Is Now The Time To Start Hoarding Film Paper Chemicals Etc. ??

Like it reads - with the current WORLD situation and all the uncertainty it breads.
Will prices skyrocket - will there be shortages? What is predicted regarding Ilford, for instance - their financial/economic health?

I firmly believe in buying photographic equipment and supplies to keep them from the hoarders as my darkroom and freezer can attest.

I don't see any point in hording, hording will only make things worse for otheers, and most things seem pretty much available, except for Ilford HP5+, which, in 120, seems not to be available and some sizes oif MG Classic, in glossy, but pretty much anything else is around and pretty much the same price as before the Lockdown, hopoefully the Ilford film and paper situation will soon improve as Ilford get back into full production, most other films are generally available, Fomapan, for instance, is being carried over here by more and more firms, as Foma paper, Berger paper seems widely available, we will all have to live with Covid for some time, at least until a Vaccine is available,and personally I can't see huge price increases, with most people finding there income affected badly but the pandemic it would not make sense, if they want to stay in business

No reason to hoard anything yet. But...if it makes you feel better you can send it to me and I'll watch it for you.

Unless you shoot a lot of film and print a corresponding number of prints I would avoid hording, film and paper will expire, even frozen prone to fogging over time.

Paul Howell said:

Unless you shoot a lot of film and print a corresponding number of prints I would avoid hording, film and paper will expire, even frozen prone to fogging over time.

Click to expand...

That about says it all in one short but succinct sentence, doesn't it and largely ends the conversation?

pentaxuser

Panic buying is no good for anyone, causes a short term increase in production which causes big problems in the supply chain. Most manufactures and suppliers work best with an even work load, get a better quality product at the end of the day. Also generates inflation.
Having said that I have a stock pile of some things that I tend to buy in bulk and when I see a bargain, its more economic that way

I would say it is appropriate to expect longer lead times and more erratic supply. So it makes sense to have more backup inventory than in the past.
That is different than hoarding.

another reason to bury my head... call me when i'm out of the darkroom...

Back in March some dumb Aussies went quakka and caused a massive nationwide shortage in toilet paper rolls. Supermarkets had to bring in security staff and impose two pack limits (the latter often ignored by cashiers as most Australians aren't renowned for their courage when confronted with aggression or anger), endless customer line-ups, early-hours-of-the-morning shopping periods for over 65s, (again mostly ignored) and other stupidities. One dork bought A$10,000 worth of bog roll and when he couldn't flog it off for platinum prices on Ebay, had the nerve to ask the supermarket(s) to take it back and issue a refund. He had a predictable response. Go flush!

To me and many others, hoarding is more a symptom of emotional problems than caution. It just causes problems to those with a more reasoned outlook or those who go with the 'cautions' from our glorious leaders - even our Prime Minister made the on-air statement that hoarding loo paper was "un-Australian" which resulted nothing at all, nobody paid the least attention ecept perhaps members of his church congregation who it would seem, regard him as a living saint.

Far more sensible to take a common-sense viewpoint and if you can afford it, then stock up on say, a year's supply of film and darkroom/printing supplies. Don't borrow from the bank or family or friends or take out a mortage on your house for this. And then use the stuff.

A year is a long, long time in this day and age. If supplies run short and you run out at home, there is always Ebay with its usual overstock of hopeful sellers asking 24-carat gold prices for their Polycontrast or Multigrate III photo relics.

As for the 100+ rolls of outdated but 'minty' (age and condition, not flavor) 120 Ilford XP2 rolls stashed in my freezer, I plan to use it all some day in my Rolleis, I really do.

Uncertainty has been around for 20 years now. Yet still plenty of good films/paper/chemicals around. If current trends say anything, they will continue to be around.

Film fogs, chemicals expire. I shoot fresh whenever possible.

I haven't felt like hoarding since 2005 when Ilford was in a spot of bother, and Kodak decided to discontinue HIE. Still kicking myself for not hoarding a ton more 4x5 HIE!

I lied. I hoarded Acros before it was discontinued.

These days I have zero desire to hoard. If it goes, it goes. When I run out of my reserves, I'll use a dslr, and print alt with d-negs.

These days I'd prefer to order what I need at the time. I've found it can be difficult to predict needs in advance, some items run out sooner than others etc.

I remember reading that way back in the 1930's, some writers in the UK, who foresaw that war might be on the horizon, suggested that every household should try to buy a little extra food and supplies, so that over a period, everyone would build up their own little "hoard" of essentials to tide them over problem times. Apparently the politicians poo-poo'd the idea, so it was straight into panic buying and rationing when difficult times came.
Obviously much more serious issues then than our photo supplies, but maybe there is a lesson to keep a small supply of our favourite papers and films, and top-them-up before they run out.

The problem with stocking up unnecessarily is that you end up shooting old film, Grabbing as much discontinued film as possible may make sense if you have a particular affinity for that film, but otherwise should be avoided.
When Kodak cancelled EliteChrome I stocked up on that film. The end result was that I was shooting expired EliteChrome when I could have been shooting fresh Provia and Velvia.

It is extremely unlikely that EK/KA, Harman(Ilford), Fuji, and Foma would all fail at the same time. And if such an economic catastrophe were to occur, for most of us, food availability would be more of a problem than a film shortage.

DF said:

Like it reads - with the current WORLD situation and all the uncertainty it breads.
Will prices skyrocket - will there be shortages? What is predicted regarding Ilford, for instance - their financial/economic health?

Click to expand...

Keep calm, carry on.
There is really no reason for big worries or even panic.
The film manufacturers are producing, the film distributors are selling and the labs are processing your film, if you want them to do. If you want to develop by your own, just do it. All photo chemistry manufacturers are also producing all what we need.

There are currently some general problems in international shipping. Main reason for it: In normal times (before Covid-19) lots of air freight is done by normal passenger flights. The luggage of passengers is in most cases not so much, and therefore quite a lot of space remains free in the cargo compartments of the passenger airplanes. This free space is then filled with international air cargo goods. That is of course currently not possible anymore in a high volume, as regular passenger flights are reduced by 80-95% depending on the routes.
And the specialised air cargo airplanes are running at full capacity at the moment. But there are not enough air cargo airplanes to replace the whole air freight volume of the passenger flights.
That causes some shortages. And shipping by ship needs of course more time. And because of all that it may make sense (depending on the product) to plan your purchases a bit more with a mid-term strategy (6 - 9 months) than a short term strategy (up to 3 months).

Best regards,
Henning

In the 80 or early 90s when Kodak discontinued PanX a friend of mine bought like a 100 rolls in 35 and 120, he still has about 85 rolls left, what he forgot was although he liked PanX, he seldom shot it. Last I asked he said it was showing some fog, I told him to sell it before it was too fogged, but I think he will take it to his grave.

I don’t consider myself a hoarder, but I’ve stocked up on products I like as they’ve gone out of production, like TXP 220 rolls. I’ve ordered Ilford special cuts (like 2.25x3.25” sheet film) in quantities sufficient to justify the special order and shipping cost (10 or 20 boxes—not 100 boxes), but I figure sheet film is pretty safe. Slow film lasts longer than fast film, so films that I stock up are mostly ISO 100 or less in general, with the exception of TXP 220. I have a small chest freezer for film and paper so I can keep my kitchen freezer for food.

I can shoot a variety of formats, so that if film in a certain format becomes hard to obtain, I can use a different format. I think flexibility is a better solution than hoarding.

At the moment, I’m feeling a little overstocked for film, so I’m trying to shoot what I have before buying too much new stock. Maybe I’ll see if I can downsize the freezer at some point.

I’ve taken some time to learn to make the processing solutions I need from basic chemicals that I keep on hand, so that if standard commercial products go out of production, I can make what I need myself, plus I have another level of control over the process.

I have 10 bags of Xtol, does that count?

Actually, I always over buy by a small amount. So I have ~100 rolls of 35, ~80 rolls of 120, and a few hundred sheets of 4x5, but most of them are in small quantities of each emulsion, so I have 8 rolls of HIE, 12 rolls for Kodak 400 HD, 10 rolls of Pro400H, and so on. The only reason I have 10 bags of Xtol, is I don't want to run out, and I don't want to have to place an order for just that.

I don't hoard, I stockpile to offset product discontinuations and price increases.

Example #1, the last time I ordered Xtol, I added 20 bags to my existing 40. Now there is none to be had and I am sitting pretty for now so I can certainly wait for B&H to fill my recent order for another 20.
Example #2, I ordered 300 rolls of Acros in 120 to add to my 100 rolls when I heard the price was going to increase, it was $2.94 a roll at the time and being stored refrigerated looks as good as new. How is that $12 a roll Acros-II treating ya?

Bottom line is that I keep ten years worth of film and chemistry in stock and 2-3 years worth of paper. This approach has paid off in spades for me, even frozen 20 year old HIE in Romano 120 re-spool still has the same base fog as when I got it ten years ago. In the stuff that is still made, I replace once or twice a year as I use it. The only film I have fully given up on keeping in stock or even using at all is Pan-F, it just has the worst keeping properties of any film I have ever used, latent or otherwise.

I do not hoard, I buy up all the discontinued film I can, when I hear that it has been discontinued. Otherwise I would not have a supply of those films and the hoarders would buy it up.

Only of Portriga Rapid and original Oriental Seagull. And even then, it seems that there are ways to make all sorts of materials 'lith' well with a little ingenuity.

Perhaps "stocking up" would've been a better term than 'hoarding' -
it sounds less selfish and less threatning