Some Perspective On Film Prices

[RMD]

Looking through an old UK photography magazine for 1978,I noticed that you could buy Kodachrome 64 at the leading discounter for £3.34/roll incl.processing. Using U.K. Retail Price Indices this would equate to a current price of about £14/roll.

7day shop currently has this product on sale for £6.40/roll incl.processing.
They have Fuji Sensia incl. processing at £8.35

 

[Ian Grant]

Volumes are probably far higher now than 1978 which helps cut costs. Also Kodachrome is on it's way out so it could be being sold off to get rid of stocks.

Ian

 

[MattKing]

Volumes are probably far higher now than 1978 which helps cut costs. Also Kodachrome is on it's way out so it could be being sold off to get rid of stocks.

Ian

Actually Ian, I think that in 1978 Kodachrome was at its zenith as far as volumes are concerned, and that current volumes would be much lower.

Matt

 

[Ian Grant]

Matt, I was alluding to overall colour film volumes rather than a specific film. The coating plants would be more cost efficient.

No Kodachrome has been coated for some time now.

Ian

 

[pentaxuser]

It's only a feeling as my anecdotal evidence isn't enough for a conclusive statement but my feeling is that while this year's paper, chems, film etc may have risen vis a vis last years this represents a minor rise on what is a downward long term curve.

Looking at the last 20-30 years analogue photography has never been cheaper in terms of materials in real terms and secondhand camera prices have dived even more steeply than materials' prices.

Before I threw them all out, I browsed through some AP magazines of 2-5 years vintage and the F5 and F100 have nearly halved in price since then.

pentaxuser

 

[Ian Grant]

But so did the value of the $ They'll go up again in the UK soon.

Ian

 

[benjiboy]

Looking through an old UK photography magazine for 1978,I noticed that you could buy Kodachrome 64 at the leading discounter for £3.34/roll incl.processing. Using U.K. Retail Price Indices this would equate to a current price of about £14/roll.

7day shop currently has this product on sale for £6.40/roll incl.processing.
They have Fuji Sensia incl. processing at £8.35

I wonder if anyone has told Jessops they charge an incredible £13- 49 ( about $ 21 U.S ) for a roll of 135 36 exposure process paid, makes you wonder how much they pay for it.

 

[pentaxuser]

I wonder if anyone has told Jessops they charge an incredible £13- 49 ( about $ 21 U.S ) for a roll of 135 36 exposure process paid, makes you wonder how much they pay for it.

I'll second that. Jessops prices strike me as being set by a small team of "suits" in head office who work to a formula, never looking at the real analogue world and never but never having a discourse with a focus group of large branch managers who may actually know something.

I bet they could do a good NatWest ad however. They'd be "naturals"

pentaxuser