Some "good" film news...

[ChristopherCoy]

Some real world, first hand news...

Day before yesterday I went over to the local camera shop, Houston Camera Exchange, to pick up some bulk film cassettes. I was surprised to see how much analog things they had. Just a few years ago their analog materials were contained to one three foot wide, four or five shelf high fixture in the back corner of the store. They've expanded some and now their paper and chemicals are on two 4 or 5 foot long shelfs, and 5 or 6 shelfs high right when you walk in the front door. They had plenty of Ilford and Kodak chemicals, and plenty of paper as well. They also had a whole wall section for negative archival sheets.

In the back, they had not 1, but 2 display cases with analog cameras and lenses. I was surprised to see that they had FOUR Nikon F's in stock, and even had an S3. They had a ton of manual focus lenses across all brands as well. The other case had Pentax bodies and a few other brands. Just a couple years ago, I walked in with an F100 around my neck and was told "haven't seen one of those in here in a while"

Their film selection looked like it had been increased as well. It used to be kept in a small refrigerated unit, one that might hold a few sodas in front of the cash register at the grocery store, and now they had an entire display case full of film right up near the register.

I starting chatting with the employee and mentioned that it was good to see them back open again. Since the pandemic started, the only thing you were able to do was phone in an order and pick it up in the parking lot without getting out of your car. I also mentioned that it was nice to see the amount of used analog gear they had. The employee mentioned that as of recently, they have been selling analog gear almost more than digital. She stated that digital sales were down significantly and people just weren't trading in DSLR's and upgrading like they used to. She said that recently a customer brought his camera back to them for a CLA. When he bought it from them some years ago it was dirt cheap, and now they would have given him a few hundred more than what he paid for it just to be able to resell it.

 

[Trail Images]

I'd mostly worked on line for years as most local camera stores had gone out of business here in our area. So this is a pleasant bit of good news at least in the Houston area.....Enjoy the post pandemic opening of that store.

 

[Pitotshock]

Here in the Ottawa, Canada area we have a small store that has hung onto to film and darkroom and he has a group of loyal followers. In recent years a large number of young people have taken an interest in film and have been buying up lots of stuff. He carries an insane variety of films from all the small players. Here, the availability of medium format is way down and the shop owner cannot keep one in stock. The market is insatiable for medium format stuff. Still, it is a tiny fraction of photo takers who are doing film these days, though.

 

[juan]

Maybe Kodak relaxed their purchase amount for a store to be a dealer. A dozen years ago, my local dealer had to buy $60,000 at a time. They couldn’t sell it all before it expired.

 

[MattKing]

Maybe Kodak relaxed their purchase amount for a store to be a dealer. A dozen years ago, my local dealer had to buy $60,000 at a time. They couldn’t sell it all before it expired.

Kodak (Alaris or Eastman) no longer has dealers - they don't deal directly with retailers (or end users). They only sell to distributors.
I'm surprised about the $60,000.00 figure. Back when I was in retail, a Kodak dealer in Canada only had to buy a few hundred dollars worth of materials at a time, although there were price advantages if the dealer bought more.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I've noticed the same at the shop in local mall. Ten years ago, they had one roll of HP5, and one or two types of colour film. The manager at the time was a dink, and would always say to me, "film is dead". Oh the arguments I had with him! Walk in there now and find a display case with many different B/W films, Polaroid films, Instax, Ilford paper (RC), and chemicals. They also have some used gear. The new manager is a young guy who uses film. Film is dead my backside!

 

[ChristopherCoy]

Film is dead my backside!

There was certainly less megapixels in the air! Even the displays seemed smaller. It was refreshing.

 

[Cholentpot]

Local place here moved the film section from the back of the store to the front. Another shop had cameras hanging from wires as a window display. Now they're in a case for sale.

 

[AnselMortensen]

My local camera store, Kaufmann's, in San Bruno, CA has a great film camera & accessory selection.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I should add that I live in the burbs. Big city Vancouver has Beau Photo, which has always had a decent film/darkroom section.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

The last time I was at B&H in NYC a few years ago, their film section no longer had a refrigerator or freezer as far as I could tell.

 

[Agulliver]

My local - Luton Camera Repairs (just north of London UK) has been doing increasingly more analogue/film business for several years. Has been sold out of colour 135 and 120 film for most of the last 18 months and cannot get enough. Their main display in the window, which attracts customers, is two 16mm movie projectors alongside both analogue and digital cameras and some tripods with a Bolex 16mm camera. Inside the vast majority of the shop is film cameras and lenses from vintage to 1990s. they have NOS compact 35mm cameras on display, they have even sold NOS slide projectors in recent months. Full service Agfa dLab for film processing, printing and scanning in 135, 120, 110, 126 and 127 on site. I was in there just last week collecting a repaired camera (their speciality) and a young man came in with a 1960s camera for repair. The shop seems to be doing well, was operating via "click and collect" during the lockdowns. Proper, traditional shop which has been open over 50 years and has only had two owners I think. Dedicated, enthusiastic staff who I cannot praise sufficiently.

 

[guangong]

Declining sales in consumer digital is to be expected, because the casual picture taker now uses cell phone or iPad. Sale of low end digital cameras plunged in past few years. Future digital camera market will be confined to professional and some prosumer cameras. These appeal to those who enjoy sitting at computer, as well as economic advantage for professionals. However, I can buy a lifetime supply of film and processing for cost of one Hasselblad digital back.
Perhaps the expression should be changed to “Photography is not dead.” With the use of film being assumed.

 

[Paul Howell]

The Camera Shop nearist me, Wilson Camera was sold, the new owners are now carrying a nice wide selection of film, they kept their C41 processor added an E6 processor, and replaced the R4 printer with an upgraded inkjet. No chemistry or paper, but will adding an improved selection of used gear, digital and film. There was a lot of film hanging ready to be printed.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Some real world, first hand news...

Day before yesterday I went over to the local camera shop, Houston Camera Exchange, to pick up some bulk film cassettes. I was surprised to see how much analog things they had. Just a few years ago their analog materials were contained to one three foot wide, four or five shelf high fixture in the back corner of the store. They've expanded some and now their paper and chemicals are on two 4 or 5 foot long shelfs, and 5 or 6 shelfs high right when you walk in the front door. They had plenty of Ilford and Kodak chemicals, and plenty of paper as well. They also had a whole wall section for negative archival sheets.

In the back, they had not 1, but 2 display cases with analog cameras and lenses. I was surprised to see that they had FOUR Nikon F's in stock, and even had an S3. They had a ton of manual focus lenses across all brands as well. The other case had Pentax bodies and a few other brands. Just a couple years ago, I walked in with an F100 around my neck and was told "haven't seen one of those in here in a while"

Their film selection looked like it had been increased as well. It used to be kept in a small refrigerated unit, one that might hold a few sodas in front of the cash register at the grocery store, and now they had an entire display case full of film right up near the register.

I starting chatting with the employee and mentioned that it was good to see them back open again. Since the pandemic started, the only thing you were able to do was phone in an order and pick it up in the parking lot without getting out of your car. I also mentioned that it was nice to see the amount of used analog gear they had. The employee mentioned that as of recently, they have been selling analog gear almost more than digital. She stated that digital sales were down significantly and people just weren't trading in DSLR's and upgrading like they used to. She said that recently a customer brought his camera back to them for a CLA. When he bought it from them some years ago it was dirt cheap, and now they would have given him a few hundred more than what he paid for it just to be able to resell it.

aslong as there are people willing o buy ilm, there will be people willing o make and sell film.

 

[TheGreatGasMaskMan]

and I was just told by my friend at my camera store he's now running film three times a week, vs once.

 

[Huss]

My local - Luton Camera Repairs (just north of London UK) has been doing increasingly more analogue/film business for several years. Has been sold out of colour 135 and 120 film for most of the last 18 months and cannot get enough. .

That's on him when you can get it from lots of different places all the time. Even in England!

For example..
https://analoguewonderland.co.uk

 

[Huss]

and I was just told by my friend at my camera store he's now running film three times a week, vs once.

My shop down the street runs it daily.
Luckily for me they stayed open throughout the pandemic as they were considered an essential service.

 

[TheGreatGasMaskMan]

My shop down the street runs it daily.
Luckily for me they stayed open throughout the pandemic as they were considered an essential service.

yea... mine closed down for two weeks and I fell behind on my c41 devs and all scans. as of right now, I'm about two months backogged as I've limited how many rolls I can drop off. scanning is another thing though....

(for reference, I do my own bw developing, and use a lab for e6)

 

[Robert Maxey]

I'd mostly worked on line for years as most local camera stores had gone out of business here in our area. So this is a pleasant bit of good news at least in the Houston area.....Enjoy the post pandemic opening of that store.

Had we stayed in business, we would have moved away from film and into the digital world. Film and paper were largely gone. What we loved to do was gone. Our premier brands--Leica, Linhof and Hasselblad slowly grew too costly to sell and we would have fewer customers for our darkroom services.

Digital arrives and suddenly, people want their pictures in a blink of an eye and they would have printed them at home, so no expensive Kodak printing or processing. The Internet grows up and suddenly, people shop there. We simply could not realistically compete.

Brick and mortar stores...gosh darn bless them one and all, but we would have starved. It was bad enough having to close after a hundred plus years, but either bend to the majority will of the people or shrivel up and die.

B and M stores have a hard time these days.

Bob

 

[Trail Images]

B and M stores have a hard time these days.

Totally agree, Bob. It breaks my heart to see some of those old B&M's failing. As I've aged, edgy medical issues, and the pandemic too has driven many of us underground so to speak. Not as bad as the Morlocks from the movie the Time Machine, but you get the idea. Sadly the world is changing at light speed leaving an old dinosaur like me trying to hang on to the old memories anyway.

 

[Robert Maxey]

Totally agree, Bob. It breaks my heart to see some of those old B&M's failing. As I've aged, edgy medical issues, and the pandemic too has driven many of us underground so to speak. Not as bad as the Morlocks from the movie the Time Machine, but you get the idea. Sadly the world is changing at light speed leaving an old dinosaur like me trying to hang on to the old memories anyway.

I have many interests: Fountain pens, vintage this and that, among others.

I just ordered some parts no store in UT can sell me. And if they by happenstance had a part lying around, they lack the knowledge needed to discuss the project. Here in Salt Lake City, No B/M store can cater to my needs and some of the B/M stores sell on the Internet. Not all, but a few.

I think what the internet has done is make it possible to easily cater to any interest. Brick and mortar stores cant compete. Cost much money to open a store.

Bob

 

[pentaxuser]

Bob, given this is a good news thread with what appears to be a new lease of life for analogue photo stores, do you see the conditions with which you were faced in #20 to be a "thing of the past" now and would it be worthwhile to resume the kind of business you once had?

Thanks

pentaxuser

 

[Robert Maxey]

Bob, given this is a good news thread with what appears to be a new lease of life for analogue photo stores, do you see the conditions with which you were faced in #20 to be a "thing of the past" now and would it be worthwhile to resume the kind of business you once had?

Thanks

pentaxuser

I worked for Bill Shipler Photo. We started in the 1800's. Because Kodak is largely no more, my way of printing would have to stop. No way would that ever come back and no way I would ever run a store. It was a special place and every place you looked, you would see the past. Like a full box of old cameras, new, still with film and corroded batteries and warranty cards. We kept everything, tossed nothing. Even boxes of sales receipts and invoices going back many decades were kept.

I really try to support local shops, but sadly, i can't. And I am not sure what the answer is.

Bob

 

[Robert Maxey]

General query: do you all support your local lab? If so, how do they (generally) compare for mail-order processing and printing? One of the very last rolls of slides I had locally processed came back ruined. They were stereo and i said NO MOUNTING. They figured out a way to spoil my day.

Perhaps we should all pay a little more for things locally.

Bob