How would you relate the available film products of Kodak and Fuji to this statement?
Tom.
That's a difficult question as my use of film types has changed significantly over the past 5-10 years, essentially virtually all my colour work is now digital since the high speed E6 films were withdrawn, and now clients rarely want transparencies or prints just an electronic file.
However my use of B&W materials hasn't diminished and I switched back to Ilford materials 18 months ago because I had great difficulty finding Tmax 100 which I'd used since it's release. Travelling abroad I often find it hard to get 120 film anyway, but invariably when I find a stockist Ilford films predominate and there's often a small amount of Fuji B&W as well, and surprisingly I saw more Fompan in Chile & Peru than Kodak B&W films, it's the same where I buy film in Turkey. In the more serious stores Fuji colour films predominated.
It's fair to say though that where ever you travel you see Fuji & Kodak minilabs in roughly equal proportions with a much smaller number of Konica, Agfa etc.
Kodak have changed their distribution systems in many countries, which led to big problems. In the UK Sangers took over much of Kodak's distribution, they were already the importer of Kodak Minilab systems, but there were supply issues and Kodak changed the system again. Talking to an APUG subscriber/supplier last week he indicated that dealing with Kodak is difficult, they haven't come to terms with the downsizing of the film market.
So back to your question, once you move beyond the bottom end of the market, minilabs etc, my experience is that Juji materials are much easier to find than Kodak, and far better priced, and when it comes to B&W then Ilford dominate, no doubt helped by the fact that all the stores also sold Ilford chemistry & B&W papers.
Ian