Schafphoto
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Kodak HIE, black & white Infrared film pre-discontinued.
I knew this day would come, I screamed like a sailor when I found the link to:
Preannounced Professional Film Discontinuances
November 2, 2007 - KODAK is preannouncing the discontinuance of several smaller running families of Professional film... High Speed Infrared (HIE) effective end of December 2007. Demand for these products has been declining significantly in recent years, and it is no longer practical to continue to manufacture given the low volume, the age of the product formulations and the complexity of the processes involved. We will continue to ship product through the end of this year.
After I heard, I went out the next morning and drove to 5 stores in the LA area and bought every roll they had. Then I talked to the film buyer at Samy's Corporate, and told him to order a lot for his stores NOW. So hopefully they will have a stock on hand for those that need their HIE fix like I do.
The prices were as follows:
$11.99
$12.82
$13.09
$11.99
and $11.49 at Samy.com mail order.
BTW, all 290 rolls were November 2008 expiration.
My friend at Samy's said that Kodak now has only two film sales reps for the entire USA, EAST & WEST. With that kind of commitment it seems that Kodak does in fact see film buyers like me as a distraction. As much as I would like to take out my anger & frustration on BIG YELLOW... the film has been produced, it sits in a warehouse, it has a cost price probably around $8.00 and neither Kodak the corporation or the executives, or the stock holders will feel any effect if I buy 290 rolls to finish my current project, or if they just trickle out of the stores over the next 6 months. So, no reason to boycott Kodak or anything like that, Kodak still produces fine stuff, albeit less of it than in film's heyday. I guess I instead could have bought 35.5 KODAK EasyShare C613 Digi's instead if I wanted to make their stock price really soar.
Now that my favorite film of all time, Kodak HIE, has been discontinued, how do I store my stockpile most efficiently?
I have heard:
As cold a freezer as possible.
The film canisters are freezer/humidity proof, but the brick/boxes are not.
So put the brick in a zip-lock freezer bag to keep packaging from getting soggy.
I'm thinking a little desiccant pack in each bag as well.
The freezer should not defrost if possible, to keep temp from fluctuating.
The bricks are individually bagged so i can remove one and thaw without disturbing the others.
How's that sound?
While I've heard a lot about base fog due to cosmic rays, I have also seen many posts by shooters who have had luck with VERY expired batches of HIE, and I have seen no issues with film two to three years out of date. It usually doesn't sit around here that long. I imagine I can finish my project in the next ten years, so that's what I'm shooting for. Hopefully some other film company will step in where kodak has left a big hole in this niche market.
-Schaf
www.schafphoto.com
I knew this day would come, I screamed like a sailor when I found the link to:
Preannounced Professional Film Discontinuances
November 2, 2007 - KODAK is preannouncing the discontinuance of several smaller running families of Professional film... High Speed Infrared (HIE) effective end of December 2007. Demand for these products has been declining significantly in recent years, and it is no longer practical to continue to manufacture given the low volume, the age of the product formulations and the complexity of the processes involved. We will continue to ship product through the end of this year.
After I heard, I went out the next morning and drove to 5 stores in the LA area and bought every roll they had. Then I talked to the film buyer at Samy's Corporate, and told him to order a lot for his stores NOW. So hopefully they will have a stock on hand for those that need their HIE fix like I do.
The prices were as follows:
$11.99
$12.82
$13.09
$11.99
and $11.49 at Samy.com mail order.
BTW, all 290 rolls were November 2008 expiration.
My friend at Samy's said that Kodak now has only two film sales reps for the entire USA, EAST & WEST. With that kind of commitment it seems that Kodak does in fact see film buyers like me as a distraction. As much as I would like to take out my anger & frustration on BIG YELLOW... the film has been produced, it sits in a warehouse, it has a cost price probably around $8.00 and neither Kodak the corporation or the executives, or the stock holders will feel any effect if I buy 290 rolls to finish my current project, or if they just trickle out of the stores over the next 6 months. So, no reason to boycott Kodak or anything like that, Kodak still produces fine stuff, albeit less of it than in film's heyday. I guess I instead could have bought 35.5 KODAK EasyShare C613 Digi's instead if I wanted to make their stock price really soar.
Now that my favorite film of all time, Kodak HIE, has been discontinued, how do I store my stockpile most efficiently?
I have heard:
As cold a freezer as possible.
The film canisters are freezer/humidity proof, but the brick/boxes are not.
So put the brick in a zip-lock freezer bag to keep packaging from getting soggy.
I'm thinking a little desiccant pack in each bag as well.
The freezer should not defrost if possible, to keep temp from fluctuating.
The bricks are individually bagged so i can remove one and thaw without disturbing the others.
How's that sound?
While I've heard a lot about base fog due to cosmic rays, I have also seen many posts by shooters who have had luck with VERY expired batches of HIE, and I have seen no issues with film two to three years out of date. It usually doesn't sit around here that long. I imagine I can finish my project in the next ten years, so that's what I'm shooting for. Hopefully some other film company will step in where kodak has left a big hole in this niche market.
-Schaf
www.schafphoto.com
