Price of film

Oscar Carlsson said:

Swede here, we most likely have even higher taxes than the UK. I buy my film from Germany (Macodirect), last 15 rolls of FP4+ were about 4.5 USD each. My current sheetfilm (Adox CHS 100 II) is approx. 32 USD per box of 25 sheets, approx. 1.2 USD per sheet?

It all depends on where you buy your film from...

Click to expand...

A bit OT, but what would be the percentage of taxes you guys have to pay?

And interestingly, all orders I bought from Fotoimpex and Maco somehow didn't get taxed. Same for some paper I bought directly from Foma, sent via a freight forwarder in Austria. In contrast, some rolls of Delta 400 I bought off Freestyle took 3 months to arrive, AND were taxed in about 120% of merchandise value....

I'm on the same boat as Flavio, except down here in the south there's virtually nowhere to buy any materials from. And our domestic shipping rates are outrageous to say the least. So I alway buy from abroad.

skorpiius said:

As much as I try to support local business, BH is really the only game in town for new film. I just have to do occasional $100 orders for the free shipping.

Click to expand...

I just put in an order of half a dozen pro packs from B&H this morning. My first - and probably not my last - bulk order from them. Historically I've bought from Henrys (in-store) or another local camera shop (Downtown Camera), but spending much more than I need to is just becoming too hard to keep up. Particularly Portra 800, which I shoot a lot of. Nearly $25 per roll, locally - and just over $10USD at B&H. Even with conversion, brokerage, HST, etc, etc - that's a substantial difference.

Anyone check this place?
http://filmplus.ca/film.html
I only know they exist because I cleaned out their stock of FP-3000b last year. Wonder if they're any better.

skorpiius said:

Anyone check this place?
http://filmplus.ca/film.html
I only know they exist because I cleaned out their stock of FP-3000b last year. Wonder if they're any better.

Click to expand...

I contacted them and asked about Tmax100, Tri-x, and HP5+ in 35mm format and this is what I came back with.

Tri-x: 11.50 per roll
Tmax100: 10.95 per roll
Hp5+: 7.99 per roll

Michael Guzzi said:

A bit OT, but what would be the percentage of taxes you guys have to pay?

Click to expand...

Close to nothing. But it's a very common complaint which gets repeated, repeated and repeated until some people seems to think it does matter.

Oscar Carlsson said:

Swede here, we most likely have even higher taxes than the UK. I buy my film from Germany (Macodirect), last 15 rolls of FP4+ were about 4.5 USD each. My current sheetfilm (Adox CHS 100 II) is approx. 32 USD per box of 25 sheets, approx. 1.2 USD per sheet?

It all depends on where you buy your film from...

Click to expand...

I like the Adox Silvermax with its own developer, pity its not available in 120 format or larger, but maybe in the future it will be.

Oscar Carlsson said:

Close to nothing. But it's a very common complaint which gets repeated, repeated and repeated until some people seems to think it does matter.

Click to expand...

VAT is 20% in the UK and its added on the postage, the seller, manufacturer. Just about every step from manufacture to consumer . Then if you have a shop there are all the local taxes from the councils or no shop and sell on Ebay and the Ebay and paypal fees are way too high, no win situation. Try to import cheap and you get hit with taxes and duty . All the Taxes collected! where is it spent!, well.... there is no care when its not their own money they are spending!.

I would gladly pay some 20-30%...

The "standard rate" here is 60%, including the shipping cost.
Then, each state has a different "ICMS" quota, which is ANOTHER tax, put on top of those 60%... Here in RS it is 18%.
THEN, all the tax owed gets exchanged from USD or EUR or whatever currency it was to BRL (1USD is about 3.20 BRL right now - was as high as 4.20 some months ago)
THEN, the state-owned postal sevice adds a "processing fee", and, counting form the 7th day of arrival in the post office where you have to go pick it up (and pay what you owe of course), a not so small fee is added for "storage", daily. They normally send a small paper stating the incoming tracking, how much in taxes, and the limit date for picking it up. Problem is, it normally takes some 15 days for this paper to arrive and by then you owe some more to the storage... On two extreme cases, it arrived AFTER the package had been sent back to the sender.. one was my Valoy II enlarger, back to Munich (OUCH) and the other my Ercona from Stuttgart (DOUBLE OUCH!)... sent both again, the Valoy is here, the Ercona is somewhere neither there nor here... May the Gods of Photography help me...

So, for me it's not really "cost of film", but "cost of taxes"

And what upsets me more, is that these heavy taxes were put in place a long time ago to "protect the national industry".
Name one Brazilian company that has ever made film or film-related equipment. Yeah, I can't too.

Mogsby said:

VAT is 20% in the UK and its added on the postage, the seller, manufacturer. Just about every step from manufacture to consumer . Then if you have a shop there are all the local taxes from the councils or no shop and sell on Ebay and the Ebay and paypal fees are way too high, no win situation. Try to import cheap and you get hit with taxes and duty . All the Taxes collected! where is it spent!, well.... there is no care when its not their own money they are spending!.

Click to expand...

VAT is 25% here But this is getting very much off-topic, last entry from me on taxes, promise!

I buy from within EU to avoid tolls and additional taxes. I tend to stock up on my darkroom items, so I rarely buy more than once a year (last order, 30+ rolls of film, 6 l of fixer, paper developer, 100 sheets of paper, 500 ml of Rodinal...) to get a better price and utilize the fixed rate shipping better. It works very well for me.

Michael Guzzi said:

I would gladly pay some 20-30%...
[...]
And what upsets me more, is that these heavy taxes were put in place a long time ago to "protect the national industry".
Name one Brazilian company that has ever made film or film-related equipment. Yeah, I can't too.

Click to expand...

I can confirm what Michael says.

Sometimes I consider moving out of the country just to make it easier to keep my hobby...


Cheers,
Flavio

[QUOTE="skorpiius, Snip

As much as I try to support local business, BH is really the only game in town for new film. I just have to do occasional $100 orders for the free shipping.[/QUOTE]

Same here. While I continue to buy paper and supplies locally, I source all my film from B&H and Adorama, and have done so for the last seven years. Typically, I buy 35mm Tri-X ten bricks at a time, Ilford PanF+ and FP4+ five bricks at a time, and 120 Tri-X or HP5+ five pro packs at a time. Generally, its seldom more than three business days to the Left Coast from the Brooklyn Shipyards.

BainDarret said:

I just ordered from 20 rolls of HP5 @ $5.93 CAD each from Amplis. No shipping charge! Thanks to frank for this thread!

Click to expand...

And thanks to you! Just ordered 17 rolls which was just enough to qualify for free shipping.

Argentix dot ca has decently priced film. That's where I get my Rollei IR stuff from. Also, 5 pack of TMY-2 120 is $38.89.

Excellent thread, Amplis is now in my favorites.

Does anyone know why Kodak Tri-X is so expensive in 100' bulk rolls?

It might be worth nothing that in the USA, advertised prices do not include sales tax, whereas UK prices always include VAT. So if I mention that I can buy HP5+ at my local camera shop for £6.99 per 36 exposure roll, that includes the 20% VAT.

Still...I am seriously looking at placing an order with B&H when I am visiting the states next year...bring back a few 100' rolls in my carry on baggage and save quite seriously on buying the same Ilford films in England!

Agulliver said:

Does anyone know why Kodak Tri-X is so expensive in 100' bulk rolls?
Still...I am seriously looking at placing an order with B&H when I am visiting the states next year...bring back a few 100' rolls in my carry on baggage and save quite seriously on buying the same Ilford films in England!

Click to expand...

It may be you will be caught at the Customs point. To avoid a risk of loosing everything it will be better to delare it and pay tAX on the film above you personal allowance. No declaration and it is found, they will sieze everything with no recourse, not even for your personal allowance.

BMbikerider said:

It may be you will be caught at the Customs point. To avoid a risk of loosing everything it will be better to delare it and pay tAX on the film above you personal allowance. No declaration and it is found, they will sieze everything with no recourse, not even for your personal allowance.

Click to expand...

possible, and worth noting. Though in 20 years of transatlantic travel I have never once had my bags checked on return to the UK. It remains a possibility. I can bring in up to £270 worth of goods I've bought in the USA without declaration....and I wasn't planning on that much film

Kirks518 said:

Flavio, B+H won't ship HC-110 anywhere, including the US.

Click to expand...

But, noting that Freestyle WILL ship HC-110, I queried B&H last Sept and asked why they won't ship it when some of their competition do ship it. Here's the answer I received:

"....We regret your current dissatisfaction. This product is a chemical and considered hazardous material and under regulations this product cannot be shipped. It is therefore only available for in-Store pickup and can't be shipped. The other outlets are not authorized dealers and thus are not bound by theses rules..."

silveror0 said:

"This product is a chemical and considered hazardous material and under regulations this product cannot be shipped. It is therefore only available for in-Store pickup and can't be shipped. The other outlets are not authorized dealers and thus are not bound by theses rules..."

Click to expand...

From what I gather, HC-110 doesn't have any restrictions — but I am not an expert and might be wrong.

The last part of the statement above is strange: if a given product is classified as dangerous and its shipping is restricted by regulations, everyone has to abide to the rules, even the "unauthorized" dealers.


Cheers,
Flavio

frank said:

And thanks to you! Just ordered 17 rolls which was just enough to qualify for free shipping.

Click to expand...

Glad I could help!

I'm expecting delivery today, which is great because I've got a significant family reunion this weekend.

BrianShaw said:

I feel your pain Frank. If you want a cheaper hobby consider golf or old motorcycles. Ha ha ha.

Click to expand...

Boats, or vintage aircraft . . .

B&H's deal with UPS apparently just doesn't allow shipping any liquids.

But HC-110 is basic (in terms of pH), and bases are really bad (if spilled) for the aluminum that airplanes are often made of.

John Shriver said:

B&H's deal with UPS apparently just doesn't allow shipping any liquids.

But HC-110 is basic (in terms of pH), and bases are really bad (if spilled) for the aluminum that airplanes are often made of.

Click to expand...

Virtually anything can be shipped by air if packed right. Plenty of pH >10 materials are air shipped every day. I think flammability is a much greater limitation than corrosives.