Shortage of films?

bpndy · May 30, 2022

I have been trying to get hold of 35mm and 120mm films; off late I see them either on backorder or priced insanely high. Anybody has any clue when will this end?
I have tried B&H, Adorama, Amazon.

braxus · May 31, 2022

I checked my orders from the last 10 years, and films have all doubled in price. Some films took 10 years to double, some took only a few years. That said our hobby is getting expensive. That said even with the high prices, film is still selling hot off the shelves. Im so glad my freezer is full. I really dont think it will end any time soon. For as long as Millenials like to shoot film on their Ebay camera, this will persist. Covid isn't helping either. It may take a couple years.

tommyfilmist · May 31, 2022

alot of the shortage is actually induced by the sellers.

but everythign seems to have doubled

DBP · May 31, 2022

Freestyle appears to be out of ‘normal’ 35mm C41. B&H shows only Ektar, which is a good film, but not what I am running out of. Does anyone know what is going on?

Bronson Dugnutt · May 31, 2022

The availability of retail color film is the subject of discussion in many threads here on Photrio. Here's a ten-pager that resulted from a similar inquiry from a similar post count.

In short, demand exceeds supply. There are strategies for reducing cost, but they seem to be over the heads of most casual film shooters.

Huss · May 31, 2022

bpndy said:
I have been trying to get hold of 35mm and 120mm films; off late I see them either on backorder or priced insanely high. Anybody has any clue when will this end?
I have tried B&H, Adorama, Amazon.

Try google, then filter for shopping. There are plenty of places that have film in stock. FYI Amazon has perhaps the worst prices on color film anywhere.

Sirius Glass · May 31, 2022

tommyfilmist said:
alot of the shortage is actually induced by the sellers.

but everythign seems to have doubled

How so? This is a supply line problem, the sellers have nothing personally against you except that you accuse them of something that they have not control over.

ic-racer · May 31, 2022

I just ordered a bunch of HP5. I did not see it out of stock anywhere. What film are you looking for? Why not give HP 5 a try?

gone · May 31, 2022

I went to Freestyle's website, seems to be lots of B&W 35mm films. Some bargains too: $5.89 for Arista EDU Ultra 36 exp (Foma 100), I should buy some, it's not marked low of stock or anything. $7.49 for Delta 100 36 exp, Tri-X is there in 36 exp.
Y'all must shoot different films than I do.

MattKing · May 31, 2022

Folks, this thread is in the Colour Film sub-forum!
(extra u added intentionally)

ic-racer said:
I just ordered a bunch of HP5. I did not see it out of stock anywhere. What film are you looking for? Why not give HP 5 a try?

momus said:
I went to Freestyle's website, seems to be lots of B&W 35mm films. Some bargains too: $5.89 for Arista EDU Ultra 36 exp (Foma 100), I should buy some, it's not marked low of stock or anything. $7.49 for Delta 100 36 exp, Tri-X is there in 36 exp.
Y'all must shoot different films than I do.

cmacd123 · May 31, 2022

mind you I have NEVER seen any 120mm film. (size 120 yes)

Paul Ozzello · May 31, 2022

bpndy said:
I have been trying to get hold of 35mm and 120mm films; off late I see them either on backorder or priced insanely high. Anybody has any clue when will this end?
I have tried B&H, Adorama, Amazon.

Most of it is probably in my fridge

flavio81 · May 31, 2022

bpndy said:
I have been trying to get hold of 35mm and 120mm films; off late I see them either on backorder or priced insanely high.

I think it will be very hard to find 120mm films, really. It would be easier to search for 70mm film instead.

flavio81 · May 31, 2022

Paul Ozzello said:
Most of it is probably in my fridge

So it was YOUR fault, fatso!! End of thread, we found the culprit.

Huss · May 31, 2022

MattKing said:
Folks, this thread is in the Colour Film sub-forum!
(extra u added intentionally)

You could use that technique to shoot three B&w images with red, blue and green(yellow)? filters and merge them into one colour image.

Huss · May 31, 2022

Huss said:
Try google, then filter for shopping. There are plenty of places that have film in stock. FYI Amazon has perhaps the worst prices on color film anywhere.

I still dont understand why people cannot just go to google and find color film for sale, in stock. Just now it took me a few seconds.

Or we could just engage in my favorite past time, which is sit around and needlessly complain.

Marcelo Paniagua · May 31, 2022

I don't think prices for color film will ever go down in the near future. Demand currently is moderarately high but not high enough to justify producing film in higher volumens more so on color films. There is higher demand for b&w since it is cheaper to process but color is more expensive to process so it keep the volumen down.

MattKing · Jun 1, 2022

There is far, far, far more colour film made and sold by the Kodaks than black and white.
Ilford sells more black and white than Kodak does.
But the Kodaks sell far more film than Ilford does.
In the Kodak world, they are beset by a huge number of difficulties that originate outside their control.
Just to pick one example from one of my sources:
The film base…cellulose tri-acetate base to be specific. Very limited suppliers in the world with limited machinery and increasing competitive demand.

bpndy · Jun 1, 2022

MattKing said:
Folks, this thread is in the Colour Film sub-forum!
(extra u added intentionally)

Thanks for the correction, I did not even notice the spelling mistake! Americans spell many words wrong (colour, centre to name a few), pronounce letter Z wrong (Zee) and even drive on the incorrect side

NB23 · Jun 1, 2022

braxus said:
I checked my orders from the last 10 years, and films have all doubled in price. Some films took 10 years to double, some took only a few years. That said our hobby is getting expensive. That said even with the high prices, film is still selling hot off the shelves. Im so glad my freezer is full. I really dont think it will end any time soon. For as long as Millenials like to shoot film on their Ebay camera, this will persist. Covid isn't helping either. It may take a couple years.

Please make sure that your money hasn’t halved in value instead.

bpndy · Jun 1, 2022

I also learnt that USA has banned import of Fuji Velvia due to some environmental concerns.

bpndy · Jun 1, 2022

I know, I am an Indian myself (living in USA). That's why I was making the joke

Huss · Jun 1, 2022

braxus said:
.. For as long as Millenials like to shoot film on their Ebay camera, this will persist. Covid isn't helping either. It may take a couple years.

What is an ebay camera?

madNbad · Jun 1, 2022

Huss said:
What is an ebay camera?

It a”minty” one.

I still don’t know if that means it’s in great condition or has a fresh scent.

Down Under · Jun 1, 2022

In a word - yes.

In this insane day and age, the term "cheap film" is an oxymoron. There ain't so such thing any more, and the sooner you accept this and learn to live with it, the better you will be.

Sadly, film is now becoming a niche product. The days of $2 a roll 35mm stock is long gone. 120 now requires a bank overdraft or a well-lubed credit card to buy, at least in five-packs. An Ebay retail seller in Australia is now asking $24 for one roll of Provia 120, which makes every exposure cost $2. Who in their right mind will pay this inflated price??

We are all being force-driven into the pixels-age. Conspiracy or not, the high-inflation-for-everything world we are now fast moving into will see the end of budget analog photography. This is sad, but like many other unfair things,

To repeat myself (as we old duffers tend to do a lot), we have to accept this and learn to live with it.

Shortage of films?

bpndy

braxus

tommyfilmist

DBP

Bronson Dugnutt

Huss

Sirius Glass

ic-racer

gone

MattKing

Moderator

cmacd123

Paul Ozzello

flavio81

flavio81

Huss

Huss

Marcelo Paniagua

MattKing

Moderator

bpndy

NB23

bpndy

bpndy

Huss

madNbad

Down Under

Shortage of films?

Moderator

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency