls is available at Walmart, a few grocery stores, and several pharmacies. Single use Fuji cameras are also available. Prices vary. Processing is available as a send-out service, but since negatives are not returned, I don't use those services.

I buy most of my film from B&H or Freestyle with an occasional bulk roll of Ultrafine Extreme from their website, or a roll of film added to an Amazon order. FujiColor 200 isn't bad film, but I don't use it often. The online photo developer I use for color charges the same for 24 or 36 exposure rolls, so a 24 exposure roll makes little economic sense.
 
In Germany one can typically drive by bike to get type 135 films (b&w, CN, CR, manufactured by Kodak, Fuji and Harman), as at least one of the two major drugstore chains is represented in each and every small town.
But only one choice per sort, exceopt for CN where you still can get two speeds. The times of cheap house-branded films has gone.

For rollfilm and instant film you must go the the few remaining photo stores. For anything else you must be very lucky to life in one of few big city where such can still be got locally
 
One store that caters to photographers, no processing to speak of there, they have a few chemicals (like one developer, one fixer), photo paper, a tiny selection of film (like TMAX in 120, and 35mm). Another shop is an art supply and bookstore for the local university. They have the Ilford kits that contain a couple of rolls of film and photo paper, but nothing else. Of course, every drugstore, and major shopping center, like Walmart, carries one or two varieties of color negative film which are too expensive for what you get $18 for four 24-exp rolls without processing. I don't know who does C41 anymore. I gave up after places starting trashing the negatives and giving out low-res scans instead. At this point, I think I can do a better job developing myself (not that I've tried with C41 yet). A couple of other stores carry instant film. I know the local Best Buy has the Instax mini format, a fabric and craft store has Instax Wide, and a fashion/clothing/accessory store carries Impossible in sx70 and 600. I feel like I know everywhere in town I can get photography-related stuff, but I hope I can be pleasantly surprised. At this point, I do most of my buying online.
 
I've got a Dodd about 20 min away by car. They have everything and if not they'll order it. In the other direction is a Motophoto that used to have everything but they still do C-41, B&W and E-6. Dodd's E-6 broke down a few months ago. CVS, Wal-greens still run film but now they ship it out and don't return the negs, all you get is a low res CD of the photos.

Biggest loss was when Costco stopped a few years back.
 
Im spoiled, live in NJ, work in New York City, I have B&H and Adorama..

Martin Rickards, Im from Asturias too, Cabrales... what a coincidence..
 
I can walk a couple of blocks to a London Drugs, where they have some Fuji C41 and Ilford. They also develop and print C41 35mm there. I can usually get my develop and print order done same day.

If I drive north through the tunnel, there is a Kerrisdale Cameras with a small amount of film and darkroom materials, and acees to a bit more - they are a chain. They also have a fair selection of used film camera equipment in their various stores.

If I drive south about 50 blocks I am in Point Roberts in the United States, where I have a shipping service that receives parcels for me from all the US retailers who sell and ship.

Back again in Canada, I can head north again about 100 blocks to Vancouver's Beau Photo, who have a fairly wide selection of film and darkroom stuff, along with an ability and willingness to order stuff in. They also have some interesting used film photography equipment.

Going further north again, into the heart of Vancouver, Leo's Cameras has film and darkroom materials, although the prices and age of some of the stock are questionable.

Going west from Beau Photo, Lens and Shutter in its recent incarnation has a little bit of film and darkroom stuff.

Here is a now somewhat out of date photo of Beau Photo's film and darkroom section (it has shrunk a bit, and second hand film cameras have taken over a fair bit of shelf space):

 
Kevin Caulfield said:
I rarely buy film in Australia. It's just ridiculously expensive. I can get it to here from Freestyle or B&H for less than half the price including shipping. But LAG you are so lucky to have a choice of film retailers so close.
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Only one shop in our small town but online there are plenty of options.
Wally, The-Film-Bloke here:
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Also very good value film from Thailand:
films-festival
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We have National Camera (NatCam) here, and they have a decent selection of films, papers, and developers. Wal-Mart also carries fuji films, and drugs stores typically have film of some sort.
 
Even though many great camera stores have closed in southern California, we still have great camera stores but we may have to drive a bit further. We also have FreeStyle, but we lost the Kodak film processing in Hollywood years ago. There are still a number of good custom optical photo finishers around partly because of the film industry.
 
Although I live in a big city there are few photographic retailers that stock the film's I like and the ones that do are too expensive so I buy my film online.
 
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