Fuji are going to discontinue some peel apart B & W instant films

[jun]

Hello everyone,
According to National Photo (Japanese Pro Shop), Fujifilm has announced to discontinue manufacturing and sales of the following peel apart instant B&W films:
FP-100B, FP-100B (20 packs), FP-100B 4×5, FP-100B 4×5 (20 packs)、FP-400B, FP-400B (20 packs), FP-500B 4×5, FP-500B 4×5 (20 packs)
Products above are estimated to last till March to June 2010.

Reference:
http://www.nationalphoto.co.jp/1F/fuji_news_02.htm#20090723
http://www.nationalphoto.co.jp/1F/051213_discon.htm
(Sorry, Japanese only)

NOTE 1: OF COURSE THIS NEWS IS AIMED FOR JAPANESE MARKET ONLY, but then, the question is whether they will keep selling subject film such as FP-100B in overseas and discontinues to selling it in the homeland.
I DON’T SEE THIS DISCONTINUATION NOTICE IN FUJI’S WEB SITE YET.
MAY BE THEY ARE SAYING THAT THE SUBJECT FILM WITH “JAPANESE PACKAGING” ARE DISCONTINUED.
BUT NEED TO WATCH OUT FOR A WHILE.

Note 2: Production of FP-3000B, FP-3000B 4X5, FP-100C, FP-100C 4X5 are continued.
Some old mono pack instant films i.e. FI-800GT, ACE films (I don’t know much about these films or the camera that uses these films) are discontinued but the production of “Instax” film/camera are continued.

Note 3: From my experience, I think the info from National Photo is “fast” and very reliable at least for the information of available films in Japan.
I have seen some info that such films as T64 (RTP) reversal film is discontinued in BJP web site some month ago, but I still see “fresh” RTP in the photo store, and I don’t see this film go away in our homeland.
Maybe BJP is saying that the sales of the T64 are discontinued in UK???

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What do I see about these resent discontinuation announcement going around:
It is an open secret that Fujifilm is again accelerating to further restructure their “Imaging Business” sector because of this current sluggish economy situation, beginning somewhere around May this year.
There is no doubt about this fact from the info from multiple sources and from some evidence that I don’t want to even write it down here.
Fujifilm understands that their B2B business is doing OK but they thinks that Imaging Business should do much better even before this slow economy have began.
Of course the large segment of today’s Fuji’s Imaging Business is “Electronic Imaging” stuff, so that Fuji is currently transferring manufacturing of those full electronic capture cameras from Japan to overseas, and also they are trying to start business for some “3D full electronic capture” stuff to sustain imaging business in a competitive and fierce full electronic capture camera market.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any plans to buy any Fujifilm camera.
My past experiences with Fuji’s camera (both film and electronic capture) are basically good, but I have some reservations.
It is my opinion that there is lot of good cameras in the market, but there are few cameras that is “truly” satisfying.
And there is lot of the camera maker that makes those “good” and “CHEEP” full electronic capture cameras, so there is no reason that I must buy Fuji’s camera like I did in the past.
I think this is one of the problems that Fuji’s Imaging sector is facing now.

For the silver halide business, it is clear that Fuji is really rationalizing to “maintain the traditional silver halide photo business” into the future by the following means:
1) Consolidation of processing Labs
2) Restructure their product lines if necessary
3) Some kind of rationalizations in manufacturing
4) Relocation / reduction of work force
5) Consolidation of overseas sales office

The implementation of the item 2 above is the result of the discontinuations of the subject instant films.
I think this discontinuation is not all that bad, since Fuji’s Imaging sector must have some “profit” to have more “popular film” not to be discontinued in this shrinking market.

I think we don’t have to worry about normal (not instant type) B&W silver halide products to be “gone with the wind”, but for color films, I’m afraid that there may be a possibility of crisis in the future.

The statistics for the color roll film (135, 120, 220 etc.) sold in Japan clearly shows that compared to 2004, color films sales has shrunk to approximately 1/4 in 2008 REGARDLESS OF COLOR NEGATIVE OR COLOR REVERSAL FILM.
Although the sales of B&W film is also decreasing, it is not that drastic like the color films but the sales and the market of B&W films are tiny than of the color films.

There are only a few companies left that can make acceptable color films and if the motion picture industry have completely shifted to full electronic capture / distribution, I can’t imagine what are going to happen to the color film market and that is a time for “real” crisis for the color film.
I don’t think that this move will occur soon, but some of the Cinema distribution is Japan are going to be full digital distribution, means that less print films sales.
One should not underestimate the power of electronics and IT.

In the mean time, I am curious about what are going to happen with the Fujicolor Pro 800Z issue because I use a similar film Pro 800, which is a domestic only and 120 size only film.

I do see fresh 135 format Pro 800Z in Japanese market now, which is an export only film, not for the domestic market.
Maybe they decided not to sale this film overseas so the remainder came to Japanese market???
Or they didn’t sell well in overseas so they bring this “fresh” 800Z in to Japanese market in spite that the packaging is in English?
Or they just want to have another line up in our domestic market to stimulate the film market in Japan?

Since I use a 6x9 folder as a snap shot camera and frequently use 120 high-speed films (of course, I must use slow film to get the best image quality), I am concerned if Fujicolor Pro 800 is going to be discontinued soon.
On the National Photo web site, Pro 800 is still on the price list and without any notice of discontinuance; I guess it will not be discontinued immediately.

Well looking at the Japanese photo magazine, they mention that the good full frame digital camera will surly beat mid format film in terms of image quality.
I have a D700 however my old but the very best 6x9 folder loaded with the best film will pull the pants off from D700 in terms of image quality to my eyes.

Any way, we hope film industry continues to use film, and hope lot of professional photographers continue to use film and also we have to use films too!

 

[arigram]

Damn it.
I really use the Fuji instant color and black and white film with my Hasselblad.

 

[wildbill]

I have to hear it from fuji. Hopefully the Fujifilm "partner" chimes in. My emails with fuji earlier this year said they had no plans to discontinue any pack films. I asked because I was about to purchase a second 4x5 pack film back. I'll be very disappointed if the bad news is true. I've sent the fujifilm partner a pm.

 

[aluk]

This could be a real problem here, given that only FP-100B and C are distributed here (as far as I can tell) - so that basically means the end of instant b/w film in Canada, unless the Fuji distributor decides to import FP-3000B... of course, I suppose that we'll have to wait for some sort of official confirmation.

 

[DanielStone]

this is not good news. the bad news bears must be in town

 

[crispinuk]

Looking at the Fuji Global website you'd think Fuji didn't produce ANY black and white film. Or maybe they are going to cease all monochrome and concentrate on colour ?

 

[aldevo]

FujiFilm's film products aren't on the global site; they are marketed on various nation-specific "microsites" (e.g. www.fujifilmusa.com).

FujiFilm B&W film remains very much a part of those sites.

Don't forget that FujiFilm's largest markets have nothing to do with consumer photography and the absence of consumer pictorial film from the Global site really doesn't mean much.

 

[E76]

FP-100B? Really? I can understand discontinuing FP-500B, maybe even FP-400B, but I would imagine FP-100B to be just as, if not more popular than FP-3000B. You only need high speed in a few instances, and proofing is not usually one of them.

 

[Ektagraphic]

I am going to have to give them a call tomorrow! This SUCKS! June we lost KODACHROME, now July we loose the packfilm. I really liked FP-100B

 

[Ektagraphic]

They really seem to be backing out of film. The only Fuji products I use are the instant, but I know that there has been talk about a neg film going but I guess it's now coming back....

 

[aldevo]

Let's not make this worse than it is until FujiFilm USA reps have weighed in on it. Hopefully they can clear the matt up.

And apart from discontinuing QuickLoads for Acros, I don't think FujiFilm has actually discontinued *anything* in the USA in the last 9-12 months or so.

 

[PeteZ8]

Notice they specificly said "20 packs" after every instance. Perhaps they feel the large quantity (and associated cost) are driving down sales, and they will continue making and distributing them in 5 packs?

I dunno maybe I am just reading between the lines too much.

 

[vdonovan]

I hope that Fuji will do what they have to do to keep some instant film in supply. If they have to cut some products to keep the overall line profitable, I say go for it.

I'm surprised that the range is as broad as it is (500 and 400?). I understand that there are also other surfaces that are distributed in Japan and not in the US. And 20 packs? I had no idea.

Mr. Fuji, I am your biggest Instant pimp. I have about a dozen instant cameras. I go through five or six packs a month. I take one to nearly every social event I go to and people flock around me like pigeons to get a real "polaroid" picture. I give cameras (and film) to friends as gifts and they LOVE it. There's a market out there! It just needs a little love and attention.

 

[Ektagraphic]

After a call to Fujifilm USA yesterday, they said that they are not discontinuing any of their packfilms and there are currently no plans to.