Prices of film today

Xmas · Sep 26, 2014

Hi Ricardo

Maybe in your FG20, but not in my CanonP.

Noel

'George' off Oxford street 2.75£
silver print 135 3.08£
http://shop.silverprint.co.uk/Foma-Fomapan-400/products/197/

AgX · Sep 26, 2014

bibowj said:
Where else can I/should I look to buy film besides the megastores.

I buy colour neg. film for general use locally at drugstore chains. There I can get 135-36 for low as 0.80 . Whereas colour reversal film there is 5.50 . Colour reversal 35mm for me is cheaper in bulk.

B&W 35mm film I buy at german dealers in bulk.

Athiril · Sep 26, 2014

What drug store sells for 0.80 Euro?

darkosaric · Sep 26, 2014

Athiril said:
What drug store sells for 0.80 Euro?

DM in Hamburg (www.dm.de) sells color films (iso 200) for little more than 1.

baachitraka · Sep 26, 2014

Rossmann sells pack for three, ISO 200 C-41 film for around Euro 2.50

Test Results: Dead Link Removed

darkosaric · Sep 26, 2014

Maybe we in Germany should buy those films from Rossmann and sell them on UK ebay ?

baachitraka · Sep 26, 2014

Actaully IS0 200 film from Rossmann is not that bad at all.

I buy from Rossmann and develop in D&M for Euro 0.95 with index.

RattyMouse · Sep 26, 2014

Ken Nadvornick said:
Sales and deals of any products are designed to temporarily reduce price in order to temporarily increase market share, with the hope that when prices revert some of that newly acquired share will remain (and the competition will be hurt).

The hard fact these days is that the overall market for film has severely contracted over the last decade. And with it the motivation to offer sales and deals. Companies can no longer afford to temporarily offer lower-priced sales in order to increase their market share a few percentage points, when those points translate into only a small number of actual customers.

They need every penny they can get to survive. And if we also want them to survive so we may continue to practice film photography, then we are going to have to economize a bit elsewhere in our budgets to make room for the continued purchase of more expensive film.

It would not take much if everyone said "Cheaper or nothing" for the final outcome to indeed become nothing.

Ken

Film prices are fine the way they are. Heck I'd pay more, much much more, for the return of some films. I dropped $200 buying some Astia film recently. If Fujifilm brought Astia back I'd pay well over $10 per roll for it. Such a great, great film. I can't believe they just dropped it.

RattyMouse · Sep 26, 2014

The only way I try to lower my film costs is by buying from places that don't charge sales taxes. Less money for corrupt governments, more money for film makers.

darkosaric · Sep 26, 2014

RattyMouse said:
The only way I try to lower my film costs is by buying from places that don't charge sales taxes. Less money for corrupt governments, more money for film makers.

Something like in the movie "Man without a past" ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311519/ ):

- But you need a bank account.

-- Can't you pay me in cash, like in the old days?

- And how do you suppose the banks would survive? No one could control the way you spend your money.

GarageBoy · Sep 26, 2014

Luckily, B&H/Adorama ARE my local shops...

Even at Fotocare/K&M prices aren't too much higher

removed account4 · Sep 26, 2014

OP

while it would be nice if the companies advertised i don't really think it is money well spent at this point.
they have "stuff" on the web, and i imagine it is more cost effective than multi million dollar advertising campaigns.

buy mail order or buy local.
i am broke, flat broke, so i can't afford to buy my film local anymore ( plus everything is a special order )
and for the better part of 15 years except for a few times, i haven't bought anything but expired film
and bought film from friends because suits my purposes fine ..
on a similar note, i don't print my own color or commercial / work
and i used to send it out to a lab across the country to get it in 2 days in a box on my doorstep but i realized
a few years ago the printer down the street does as good if not better work, and costs almost the same,
i don't mind paying a few dollars extra to stop by, say hello drop off the "negatives / files &c " and pick them up again.
keeps her in business and she is the last lab around here. and when people ask who printed it, i direct more business her way.

mr rusty said:
1 film = 1 pint premium beer in a London pub. Film lasts longer.

thats why i make my own beer, and make my own dry plates and paper.

Ko.Fe. · Sep 26, 2014

Yes, B&H for regular bulk film and ebay for discounted film like Shanghai and Polypan.

I don't have very local stores nearby, the only one in my town is Walmart where I buy and process C-41 film.
Where are two good ones on some distance and one doesn't have film at all, another has limited choice and I buy from them as well.
All chemicals and paper also from local stores.

DREW WILEY · Sep 26, 2014

The problem with mega-outfits like Amazon is that, the more they succeed at establishing monopolies of distribution and knock more and more
local independent businesses out forever, the less choice you'll end up having with either price or selection, even quality. Look what they've done to bookstores. Feed the tapeworm if you must, but once it gets too big, it will kill off its own host and they'll both die. This kind of marketing hegemony, just like the big boxes, accounts for entire manufacturing sources going down, one after another. I'm not guessing. That's their game plan - get to the point where the surviving suppliers are under their own thumb. And they might have a vested interest in seeing film go extinct entirely, so they can sell their own electronic novelties. You might disagree with me, but it's something to think about.

David Lyga · Sep 26, 2014

This is the central reason why I have studied, at length, how to expose and process age-fogged film, including the exact usage of benzotriazole in developer. I NEVER take a chance, but always do a clip test with any questionable roll. The results usually are truly superb but, again, one HAS to know the actual speed (clip test) and the necessary development time (clip test).

My rather recent lengthy post on how to employ C-41 film as B&W film I consider to be a gold mine of frugal insight on this matter: color film is usually cheaper than traditional B&W, and the chemicals used are the same as for B&W processing. Here, again: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

It is not rocket science, but, still, scary and highly unusual for most to fathom doing. It necessitates taking the time with each roll, but it truly is worth it. To save precious inches of film I load in the dark, anchoring the film, with tape, to the take-up spool on the film advance lever. This dark loading also allows me to expose as many frames as I want to, without undue waste. It possibly is another example of how wacky I can be ... but my large repository of film, guaranteeing availablilty for a long time to come, posits otherwise. With this foresight, I am content. - David Lyga

ME Super · Sep 26, 2014

I buy local where I can. Ilford HP5+, Kodak Ektar and Portra, and the occasional roll of Kodak 400 are local. The local camera shop has Precise CT 100 for 9.99/roll. I can't have it shipped from B&H for that price, so once I run out of my current stash of Provia 100F, I'll be buying that locally too. Wittner Chrome 200D comes from Germany and take about 2 weeks to get here. Velvia 50 and Rollei IR400S come from B&H because I can't get those locally. I can get the Provia locally but it's cheaper to pay the shipping and get it from B&H so if the local shop stops carrying the Precisa 100 (which is really rebadged Provia) then that will come from B&H or Adorama. Eagerly awaiting the release of the Ferrania Chrome too.

I do have a budget so I'm somewhat price sensitive, but try to buy local and get the best deal I can.

NJH · Sep 27, 2014

Like many in the UK I can get Agfa Vista 200 for £1 a roll from the local £1 shop, I quite like the stuff but much prefer colour slide film. Boots the pharmacist chain always have their promotion going which brings Ilford XP2s down to a bit over £5 a roll if you buy 2 so I buy that there rather than bother with mail order. My not so local pro lab sells quite a bit of film but their prices are not always so good and their stock is often old.

AgX · Sep 30, 2014

AgX said:
I buy colour neg. film for general use locally at drugstore chains. There I can get 135-36 for low as 0.80 . Whereas colour reversal film there is 5.50 .

That is one chain. The competing other major chain has prices meanwhile about 50% higher. ( A sign that films no longer are seen as commodities where one retailers adjusts prices to those of the competitor. Well, they have lost that status for sure, but prices at those chains were more equal in the past.)

madgardener · Sep 30, 2014

Actually I find that the my local Community College bookstore has a pretty good price on film. HP5+ and Tmax is selling for $4US a roll and Tri-X is selling for $4.50US a roll for 36 exposure.

Here in NE PA, we have a couple of good arts schools and the other colleges around here are still teaching traditional photography.

hdeyong · Oct 1, 2014

I still don't understand why I can buy Tri-X, made in the US, cheaper here in France than in Canada and most of the US, and I can get HP5+, made in the UK, cheaper in the US than I can in France.
A real head-scratcher.

madgardener · Oct 1, 2014

hdeyong said:
I still don't understand why I can buy Tri-X, made in the US, cheaper here in France than in Canada and most of the US, and I can get HP5+, made in the UK, cheaper in the US than I can in France.
A real head-scratcher.

This is from a non economist so YMMV, but I suspect there are several things in play.

First is economy of scale, North America has many more people than France does. Second would be taxes, Europe as a whole has much higher taxes, third would be competition, With places like Adorama, B&H,Freestyle, Amazon, etc. there is a lot of competition which keeps prices low. If someone is ordering a pallet of something, they get a better price than someone simply ordering a case.

AgX · Oct 1, 2014

Wholesale or even net retail prices of the same product can vary worldwide depending on retailer-, tax- or general consumer-situation.

Before falling out of a certain market a manufacturer, importer etc. rather cuts down his profits.

The whole grey-market lived on such differences.

ciniframe · Oct 1, 2014

This thread must have hit a nerve, I can see why. Well, at least I don't have to feel guilty for not supporting a local camera store. There are none within 50 miles and that would be Seattle, a place I avoid like it was a soiled diaper. B&H and Freestyle are my go-to suppliers but I am careful and stingy when I shoot. I get twice the number of frames on 35mm because in that film size I mostly use half frame. In 120 I'm even more careful, treat it more like large format. In 4x5.....well so far I've only used paper. Oh well, what are you going to do? Ride with it I guess.

Kyle M. · Oct 1, 2014

I mainly buy from B&H and it's usually Tmax 100. Last year when I started shooting medium format I hoarded up 200+ rolls of 120 Tmax 100 over a couple months, in 9 months I shot about 20-25 rolls. About two months ago I sold what was left and went back to 35mm, buying 30 rolls of Tmax 100 35mm 36exp. from B&H. That was two months ago and I've only shot 4 rolls. I'm pretty sure those remaining 26 rolls will last me quite some time. I am lucky enough to live about an hours drive from "Imagine That" owned by Leslie Lazenby of Film Photography Project fame, I make it up there about once every two months and buy a few rolls. The other nearest places are an hour in the opposite direction in Columbus OH and I hardly ever make it down there. I think I've bought film from Midwest Photo Exchange all of once.

andrew.roos · Oct 2, 2014

I just bought some Delta 400 in 120 format for ZAR 120 per roll. Kind of poetic. That translates to US$10.69, excluding VAT - but given our volatile exchange rate, that could be $9 or $12 per roll by the weekend! I buy from Ilford's South African distributor in Johannesburg and buy ZAR 2,000 ($180) at a time (not all film) so I get free shipping.

Prices of film today

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