Fujifilm 400

MattKing · Mar 31, 2023

Perhaps because the existing production is already committed to other markets, and due to supply chain issues it often takes months in order to effect changes to scheduled production.
Not to mention the continuing difficulties of getting product to other parts of the world - there may be oodles of film sitting on various ships and trucks travelling around the world.

Huss · Mar 31, 2023

brbo said:
That doesn't mean that 99% folks can buy Superia X-Tra 400 when we want.

But maybe you can tell us where you are buying it so we can spoil that experience of "endless, uninterrupted" supply of this film for you

Not answering for him, but I always post on Photrio when I see film available for a good price. I recently did that w Fuji 200. I like my peeps here to get a shot at it!

FYI site sponsor Freestyle Photo has 10% off Portra this weekend only

brbo · Mar 31, 2023

Huss said:
Not answering for him, but I always post on Photrio when I see film available for a good price. I recently did that w Fuji 200. I like my peeps here to get a shot at it!

FYI site sponsor Freestyle Photo has 10% off Portra this weekend only

I know, I've noticed that. I'll let others thank you for that. I'm from Europe and shipping is usually WAY more expensive from US to Europe than people from US bitch about ENDLESSLY in that Adox thread...

But back to your kind message to Photrio users, I hope such discounts are first sign that maybe, just maybe, colour film is not flying off the shelves instantly at those prices anymore.

cmacd123 · Mar 31, 2023

brbo said:
I know, I've noticed that. I'll let others thank you for that. I'm from Europe and shipping is usually WAY more expensive from US to Europe than people from US bitch about ENDLESSLY in that Adox thread...

one of the methods that Freestyle uses to ship to Canada, has the package flown to sweden, and then mailed from there. If Freestyle ever figures out an economical way to ship to Canada, I would go back to ordering a lot from them.

Nitroplait · Apr 1, 2023

Huss said:
Not answering for him, but I always post on Photrio when I see film available for a good price. I recently did that w Fuji 200. I like my peeps here to get a shot at it!

FYI site sponsor Freestyle Photo has 10% off Portra this weekend only

Probably of limited use for most members on Phototrio: I live in Copenhagen/Denmark, and the usual suspects in the central part of the city all have plenty of Superia X-TRA 400 and Fujifilm 200 on the shelves. Most of Kodak's color negative stock is available as well last I checked.
Not especially good pricing - but in line with what you'd expect these days.

If you live around here and use film, the above is probably not news to you.

koraks · Apr 1, 2023

@Nitroplait I'm surprised at the apparently good supply situation where you live. Here in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, there are severe shortages of 35mm color film, which has been the case for a long time now. It's a major frustration for retailers - ample demand, no supply.

Nitroplait · Apr 1, 2023

koraks said:
@Nitroplait I'm surprised at the apparently good supply situation where you live. Here in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, there are severe shortages of 35mm color film, which has been the case for a long time now. It's a major frustration for retailers - ample demand, no supply.

You are right. I am speculating if it is because the shops in question don't have a strong international web presence?

I'd imagine places like Fotoimpex, MacoDirect, RetroCamera etc. gets raided quickly by photographers elsewhere in EU and the rest of world - from places where the supply lines are more severely affected?

Don't get me wrong, I have noticed low stock on the shelves from time to time, but except for a brief period around 1.5 years ago, not to the extend I read about.
I'd by 10-20 rolls when my film of choice is in - and not wait till I am out of stock before buying more, so far, with this strategy, I haven't had a problems worth complaining about.

koraks · Apr 1, 2023

I dunno, one of the shops I was referring to caters to The Netherlands exclusively. They've had supply issues for a long time, with stock coming in sparingly and being sold out virtually instantly. Color 35mm that is; b&w and other formats are less problematic.

Agulliver · Apr 1, 2023

pentaxuser said:
Maybe but doesn't the poster who used this phrase pose a good question to which we have no obvious answer, namely why do this in its home market which it usually favours

pentaxuser

Fuji are Japanese. They say very little about what's going on with their business. That's how Japanese businesses operate. The fact they've made this announcement at all is quite unusual and positive, in that they are communicating at all.

Anything else is our own conclusions drawn from said info. Several possible explanations have been offered, including the home market having a bigger backlog than the international market so they're not taking new orders until they've caught up.....*some* of the Fuji film for the home market is tweaked to Asian skin tones so may need a specific coating run. And finally, yes....perhaps they really have been trying to exit the film market for 10+ years and are just not very good at exiting the film market.

koraks · Apr 1, 2023

Agulliver said:
trying to exit the film market for 10+ years

Make that 20+ years. Their European film plant shut down about 20 years ago.

pentaxuser · Apr 1, 2023

Agulliver said:
...*some* of the Fuji film for the home market is tweaked to Asian skin tones so may need a specific coating run.

Is that an established fact? Is so, presumably any people pictures using a "home " film but with Occidentals in a group of Orientals the Occidentals skin looks slightly strange?

pentaxuser

BradS · Apr 1, 2023

Japanese business decisions are often predicated upon, if not dictated by, considerations of "face". A box of FujiFilm that says, "Made In USA" on it would be enormously embarrassing in the domestic market and would represent an extraordinary loss of face for the company and all of its employees. This alone may well explain why they will not do it.

MattKing · Apr 1, 2023

koraks said:
I dunno, one of the shops I was referring to caters to The Netherlands exclusively. They've had supply issues for a long time, with stock coming in sparingly and being sold out virtually instantly. Color 35mm that is; b&w and other formats are less problematic.

With Kodak materials, that may be because they aren't willing to buy from a selection of different competing distributors.

koraks · Apr 1, 2023

Yeah, well, I've been over that with them. Seems like all shops around here are unwilling to do that same thing then.

There really still is a supply problem with 35mm Kodak film in Europe.

cmacd123 · Apr 1, 2023

Minolta93 said:
Please tell me that $5.99 isn't a mistake.

looked later and saw 9.95

Huss · Apr 1, 2023

cmacd123 said:
looked later and saw 9.95

And B&H has now lowered the 3 pack price from $40 to $30. Of course not in stock.

So who knows what the actual price will be when it shows up?

cmacd123 · Apr 1, 2023

Huss said:
And B&H has now lowered the 3 pack price from $40 to $30. Of course not in stock.

So who knows what the actual price will be when it shows up?

the engineers would say it is "converging" on ten bucks a roll. I think last time I bought a three pack I paid ten bucks for three.

Huss · Apr 2, 2023

cmacd123 said:
the engineers would say it is "converging" on ten bucks a roll. I think last time I bought a three pack I paid ten bucks for three.

2005?

reddesert · Apr 2, 2023

I just looked in my order history, and in June 2019 I bought a 3-pack of Fujicolor 200-36 for $10 from B&H (the bargain film, a little cheaper than Superia etc). Tmax 100/400-36 was just under $6/roll and Kodak Ultramax 400-36 was 4.50. Obviously, if I had foresight, I would have laid in a larger supply at the time, but you can say "If I had foresight" about a lot of things from 2019.

Arcadia4 · Apr 2, 2023

pentaxuser said:
Is that an established fact? Is so, presumably any people pictures using a "home " film but with Occidentals in a group of Orientals the Occidentals skin looks slightly strange?

pentaxuser

Fujifilm Premium 400 which is distributed in the japan/asian market is a fine grain film which is stated in the promotional material to be optimised for japanese skin tones. But other tones look fine.

Generally fujifilm neutral colour aligns with a preferred beauty aesthetic of paler skin for women in japan/asia , whereas kodak consumer films (gold etc) are warmer which is optimised for western beauty expectations and ‘summer tan’, popular in Europe and N.A.

Arcadia4 · Apr 2, 2023

koraks said:
Yeah, well, I've been over that with them. Seems like all shops around here are unwilling to do that same thing then.

There really still is a supply problem with 35mm Kodak film in Europe.

Yes in the Uk all the kodak consumer colour films are still hard to get reliably, esp colorplus and gold 200 and large retailers supplies usually last only a few days when stock arrives.

The situation with the portra lines esp 400 now seems to have stabilised but at £80-100 per pack of 400 thats perhaps not surprising.

pentaxuser · Apr 2, 2023

Arcadia4 said:
The situation with the portra lines esp 400 now seems to have stabilised but at £80-100 per pack of 400 thats perhaps not surprising.

The British understatement rules OK

pentaxuser

Huss · Apr 2, 2023

It is interesting - I see Portra 400 35mm everywhere, but you cannot find the 'cheap' Kodak colour film.

It seems that Kodak prefers to sell the expensive stuff...

Anon Ymous · Apr 2, 2023

Huss said:
It is interesting - I see Portra 400 35mm everywhere, but you cannot find the 'cheap' Kodak colour film.

It seems that Kodak prefers to sell the expensive stuff...

You'd expect that their profit is higher at the expensive films, but there's also the possibility that people don't want to spend that much on film. So it's not flying off the shelf... I shoot C41, but I honestly don't care about Portra, no matter how technically superior it is. At these prices, I'd rather shoot E6, or digital of course. I have a fairly good stash that will last me few years, but there will come a point where I'll have to consider my choices and shooting strictly BW film might be the only logical choice.

Minolta93 · Apr 2, 2023

Huss said:
Not answering for him, but I always post on Photrio when I see film available for a good price. I recently did that w Fuji 200. I like my peeps here to get a shot at it!

FYI site sponsor Freestyle Photo has 10% off Portra this weekend only

And I almost got the coupon for film at Rite Aid when you posted it. I was too late but it was still worth a shot.

cmacd123 said:
looked later and saw 9.95

Well that makes more sense. I would still buy it at $10 but pushing past that is where they start to lose me.

Fujifilm 400

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