I am happy to see that you can still get fresh Fujicolor 100 film in Japan.
I‘m traveling in Japan atm, so here‘s some info about what I see in photo stores here:
Fujicolor 100 is pretty much sold out anywhere (I was in about 15 shops total, mostly Yodobashi, Kitamura and Bic Camera, but also some smaller ones). I found 3 rolls in Kitamura in Naha and 2 in a small Lab in Tokyo (National photo). Price was around 1400-1500 yen and expiration date 06/2027.
There was also a store in the Ginza area which had quite a few in stock but 50% more expensive.
Fuji Premium 400 was also sold out pretty much everywhere, but some Bic camera stores had them, limited to 1 per person. Price was around 2000 yen, and expiration dates in 2027.
One smaller shop hat Fuji Superia 400, forgot to check the expiration date because it was too expensive.
Most stores had Provia and Velvia in 120 in stock (didn‘t usually check 135 - edit: check some of the mobile snaps and price was around 3300-4200 yen for 135. Kodak E100was 6500 yen!), but at around 170‘000 yen for a 5 pack, which is twice what I pay in Germany (when they turn up occasionally).
Fuji 200 and 400 were in stock everywhere, but obviously Kodak emulsions. Portra was also easily available, but expensive.
........
Most stores had Provia and Velvia in 120 in stock (didn‘t usually check 135 - edit: check some of the mobile snaps and price was around 3300-4200 yen for 135. Kodak E100was 6500 yen!), but at around 170‘000 yen for a 5 pack, which is twice what I pay in Germany (when they turn up occasionally).
......
170,000 yen? Surely not, that's around €1000! (for a pack of 5 120 Provia 100f). Latest price now in Europe seems to be around €90, up 70% on prices 2-3 months ago.
I suspect you meant 17,000 yen. (around €100).
Oops, of course you‘re right! typo there, and I meant around 17‘000.
I bought a pack in europe a month ago for around 50 euro.
8x10“ Provia 100F is 96‘000yen here
View attachment 377296
Except pre-2014. Interestingly about the mid 2010s was the inflection point.Thanks for the report!
Concerning film prices in Japan: They have always been higher compared to the US and Europe with most films.
I was gonna mention that it's probably the timing between batches and pricing. Kodak and the distributing channels adjusted it as new stock was available. I had those prices on Portra last year until the 2024 exp batches ran out. Fuji has simply not caught up.I fear the €50-€55 days are over. FotoImpex had some 120 size Provia 100f a couple of weeks ago, sold out in hours, and it was €17.90 a roll (German VAT rate). It's also listed at the same price at a couple of other places, although most sources still quote the lower (old?) price ... but of course, it's not in stock anywhere in Europe by mail order as far as I know.
Oops, of course you‘re right! typo there, and I meant around 17‘000.
I bought a pack in europe a month ago for around 50 euro.
8x10“ Provia 100F is 96‘000yen here
View attachment 377296
I'm curious about the Velvia 100 in that photo. Is that still being made? I know it has issues in the US due to some ingredient in the emulsion. I would have thought that with one of the larger markets banned, it wouldn't make sense to keep it in production. (I prefer Provia over Velvia 100, but I'm curious.)
I'm curious about the Velvia 100 in that photo. Is that still being made? I know it has issues in the US due to some ingredient in the emulsion. I would have thought that with one of the larger markets banned, it wouldn't make sense to keep it in production.
Except pre-2014. Interestingly about the mid 2010s was the inflection point.
Remember the mythological Yodabashi freezers. I do not exactly know what happened or if people discussed how this happened.
However, this news is followed by many commentators saying that Fuji did not restart mass production of film, but instead are only selling film cut from old master rolls stored in huge freezers.
I reckon that this rumor is a long-standing one, but are there any truth to it ?
Personally, I wonder if the global demand of Instax and the lack of supply (apparently sufficient to force Fuji to increase its industrial capacity) would be an ideal culprit. If (and that's a big if) coating lines are shared between Instax and film, Fuji couldn't really handle both at the same time.
That's quite safe to assume, yes. Of course, the term 'machine' is a bit problematic. It's a factory/production system, consisting of a huge network of machines. Some (many) aspects are redundant, and/or there are parallel tracks. Others are true bottlenecks, such as a drying gallery, which I suspect is also a single track in Japan. However, overall, it's quite safe to assume that for Fuji Japan the volume production line is also a single end-to-end process with very limited to no possibilities of parallel manufacturing.Most probably Fujifilm has also (only) one big film coating machine, just like Kodak, Harman, Agfa, Foma.
I've never seen any definite proof. The closest to that is that some Fuji rep did say they had "mothballed" their film production lines at the beginning of the pandemic, and there was an implication that they still hadn't restarted them at the time of the statement (end of 2021). But that was more than 2 years ago, and while it's never been in abundant supply, I've been able to periodically buy Provia and Velvia throughout that time.
Bellamy Hunt (Japan Camera Hunter) has said multiple times that Fuji is not actually producing film anymore, and he's said it as if it were definite, 100% unquestionable fact. But he hasn't said anything about how he knows that, and he's (understandably, IMO) very bitter towards Fujifilm right now because they basically killed his Fugu film project. So, I take what he's saying with a grain of salt, or at least the certainty with which he says it.
That's quite safe to assume, yes. Of course, the term 'machine' is a bit problematic. It's a factory/production system, consisting of a huge network of machines.
Some (many) aspects are redundant, and/or there are parallel tracks. Others are true bottlenecks, such as a drying gallery, which I suspect is also a single track in Japan.
The Japanese Fuji coating operation is shared capacity between film (Instax + others) and paper manufacture.
Given the strong demand for Instax, the logical consequence is that pretty much everything else needs to be squeezed in when they have some time.
But afaik the coating engineers all talk about "the" machine meaning the coating line.
Do you have the information about paper by your contacts in Tillburg?
I have seen a short video about the drying gallery of Fujifilm: It is not a straight one like Kodak and Harman, but the film is drying hanging in loopes
I have doubts that the instax volume is already so high that they have to run the coating in shifts.
The one in Japan, maybe, yes.
The one in Tilburg works on a different principle. It's very space-efficient. Spirals instead of loops. It's very nifty.
These are the things that are kind of hard to smash flat into simple statements. I'm sure that in Japan (too) they work in shifts during coating.
By the way, the "freezer film" stories most likely relate to some relatively exceptional items - such as master rolls of very low speed films that even in historic times sold very slowly.
I don't think the freezer film story concerning Fuji relate to niche products like very low speed film:
- very low speed film don't need freezing to keep its properties for a long time, cool storage is totally sufficient
- Fuji don't have such products in their line.
The coating machines at Eastman Kodak are quite busy - but only part of the schedule is taken up with photographic film.
InovisCoat had the business model to focus on such non-photographic products for their former Agfa coating machine, in their new factory in Monheim. When they started in 2008.
They failed: First insolvency in 2011. The Polaroid owners then bought the factory. InovisCoat had only a production contract left.
Next insolvency for InovisCoat then recently.
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