Kodak price increase

MurrayMinchin · Jan 12, 2023

I stopped buying anything Kodak about when they claimed bankruptcy in 2012, began mixing my own developers & fixer, and started buying Ilford film/paper because they said something to the effect of, "We intend to be the last man standing with B&W film & paper products".

madNbad · Jan 12, 2023

Tri-X is the only film I use so the price increases won’t change that for me. Having tried a lot of the Ilford films, they were fine but I liked the Tri-X better. Much of it depends on how many rolls you’re exposing each month and how much you’re willing to spend on each of them. The bargain brands will continue to grow in popularity as will the respooled cine films. It’ll be the LF users left in the bind as the limited choices become increasingly expensive and even more limited in availability.

KerrKid · Jan 12, 2023

Huss said:
The last time I bought Kodak film was... maybe 2 years ago?

I buy Fuji for regular colour film, Lomo if I want something fun, re-packaged copy film if I want something really fun, and Kentmere for B&W.

Ditto.

logan2z · Jan 12, 2023

I don't really buy Kodak film any longer. I've got some Tri-X in the fridge that I probably won't replenish once it's done. I've become pretty hooked on Ilford FP4+ and have been shooting that almost exclusively over the past few months in 35mm and 120. Love the tones.

cmacd123 · Jan 12, 2023

Still working on the 400ft of 5222 I bought over a year ago. current price of that is almost a dollar (us) a foot.

Kilgallb · Jan 12, 2023

Just bought a box of TMX100 and forty sheets of Ektar 100.

Phew, beat the price increase …. At least for six months.

Sirius Glass · Jan 12, 2023

Buy up all the Kodak films now and keep it from the hoarders!

Chuck_P · Jan 13, 2023

Sirius Glass said:
Buy up all the Kodak films now and keep it from the hoarders!

I will take my hoarding opportunity but it won't be till August when I retire. I'll take two grand of my comp and annual leave payout and buy $1,000 worth of film and a$1000 worth of paper. By then, I'm sure prices will have gone up. At the current price for TMax 100, that's about 300 sheets of film.

Alan Edward Klein · Jan 13, 2023

Eric Rose said:
Our local camera store doesn't even stock Kodak LF film anymore due to cost. No one wants the stuff.

Where is that?

Alan Edward Klein · Jan 13, 2023

madNbad said:
Tri-X is the only film I use so the price increases won’t change that for me. Having tried a lot of the Ilford films, they were fine but I liked the Tri-X better. Much of it depends on how many rolls you’re exposing each month and how much you’re willing to spend on each of them. The bargain brands will continue to grow in popularity as will the respooled cine films. It’ll be the LF users left in the bind as the limited choices become increasingly expensive and even more limited in availability.

Everything is going up. Since photography is not a necessity for hobbyists, people will cut back here rather than on food for their families. Film is discretionary.

bags27 · Jan 13, 2023

Went for a walk the other day with my Blad. Normally, I would have shot a whole roll of Portra so I could develop it right after. Found myself carefully shooting half of that. It's okay. I spend more time pre-visualizing and rejecting shots I might otherwise have taken. OK, maybe in the long run some of those rejected opportunities would have turned out to be keepers. But I'm a rank amateur: so long as the hobby intrigues, that's the most important thing.

VinceInMT · Jan 13, 2023

bags27 said:
…so long as the hobby intrigues, that's the most important thing.

^^^ This ^^^ Words to live by.

MattKing · Jan 13, 2023

Alan Edward Klein said:
Where is that?

Alberta Canada.
I expect all the potential retail sources around here only sell Kodak large format film on a special order basis - the Canadian distributors probably only sell it that way as well - because the wholesale prices they offered are/were so high.
If you are a Canadian user of Kodak LF film, you probably buy it from US sources..

ant! · Jan 13, 2023

MattKing said:
Alberta Canada.
I expect all the potential retail sources around here only sell Kodak large format film on a special order basis - the Canadian distributors probably only sell it that way as well - because the wholesale prices they offered are/were so high.
If you are a Canadian user of Kodak LF film, you probably buy it from US sources..

Here in Montreal you find shops with sheet films in stock. But yes, prices at B&H are usually better (not sure about the sheet film prices since I don't use them, but for 120 and 35mm it is the case).

Oldwino · Jan 13, 2023

Just when I thought I should go back to shooting slide film again...

mshchem · Jan 13, 2023

Sirius Glass said:
Buy up all the Kodak films now and keep it from the hoarders!

Yes! Uh, what??

kiss-o-matic · Jan 14, 2023

Disclaimer: I don't really mess with color film, and I will probably buy 20-30 rolls of Tri-X and stick it in the freezer. That will last me a while - I don't shoot daily any more, due to life. That being said...

I've always thought of Kodak as an old, crusty company whose time had passed and wasn't really managed for the modern market. A lot of that probably stems from them pulling all of their E6 films, and having the lack of vision to know they'd later introduce a new one. Tri-X is a great film but I don't think it sets itself so far apart from the likes of HP5, Retro 400s, (and apparently according to here Kentmere and Fomapan) that they can offer it at a price point even further from their competitors than it already is. Their competitors are making a very similar product for like 30% less already. I think I'll eventually use HP5 and a change the development process to get some more contrast out of it.

I wonder how foreign markets are gonna reflect this. Not sure WTF happened in Japan, but they have absolutely cranked the price of film to the point it must be turning people to digital - and it's not just the weak currency. When I lived there (up until 2014) I used to get great deals on Japanese and foreign film. Now it's just bonkers.

Chuck_P · Jan 14, 2023

kiss-o-matic said:
Now it's just bonkers.

yeah, like the price of 18 count extra large eggs at Walmart for $7.83, more than double from not too long ago.

Alan Edward Klein · Jan 14, 2023

Chuck_P said:
yeah, like the price of 18 count extra large eggs at Walmart for $7.83, more than double from not too long ago.

That's not chicken feed.

MurrayMinchin · Jan 14, 2023

Here's a good article comparing Kodak to Fujifilm during the same period leading to when Kodak claimed bankruptcy:

"The critical element in Fujifilm’s success is diversification. In 2010, the film market dropped to less than 10% compared to 2000. But Fujifilm, which once made 60% of its sales with film, diversified successfully and managed to grow its revenue by 57% over this ten years period while Kodak sales fell by 48%."

Why Kodak Died and Fujifilm Thrived: A Tale of Two Film Companies

The Kodak moment is gone, but today Fujifilm thrives after a massive reorganization. Here is a detailed analysis based on firsthand accounts from top

petapixel.com

While Fujifilm diversified, they didn't forget old-timey photographers like me when designing digital cameras...my X series mirrorless has external ISO & shutter speed dials and an aperture ring on the lens. In manual mode it pretty much handles like a 35mm from the last century, with some notable exceptions, but in the hands it feels the same.

albireo · Jan 14, 2023

And yet, film photography is so cheap for some of us.

I love being able to purchase a Rolleicord Va for 200$ and load it with a roll of Foma 100, Foma 200, Foma 400, Kentmere 100, Kentmere 400, Ilford FP4+, Ilford HP5+. All amazing film, stuff that blows my socks off whenever I see the scans.

I'm orders of magnitude happier with a 200$ TLR camera and a stock of 100 rolls of Foma and Kentmere than I ever was with a 1500$ Nikon D750 and 2000$ of lenses, plus cables, chargers, adapters, and other expensive BS.

Kodak? What is that? Kodak is irrelevant to me, unless Kodak going down means I'll be unable to buy Foma or Foma-made or Adox-made dev/fixer/stop bath (unlikely).

Bye bye Kodak!

Chuck_P · Jan 14, 2023

albireo said:
Bye bye Kodak!

I tried, but I fail to see how Kodak going down is a positive point of view. How is that a good thing for those that love doing what we are doing here?

albireo · Jan 14, 2023

Chuck_P said:
I tried, but I fail to see how Kodak going down is a positive point of view. How is that a good thing for those that love doing what we are doing here?

Sorry - I meant bye bye from me as a customer. Don't get me wrong. I wish them every success. It's just that I won't subordinate my enjoyment of the medium to their commercial strategy, as I am more than happy with available alternatives. Others shooting mainly colour will disagree, and I understand.

GregY · Jan 14, 2023

albireo said:
Sorry - I meant bye bye from me as a customer. Don't get me wrong. I wish them every success. It's just that I won't subordinate my enjoyment of the medium to their commercial strategy, as I am more than happy with available alternatives. Others shooting mainly colour will disagree, and I understand.

albireo said:
And yet, film photography is so cheap for some of us.

I love being able to purchase a Rolleicord Va for 200$ and load it with a roll of Foma 100, Foma 200, Foma 400, Kentmere 100, Kentmere 400, Ilford FP4+, Ilford HP5+. All amazing film, stuff that blows my socks off whenever I see the scans.

I'm orders of magnitude happier with a 200$ TLR camera and a stock of 100 rolls of Foma and Kentmere than I ever was with a 1500$ Nikon D750 and 2000$ of lenses, plus cables, chargers, adapters, and other expensive BS.

Kodak? What is that? Kodak is irrelevant to me, unless Kodak going down mean I'll be unable to buy Foma or Foma- or Adox-made dev/fixer/stop bath (unlikely).

Bye bye Kodak!

Albeiro, personally I'll continue to use Tri-X and Tmax100 & TMY2 because of the quality control, consistency and in the end... the results. (I also use FP4+ a big favourite) But you hit on a great point. There's lots of noise about film prices....while people have shelves full of cameras. Both paper and film have increased in price. But i'd rather have a fridge full of film and a cabinet full of paper than a shelf with 6x name your camera model.... I'm with you on the Rolleicord.... my old Rolleiflex T always brings home the results.

albireo · Jan 14, 2023

GregY said:
Albeiro, personally I'll continue to use Tri-X and Tmax100 & TMY2 because of the quality control, consistency and in the end... the results.

GregY, if you love TriX you owe it to yourself to try Kentmere 400. Very similar spectral response, very close to box speed, a few compromises here and there (perhaps a tad coarser grain than TriX?), but excellent consistency and quality control overall. I've been amazed by it, even in 35mm.

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