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Large format film vendors in the US

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Michael Mutmansky

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Sep 7, 2002
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654
Location
Sacramento
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Medium Format
Folks,

As I begin my prep for shooting LF again after a 20 year hiatus, I'm looking for stores who are regularly stocking LF film.

The obvious sources are B&H, Adorama, MPEX, Freestyle... and I've purchased from them all in the past. Are there any other vendors who should be considered good suppliers for LF film? I'm specifically thinking about color film, which is much harder to find regularly stocked. I know of all the difficulties of Fujichrome and wonder if we'll ever see more again, but even Ektachrome seems to be hard to find. When searching, or if I put in stock notices, what is the list of vendors that I should be regularly going to? Who are the vendors that stock the most LF film?


Thanks,

---Michael
 
Add Blue Moon (a site sponsor)to that list.
 
Off the top of my head, three other places to check would be Hunt's in the Boston area, Unique Photo in Philadelphia, and Glazer's in Seattle.
 
Thanks... I'll add them to my list.

Not too many left stocking substantial film coolers. It used to be that there was at least one large film supplier in every decent sized town, but of course, that has pulled far back.
 
There's a camera store in Charlotte, NC, that carries some analog equipment and film, but I don't know what their position is on large format. I also don't recall the store name, but a Google search should turn it up. And of course KEH in Atlanta doesn't only buy and sell used equipment.
 
Michael Mutmansky said:
It used to be that there was at least one large film supplier in every decent sized town, but of course, that has pulled far back.
Click to expand...

Yep, I grew up in Moscow, Idaho -- 15000 people including a small university -- and there was a combination camera and music store on Main Street; they carried Kodak (only, as far as I know) film and darkroom products as well as doing in-house B&W developing and printing (color was still sent out when I left Moscow in '83) and sold both new and used equipment. That was in the 1970s. Pretty sure they weren't there last time I passed through Moscow (1994?) never mind still today. One could (then) also buy film, printing paper, and chemicals at the university bookstore, but the shop on Main had better prices...
 
Midwest Photo in Columbus, Ohio has a spotty selection of LF film, with most of it being out of stock at the moment. Might be worth checking if you are not having luck elsewhere...

In their heyday, I used to go in to that store and it had mountains of film in wall refrigerators as well as the aisles were crowded with out of date and bizarre film stocks for really cheap prices.

Alas, that is no more...
 
CatLabs in Boston area, and on Internet….
 
If you’re really serious about LF shooting and you like to shoot color, get in touch with Keith Canham. He makes and sells LF cameras and also does occasional special orders from Kodak. I’ve bought three orders of 5x7 Portra 160 from Keith over the years, about 200 sheets.

His website: canhamcameras.com

Click the “Kodak film” link at the bottom of the home page and you’ll find the details.
 
badgergraphic.com
 
Thanks for the comments everyone. Just a few comments of my own...

University towns ALWAYS had a camera store that serves the students in the photo classes. In my town, it was "The Camera Shop" and I worked there from about 1984 until I graduated from college in 1993, so through HS and college. We sold tons of B&W paper and film and plenty of color as well. The university had a photographic services department that did E6 processing, but we also had a decent volume of both E6 and C41 come through the shop. The internet effectively destroyed all those small camera stores. After I left in '93, the shop held on for another 15 years or so but after about 2001, the writing was on the wall for it.

Keith Canham has been organizing the group buys from Kodak for as long as I can remember, but IIRC, didn't it go through Fred Newman originally (since he was a dealer with Kodak)? It's been a long time since I bought Tri-X 7x17 on one of those, but I did do that in the early 2000's. I preferred the FP4 cut from master rolls from Photo Warehouse (cheaper, cut to about any size you wanted, and much lower B+F when developing for pt/pd printing).

That got me thinking about Photo Warehouse, but it looks like they don't really support LF film much anymore except for the Ilford ULF group buy once a year. Not a whole lot of actual LF film on their website... That's too bad.

There's also precious few E6 processing companies out there any more. I may have to do it myself, but I did find one that will take 4x5 in town. They send it to their shop in San Francisco for processing (Mike's Camera).
 
Hi Michael. Good comment on univerity towns. In the past I've even had some success at univerity bookstores. Mostly 35mm film, though.
 
FWIW, Keith Canham is actually the only source for a number of products and sizes, because his business is the only source authorized by Kodak Alaris to organize and place orders for them.
 
I noticed recently that B&H can get you 8x10 Ektar 100 film with a minimum order of 70 boxes... so I'm not sure that is classified as a ULF special film order or that's a normal stocking film for Kodak but B&H doesn't want to be left with a bunch of old film, so they only take an order large enough to completely cover the minimum from Kodak.

Regardless, I'm not shopping for 8x10 at the moment, but if people are shooting 8x10, they may want to be talking about pooling an order together for that film. 70 boxes isn't too great... only about $19,000 worth of film.
 
Essential Photo Supply in Salt Lake has a decent selection of 4x5, and nearly every current film in 35mm and 120. I haven’t seen 8x10 though. The building used to be a flower shop. A large refrigerated section is now devoted exclusively to film. An impressive sight in 2025.
 
8x10 color film has gotten so expensive that the minimum order cut is something like $20,000. So it's going to be either feast or famine via either B&H or Canham group orders. 4x5 is way more popular, so cut more frequently. 5X7 takes the most patience, or 11X14.

These are also very unpredictable times for obvious financial risk reasons. I still have a good stash of 8X10 Ektar. But I'd like to do another round of Portra 160 Internegs from old 8x10 chromes, but it's just getting too financially absurd versus straight CN shot to RA4 print. 4X5 is the "new 8x10" in terms of price.

Several places locally sell a selection of 4X5 color and b&w film; but I get most of it from B&H.
 
Last edited:
Add Pixel Connection in Nashville TN. The prices are high, but they stock Ilford FP4+, HP5+, and Delta 100 in 4x5, and have 135 and 120 film as well.
 
The thing that surprised me was Delta 100 5x7 has been listed as an Ilford ULF item the past few years, but while I was waiting for this years ULF, I saw that B&H had it in stock, so I ordered a box of 100 and sure enough, they had it. I wonder if the just bought a few boxes for stock from the last ULF sale? Also at $339 for 100 sheets, it’s actually cheaper that FP4+ $3.39 per sheet vs $4.76 per sheet, and way cheaper that Tmax ($7.98 per sheet.). I’m not that familiar with Delta 100 but I want a 5x7 that isn’t Foma, and at that price I’ll give it a shot.
 
AZD said:
Essential Photo Supply in Salt Lake has a decent selection of 4x5, and nearly every current film in 35mm and 120. I haven’t seen 8x10 though. The building used to be a flower shop. A large refrigerated section is now devoted exclusively to film. An impressive sight in 2025.
Click to expand...

Also owned and run by the nicest people ever. Incidentally, they got a shipment of 35mm Provia in recently. I bought 10 rolls there today.
 
armadsen said:
Also owned and run by the nicest people ever. Incidentally, they got a shipment of 35mm Provia in recently. I bought 10 rolls there today.
Click to expand...

Yep, Ken and Lisa are cool people, and very supportive of local photographers. Their store is full of positivity.

Thanks for the Provia tip. I’ve been carefully using my remaining supply from the last time it was available in any quantity.
 
Michael Mutmansky said:
There's also precious few E6 processing companies out there any more. I may have to do it myself, but I did find one that will take 4x5 in town. They send it to their shop in San Francisco for processing (Mike's Camera).
Click to expand...

Score another one for Salt Lake. Nichols Photo Lab will process E6 at least up to 8x10. If I drop off my 35mm E6 before work it’s usually ready same day. No mounts anymore though.
 
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