Photo Shopping Trip

[Konical]

Good Morning,

I just returned from a trip to my usual St. Louis photo store. I needed mostly film and paper.

Ilford paper was in very short supply. I couldn't get either 8 x 10 or 11 x 14 Glossy MG Fiber in any size package. There were a few stray packages of other surfaces, but the shelf was far emptier than usual. Regular MGIV--RC Glossy was not available in 8 x 10, but I did get some in 11 x 14. I finally ended up buying a 100-sheet box of 8 x 10 Cooltone ($58.52) ; it doesn't look dramatically different than the regular stuff anyway. The clerk said they were "hoping" that Ilford paper availability would improve.

All the Ilford films were available, apparently in good supply. (Delta 3200, 36 exp. is $6.87 per roll.) I also saw Technical Pan in the rack. I asked the clerk to check the price; $11.99 per 36 exp. roll. Maybe when I win the lottery! T-Max 400 120 Pro-Pack is up to $19.10 now--should have bought before Kodak's usual January price increase.

Ilford Fixer was available, but there were only a couple of bottles on the shelf. Very few Ilford chemicals of any kind were evident.

The used-equipment selection seemed smaller than usual; not a very good selection, even for Canon or Nikon bodies and lenses.

But there was good news--gas is a dime cheaper in Missouri than in Illinois!

Konical

 

[ann]

supplies are abundant in Atlanta, inlcuding fixer that was in short supply at the end of the year.

i take this as good news

i realize, i was really thinking about ilford paper and fixer . and did not mean that agfa and forte products were easily found.

sorry for the confusion

 

[roteague]

Consider yourself lucky. When I walk into the local camera store all I see are digital cameras, ink jet printers, etc. They have a very limited range of darkroom supplies (all Kodak), no large format film, equipment of any type. I buy everything I need mail order, except for the occasional roll of 35mm or a cable-release. BTW, I live in a city with a population of about 800,000.

 

[colrehogan]

Good Morning,

I just returned from a trip to my usual St. Louis photo store. I needed mostly film and paper.

Ilford paper was in very short supply. I couldn't get either 8 x 10 or 11 x 14 Glossy MG Fiber in any size package. There were a few stray packages of other surfaces, but the shelf was far emptier than usual. Regular MGIV--RC Glossy was not available in 8 x 10, but I did get some in 11 x 14. I finally ended up buying a 100-sheet box of 8 x 10 Cooltone ($58.52) ; it doesn't look dramatically different than the regular stuff anyway. The clerk said they were "hoping" that Ilford paper availability would improve.

All the Ilford films were available, apparently in good supply. (Delta 3200, 36 exp. is $6.87 per roll.) I also saw Technical Pan in the rack. I asked the clerk to check the price; $11.99 per 36 exp. roll. Maybe when I win the lottery! T-Max 400 120 Pro-Pack is up to $19.10 now--should have bought before Kodak's usual January price increase.

Ilford Fixer was available, but there were only a couple of bottles on the shelf. Very few Ilford chemicals of any kind were evident.

The used-equipment selection seemed smaller than usual; not a very good selection, even for Canon or Nikon bodies and lenses.

But there was good news--gas is a dime cheaper in Missouri than in Illinois!

Konical

Gas is generally always like that from Missouri to Illinois.

Assuming you went to where I think you did, for 35 mm Tech Pan, it was $11.68/roll back on Aug. 16, 2004.

I've noticed the used section is getting smaller there too.

Next thing you know, they won't be carrying D76 anymore. I might have to (gasp) try Rodinal!

 

[donbga]

supplies are abundant in Atlanta, inlcuding fixer that was in short supply at the end of the year.

i take this as good news

Try finding a bottle of Rodinal in Atlanta for sale.

Don Bryant

 

[ann]

don, pm me i have several unopened bottles, also check wings

 

[glbeas]

Yes, Wings is carrying the 125ml bottles of Rodinal. Have you also seen they are carrying Ilford paper rebranded with the Wings name? I've talked with the owner, quite a nice guy and has a pretty good dislike of digital like a few of us here. So it seems we have at least one camera store owner on our side who will go out of his way to be sure analog supplies are still available in his store.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Consider yourself lucky. When I walk into the local camera store all I see are digital cameras, ink jet printers, etc. They have a very limited range of darkroom supplies (all Kodak), no large format film, equipment of any type. I buy everything I need mail order, except for the occasional roll of 35mm or a cable-release. BTW, I live in a city with a population of about 800,000.

The one local camera store that carried B&W paper and chemicals and did 120 size C-41 processing in house is closing in a few days -- good news was, I got a bunch of stuff at half price; bad news is, I can't just clean them out because I haven't the money. The only other "local" camera store in the area carries little B&W and almost no 120, though they can at least get it for me if I request it -- I've been going to the one with stock. And then there's Ritz -- we'll see if their processing is worth a 2-week wait (I doubt it); if not, I'll have to try to find the one remaining pro lab in Greensboro and find out what they charge to do negatives only -- or look at making the jump to doing my own C-41.

 

[mark]

My local camera store had their kodak dealer staus pulled because they would not order 1000 of the plastic PS cameras. The guy said they would never be able to sell that many. Their Illford dealer staus was pulled because they would only buy two kinds of paper at a time, no film and no digital media. They are a small art gallery and art supply store that had a nifty little stinky room for darkroom supplies. Now it is almost empty. All they wanted to do was sell what the local community and a few tourists would buy. After hearing this, and reading the letter from kodak, it seems that the big producers are shooting themselves in the foot. I for one will be supporting the little guys and fuji. My business will go to the camera store for what they offer until it runs out, I actually like their NU-FIX. After that JandC will get all of my business. It won't be a lot of money but oh well.

 

[Konical]

Good Afternoon,

When I started this thread about three weeks ago, I had just returned from my usual photo store and had noted the slim selection of some items, especially Ilford darkroom supplies.

I just got home from another trip to the same place. Things look a lot better today. There was a good supply of Ilford papers, both RC and fiber. Sizes from 5 x 7 to 16 x 20 were readily available; a number of different surfaces were on the shelf, particularly in 8 x 10, and packages/boxes of differing quantities were present. Some Ilford chemicals could be had, but there was a much better selection of Kodak stuff.
Prices: I didn't do much checking, but twenty-five sheets of MG-IV RC was $15.00.

I hope this is a sign of permanent improvement in the supply situation.

Konical

 

[Bruce Osgood]

Good afternoon Konical,

I'm wondering if you noticed any change in their Oriental Seagull papers? Adorama here in NY has not one box and I can't get a straight answer from anyone if it will ever be back.

Thanks

 

[eric]

Adorama here in NY has not one box and I can't get a straight answer from anyone if it will ever be back.

Thanks

You've gotten straight answers from Adorama before?!!

 

[Konical]

Good Evening, Bruce,

I didn't notice any Oriental at all on the shelves today. In the past (ten to twenty years ago) I could easily find Oriental in St. Louis stores, but I don't recall seeing any for quite a while. This might be because I haven't searched for it, since Ive tended to use mostly Ilford and a little Kodak in recent years.

Konical