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

I am an anti-horder. Shoot the materials that are available and stop kvetching about materials no longer available.

Buy new films and maybe....just maybe...the price of Kodak C41 sheet film will go down. A boy can dream.
 
Without a local film dealer, I keep and build a supply of whatever I'm shooting in the basement fridge. Seem to go through it fairly quickly as I'm running a few rolls a week these days. For the most part, i have a handful of ID11, Perceptol and Bergger developers and some others, but that's a matter of having "switched" developers along the way. Not an intentional thing. Mostly I need to keep a few months ahead in supplies. Picked up some raw chemicals and began mixing those: D23 for developing and trying to do some TF3 for fixing.

On the subject of chemicals: Let me say that I can't find my ammonium thiosulfite bottle 'cause it came when my grand daughter was here and I had to put it somewhere safe... which of course means its so safe it can't be found. FWIW, photographers are mostly going to be small time users. Odd lot sales. This is the specialty chemical biz, and its not a beg field. Artcraft Chem folks told me they lost their supplier and haven't been able to find another. Yes, I could... if I want a truckload of the stuff. But not a quart size. So the other side of the equation is that some things AREN'T always available, and when PF goes offline, takes the phone off the hook, or whatever, there just aren't a lot of other choices.
So I ordered some TF5 from B&H. Pre-mixed like this the price is at least twice... but we're talking under $15, so no fire drill.

Color film may end up being more of a fire drill: Fuji's prices are very high (imho), and Kodak's about to get a cash infusion together with an SEC exam that could send management to Sing Sing for insider trading. Little question there as it's plain as day. The only question is whether they escape the consequences or not.
 
I'm all for setting up rainy-day film stores. See? Doesn't that sound nicer than hoarding. Therefore, to the original posted question. Yes.
 
As a hobbiest and not a pro I keep a small supply on hand and buy when I need it. A month or two ago I decided to put up some shelving in my art studio, someplace to store my book and supplies. I stopped by Lowes to pick up some shelf brackets (I already had the lumber) and they were out of brackets. Cleaned out. I guess all that toilet paper has to be stored somewhere.

BTW, my wife tells me that the line between "collector" and "hoarder" is quite thin. She says this when she looks in my man-cave and sees all the reel-to-reel machines, the 8-track players, and all the tape. Her funniest line came a few weeks ago when she noticed I'd just charged a few dollars on our card at an online action. She asked "What did you get?" I said "A quadraphonic 8-track player." She said "Don't you already have one of those?" Hahahahaha!!
 

When I buy a projector, or a radio or Tape recorder, I often try to get more than one of the same model, and hope that I can make one working one out of the lot.
 
I have all kinds of chemicals and dyes on hand. Some simply cannot be arbitrarily purchased. Either a group purchase has to add up to a significant custome order, and then split up, or you have to scrounge around hoping to find something leftover. Some products are prohibitively expensive in small lots, so you buy a more realistic quality based on anticipated usage over time. Sometimes I don't want to fuss around having to piecemeal order things for a complicated darkroom procedure. Is this hoarding. No, it's common sense. Just my "hoarded" stash of film in the freezer would cost four times as much today as I paid for it not terribly long ago. As it thins out, I replace in smaller quantities and rotate out the older film, of course. Or in certain cases, what I already have might last the duration of old age usage, in which one's own pace hypothetically slows down. Another thing that has gone up brutally in price is museum board. At wholesale large quantity rates, I bought all I had room to store, but really wished I had bought five times more back then.
 
This might be a bit pedantic, but when I think of hoarding I think think of acquisition without commensurate use. I like so may others buy for the possibility of future shortages or ... gasp! ... discontinuation of product. I shoot film and consume other photographic products. Then resupply, as Drew Wiley, suggested. To me this is forethought.
 
Probably before I was born...

These days, many normal things are not available... Supply chains are all messed up. Demand is weird. I went to install a door I made from scratch up at the camp. Couldn't find two matching hinges at the big box hardware store! Fire pit gave up; none at the big box store. Ordered a screen door from a different big box store and after a month of no activity or updates, I cancelled it. My favorite soft drink went out of production for a few months due to covid. At least I can buy gasoline for my car!

It makes sense to have a few months worth at least of film, chemicals, paper. I have years worth of those things.
 
When we go to Costco, if the meat prices are good we buy up enough meat for film the extra freezer, so now we find that because of the CoronaVirus unexpectedly the meat prices are up at least 20% and we have plenty of meat available that we bought at the old price. So for those who make fun of me for keeping things from the hoarders, I have one thing to say,


















Naaaaa!!!! [You are Green with envy.]​
 
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I hoarded film, chemicals, and paper years ago. I'm still going through it. To be honest, I wouldn't stock up on anything unless you need it for your business. My experience has taught me that you're more likely to have stuff go bad on you than you are to find yourself in a position where you can't buy it.

One thing I've noticed about most of these short supply items during this pandemic, is that stuff is still being made, shipped, and sold. Sure, it's easy to find things sold out. But most of those things that are sold out, reappear a month later before quickly selling out again. So if you need something, usually you can buy it within a month, if you stay vigilant and keep checking for supplies to restock. So it's not like you can't get ahold of stuff. It's just that it requires a little more patience and effort on your part.
 
NortheastPhotographic said:
I am an anti-horder. Shoot the materials that are available and stop kvetching about materials no longer available.

Buy new films and maybe....just maybe...the price of Kodak C41 sheet film will go down. A boy can dream.
Click to expand...
+1
 
Talked about it to my main film, photopaper and photo chemistry supplier. They said
- that they haven't seen so far a demand decrease for film during the Corona time, they have even a small increase
- that some manufacturers cannot make enough of some film types because of the huge demand (Fuji C200, Colorplus 200); that has been the situation before Corona, and it hasn't changed yet
- supply chains - air and see freight - are disturbed by the Corona crisis, and that causes some shortages of certain products.

My consequence: If I need a product in 2-3 months, I buy it now, and not just short before I need it.
But I will not hoard, absolutely not necessary.
 
Chemistry hoarding is a no-go for me, I never seem to home develop as much as I think I will so too much goes to waste. I've switched to one-shot developer because of that. Film is a different story: I haven't had any go bad (to my eye), even my 2001 expired Velvia 8x10 is still fine. It comforts me to know that I have some 160VC, Reala and Provia 400X in my freezer. If I go a year or 2 without shooting a newer emulsion I sell it, usually for a profit.

To answer the question in the OP - no, now isn't the time to start hoarding. You should've been hoarding all along
 

I've heard a couple of good explanations of hoarding vs collecting or "keeping a good supply". One is buying more and more when you already have sufficient to see you through a few years or to see you through until it expires/becomes unusable. Another is when you have so much stuff accumulated that any given room in your home needs more than 5 minutes tidying/removing stuff before it can be used for it's original purpose.

My local camera shop was closed (as per legal requirement) from lat March through into mid June. But having reopened they report that sales of film and film camera related items is once again steady and as per 2019...which is to say consistent and higher than 2018, 2017 and so on. Business is good.

I sometimes get accused of hoarding because I keep stuff that people can see no use for.....but every damned time I throw something out on the grounds it's been lying around the garage or "junk cupboard" for a decade.....I find myself needing it after it is unobtainable. Every room in my small home is suitable for it's original purpose. So I fail to see the problem.
 
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Well, what is hoarding?
It was time to buy some BW film when I heard Ilford would shut down. Usually I buy 5 rolls HP5+, well this time I bought 10 HP5+ and 10 FP4+, but that is not that much I would say?

Same for the Propacks 400H, I bought 3 packs so I didn't had to pay for shipping.

On the other hand I shot 6 rolls of 400H and 12 rolls of Ilford since march. So yes, I did buy quite some film but I am also shooting it.
 
Andrew O'Neill said:
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.
Click to expand...

pretty much same side of the road I am on,
only thing needed seems like it might be available for a while
PFC/FAC(green)
Dichromate+pigment
SIlvernitrate
coffee washingsoda+vit c+fixer(maybe)
last batch of hand made SGE I made I printed in the sun its the same color it was 3 weeks ago... unwashed unfixed undeveloped...
 
It is never too early to panic. Buy now to keep the chemicals from the hoarders.
 
Buy it all now and sell it for a good markup to the hoarders on eBay.
 
No being able to have an excess of materials, in addition to current demand, means you're always at the mercy of the market and Civil Order/Disorder, etc.

This Pandemic is a good example of what could happen and if you only double the numbers of sick and dead, the ability to be able to continue shooting from your saved back materials becomes all the more important, and Wuhan 19 is, in real world terms, hardly the worse case scenario.
No having options on hand takes away the ability to react to opertunuties, sudden inspiration, or miscalculations of your usable stock, on hand.

If nothing else, when you're able, put aside a fresh bulk roll of 35mm, 64mm, 70mm, or be ready to buy older, cold stored stock you know has a good reputation of ageing well in the cold, ie Tri-X 400.

Paper is always a crap shoot, but, as has been mentioned, Litho, etc, is always a possibility,

As long as a usable, acceptable image can be made, normal or experimental, film and papers are better stockpiled within a common sense scale, rather than in some promised limited stock in warehouses or a backorder that never pans out.

IMO.
 
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