Film : where you live

[AgX]

But you in the UK still have the cheap CN films available as far as I know, which are gone here.

 

[NJH]

Poundland and Boots pretty much the only high street places to buy film. Many of the well known UK photographic chains do stock film but it will be a tiny little bit behind the counter, Castle Cameras for example down in Bournemouth one of the cheapest places to buy 120 Provia 100f. I am lucky, major analog suppliers Firtstcall and Silverprint are both an easy drive, the later about 40 minutes in the car and they have a proper counter or shop type feel in their unit. I do some mail order but I prefer to build a list and do a big buy from the places I can get to.

One of the odd things about living in the country is you get used to and just accept the need to drive places, but OTOH from where I am an hour or less gets me to pretty much anything I need or could want.

 

[BMbikerider]

Also living in UK as the previous poster, I can no longer buy what I need locally at what I consider to be reasonable prices. There are about 5 or 6 outlets country wide in UK that deal with virtually nothing else except dark room items and keep a careful look out at their prices and buy what I need in plenty of time before I run out. I have to bear the cost of getting them to where I live but it is usually a next day service.

One company, AG, who are based in Birmingham, keeps just about everything anyone in the mainstream can want. Papers, film, chemicals, equipment, and all other sundries needed in the darkroom, and they usually get my trade. I also buy bulk RA4 Kodak paper from them at a rediculously cheap price. An 88 metre roll of 12" wide paper is only just over £85.These rolls are intended for automated machines but they are happy to sell one to me.

That sounds a lot but when you consider that I can cut over 210 sheets of 12x16 from that one roll that amounts to about 4 boxes of 50 and that would set me back by nearly £175.

I have made a light tight dispenser for the paper and it is working out just fine.

 

[Johnkpap]

Here in sunny Adelaide Australia there were about 8 Photography shops, now there are only two who stock any film they are Total Photo and Hutt Street Photographicsuntil about 2 years ago you could still buy Kodak Gold 400 at the local supermarket. I have a Freezer full of film that I have stockpiled, if I run out of anything important I buy it online in bulk.

I also try to buy all my chem in powder form so I don't pay for the shipping of water !!!

The price of chem/paper ect has gone through the roof here as only Total Photo has any real stock of any darkroom supplies.

I shouldn't complain too much 2 years ago I was in London and the photo shops there charge 10 Quid for a roll of FP4 !!!! at the time that was about $20 AUD the prices haven't got there here yet

Johnkpap

 

[BMbikerider]

Again pretty well much the same here in UK. I live close to Newcastle upon Tyne and if I think back only 10 years there were 5 photographic shops now there is only one and that is on the north side of the city, well out of the centre and not easy to get to directly. Really you cannot blame them because with the advent of Digital, almost any electrical shop could sell cameras with a couple more selling printers. That coupled with the internet and on line shopping (ARGHHH!) this has killed most of the smaller specialised shops.

Mind you, when the original Jessops bought out most of the opposition small shops then went bust taking them with them, we lost more than Jessops, we lost a whole family of specialists and the expertise that came with them.

 

[Chrismat]

WalMart is the only place around here that I can think of that sells film, but only Fuji 200 35mm and some Instax. I shoot a lot of medium format, and even during film's heyday buying medium format film locally was fairly expensive so I always ordered from B&H or Adorama.

 

[locutus]

We have a shop here in Helsinki that has a pretty wide selection of film and also chemistry, the prices are however steep.

Steep enough that i just buy online abroad in bulk purchases every couple of months instead.

 

[ME Super]

I live in a small town of about 1,000 people. There's no place in town to buy film, we have very few stores. Within a 20 minute drive I can be in 2 different towns with populations of between 15,000 and 35,000. The local Wal-Marts carry Fuji Superia in 200 and 400 varieties (35mm) and Instax mini. Walgreens carries Fuji Superia in 200 and 400 varieties, plus store brand in the same speeds, all in 35mm.

Within a 30 minute drive I can be in two different cities of 100,000 each. One is a wasteland, with no camera stores at all (you can go to the electronics stores and buy those other kinds of cameras), the other has a single camera store that carries next to no film and has astronomical prices.

I work an hour away in the capital city, Springfield. About 7 miles down the freeway from where I work is a solitary camera shop in a strip mall. They typically carry:

• Kodak 400 (35mm)
• Some Fuji APS film
• Kodak Portra 160 and 400 (35mm/120)
• Kodak T-Max 100 and 400 (35mm/120)
• Ilford FP4+ (35mm, not sure about 120)
• Ilford HP5+ (35mm/120)
• Ilford Delta 100, 400, and 3200 (35mm)
• AgfaPhoto Precisa CT 100 (35mm)
  
• Provia 100F (35mm/120)

I mainly shoot slide film, and their film is about 50% more expensive than mail order, so I usually do mail order. The occasional roll of B&W or CN film will come from this camera store, although I'm really liking the Portra 800 in 120 for available light photography (but that's mail order).

They have a lab at their main store in St. Louis, and can handle E-6, C-41, and B&W. About the only thing they can't do is push/pull C-41 films, they're not set up for that but they can push/pull E-6 and B&W. Oh, and I actually get negatives back from them (when I shoot negatives), unlike the big box stores that only give you back a CD and prints.

 

[destroya]

was at a friends who lives in portland OR. they have many great shops that sell film, but Pro Photo supply was great. huge selection of both 35mm 120 and 4x5. and most of the 120 film was prices the same or lower than B&H. so gonna make sure I stock up next time im there.

 

[benjiboy]

I got sick of the shop staff sniggering behind their hands and being looked at as if I was a dangerous lunatic when I asked for brands and names of films they had obviously never heard of, even my local professional dealer only has very few films in stock because they say their customers don't use film any more and they don't want to be stuck with a perishable product they won't sell, so I buy online.

 

[fdonadio]

Small town here, around 100k population...

Only one photo store that I know of, sells Kodak Gold 200, Fuji Superia X-Tra 400 and Instax.

They offer C-41 processing (minilab), but no optical printing. Since they do it in-house, you get your negatives.

For everything else, gotta drive 35 miles to São Paulo, though prices are outrageous! Better to wait 15 days for delivery buying from B&H or Freestyle.

 

[winger]

Here in western PA, I don't have any stores close by that carry 120, 4x5, chemicals, or paper. There's one store in Pittsburgh, about an hour away, that has some stuff, but not at good prices or selection. I've been buying from Freestyle and others since moving here. When I lived in MA, I had Newtonville Camera fairly close by - everything I needed.

 

[Jeff Bradford]

When I lived in Los Angeles, Freestyle was walking distance. Now I'm in South Bend, Indiana where we are blessed to have Gene's Camera, a real camera store with film, processing, and used gear. They have another branch in Mishawaka where I work.

 

[Halford]

I live in a very small town in the Netherlands where the camera store on the corner carries a small but reasonable selection of 35mm and 120 BW & C41 films -- basically Ilford FP4+ & HP5&, and Fuji Superia in store, but they also sell the Kodak pro films and Fuji and Agfaphoto-branded reversal films through their website. I have successfully bought Portra 800 for them, which impressed me. Trying to order Superia 800 was unsuccessful but I think that had to do with it being on back-order countrywide.

No sheet film though (AFAIK I'm the only LF photog in town -- I've never seen another one and always attract lots of comments and conversations when I'm out and about with the 4x5) -- and the roll film prices are high but when I only want one or two rolls of something it's still a good option, and encourages them to keep stocking it.

[Edit: I have been gently corrected about the correct use of the Agfaphoto brand for the Belgian films]

 

[Cropline]

Very little in my area. What's available is minimal, usually 400 or 800 ISO and most is no name boxed. There is some Fuji. Again, same ISO and some Instax. B & H is where film is at for me.