Tariffs and Film and Paper prices

[GregY]

Is this stuff still made?

It appears to be. Peter Turnley told me his digital files were being printed on baryta paper. I'd never hear of a digital enlarger. All greek to an analog worker.

 

[lecarp]

I just ordered a used lens from MAP camera in Japan. I asked and they are covering any potential added tariffs. Must be a nightmare for Ebay and online people. No way Leica can operate with a 25% tariff added to their products. There will be plenty of cameras for everyone outside of the US.

So, tariffs will apply to used merchandise? If so, from individuals or businesses? I thought import Duty (if applicable)covers fees for items like this.

 

[mshchem]

So, tariffs will apply to used merchandise? If so, from individuals or businesses? I thought import Duty (if applicable)covers fees for items like this.

I don't know. I don't think anyone really knows.

 

[bfilm]

Is this stuff still made?

Yes, I think so.

Weldon Color Lab, Los Angeles, offers printing service on the fiber base paper

The Darkroom, San Clemente, offers much less expensive printing on the resin coated paper

Harman Lab US, San Clemente, offers printing service on the resin coated paper (this might be The Darkroom)

Harman Lab UK, Mobberley, offers printing service on the resin coated paper

Metro Imaging, London, offers printing service on either fiber base or resin coated paper

Picto, Paris, offers printing service (B&W Photo Print on Lambda) on either fiber base or resin coated paper

 

[MattKing]

So, tariffs will apply to used merchandise? If so, from individuals or businesses? I thought import Duty (if applicable)covers fees for items like this.

Duty is chargeable on both new and used goods, based on where the goods originated, not on where you happen to be importing from.

And with respect to "tariffs", I repeat a post from another thread:

Technically, the tariff is the rule or set of rules which set out what the rates of duty are.
Tariffs often also specify other terms - e.g. import restrictions - as well as sometimes other taxes such as excise tax and excise duty.
So not surprisingly, when people throw around the term "tariff", they are meaning one thing, while using a term that actually means something else.
Something that photographers are fairly familiar with.
As an example, in table form, here are some of the USA tariff provisions that are relevant to photography:

 

[DREW WILEY]

There are big laser printers around. And there are certain brands which can still be purchased new ($$$$$). They're mostly used for RA4 color printing, and require dedicated throughput XY roll cutters, the laser printer itself, and then output into the roller transport processor and dryer, plus a scanner of course. Bob Carnie of this forum might have experience with one.

 

[bfilm]

I'd never hear of a digital enlarger. All greek to an analog worker.

Yeah, I don't usually hear them referred to as enlargers, like Harman referred to them in that description. But these are the same laser exposure machines that the silver gelatin color prints are made with: the Durst Lambda, Océ LightJet, and Polielettronica LaserLab, and they can also be made on the minilab laser exposure printers like those from Fujifilm and Noritsu.

 

[abruzzi]

So, tariffs will apply to used merchandise? If so, from individuals or businesses? I thought import Duty (if applicable)covers fees for items like this.

yup. A few years ago I bought a used Arca Swiss camera from an eBay seller in Canada. I was charged a little under $200 duty for that. In November of this year I bought a used Nord Wave keyboard (made in Sweden) from a seller in Japan, and I knocked for a duty as well.

 

[bfilm]

There are big laser printers around. And there are certain brands which can still be purchased new ($$$$$).

I think the Polielettronica LaserLab printers are the only ones still available new.

And also the silver halide minilab printers from Fujifilm and Noritsu.

 

[koraks]

I have the impression that

As said, my impression based on actual direct conversations with the people involved deviates a little from yours. That's about as much detail as I'm going to publicly give.

Also, re: "as with everything in analog photography": this business has virtually nothing to do with analog photography. The virtually exclusive bulk of this business is, and has been for the last 20+ years, digital print.

 

[foc]

chromogenic RA4 printing paper,

I remember RA4 chromogenic B&W paper from Konica in the early 1990s. It was aimed at minilabs so they could offer B&W prints for the amateur market, at the time.

Then along came the Fuji Frontier & Noritsu and at the press of a button a B&W image could be printed on RA4 colour paper (greyscale/desaturate).

IIRC the Konica RA4 B&W paper was prone to fade fairly quickly. Images could fade to magenta within 6 months.

 

[BrianShaw]

So, tariffs will apply to used merchandise? If so, from individuals or businesses? I thought import Duty (if applicable)covers fees for items like this.

Definitions: import duty is tax collected on imported goods; tariff is the tax rate.

So far, only the rates and exclusion has been changed. The other rules that can be found easily, but not necessarily easily understood, are unaffected. As of now…

EDIT: just saw that Matt covered this, including the all-important trade restrictions, but I won’t delete and leave a snarky remark.

 

[Sal Santamaura]

...The Darkroom, San Clemente, offers much less expensive printing on the resin coated paper

Harman Lab US, San Clemente, offers printing service on the resin coated paper (this might be The Darkroom)...

Actually, those two are both nothing more than marketing initiatives of Swan Photo Labs, which has been here in San Clemente since 1993.

 

[pentaxuser]

It appears to be. Peter Turnley told me his digital files were being printed on baryta paper. I'd never hear of a digital enlarger. All greek to an analog worker.

Yes me too. Beta if I nu more about digital

pentaxuser

 

[DREW WILEY]

Actual digital enlargers have been made, including by DeVere, but they never caught on.

 

[bfilm]

It appears to be. Peter Turnley told me his digital files were being printed on baryta paper.

One must also differentiate, though, because nowadays some inkjet papers are made with baryta coating to mock real silver gelatin prints. For example, Hahnemühle Photo Silk Baryta X 310 is an inkjet paper.

But Harman GDS is real silver gelatin paper optimized for use on the laser exposure printing machines instead of on the darkroom enlarger where the Ilford silver gelatin papers are used.

 

[Carnie Bob]

Actual digital enlargers have been made, including by DeVere, but they never caught on.

Devere did make a digital enlarger, it did not take on due to resolution issues, A lab in New Mexico were the first to use one, I purchased my Lambda in the early 2000's and was the first world wide to do silver gelatin mural prints using laser device, at the time 2002 we used Agfa Classic in the machine using safelight, in 2006 Ilford introduced their version which is red sensitive so one had to use total darkness. I scrolled my prints through by hand in big trays and large troughs, I got rid of my Lambda in 2021 as I was one of few who were commercially doing BW silver, and at the time was making BW Prints via enlarger, via Lambda and inkjet neg to contact print as well as inkjet BW. This was just after the recession called Covid and I ripped the bandaid and sold the unit for scrap, it saved me space and have not looked back. When I need big silver murals now over 30 x 40 I recommend Griffin Editions in Brooklyn , they are first rate and very cool group of printers.

 

[bfilm]

When I need big silver murals now over 30 x 40 I recommend Griffin Editions in Brooklyn , they are first rate and very cool group of printers.

Yes, I should have put them on the list above. They call it "Laser-Exposed (LE) Silver Gelatin Printing". They are expensive, but it is a full-featured service with two proofs. They also make analog darkroom prints.

 

[darinwc]

Everything is going to be OK. We've already been through the most inflationary period in my 68 year life. And that's a fact. I'm confident that an equilibrium is at hand on trade deficits and we'll all be better off for it in the long term. Look at it this way... photographic paper prices are presently prohibitive to a paralyzing degree. The only possible direction in that can only be an improvement at this juncture.

Eh? Don't remember the late 70s???

 

[DREW WILEY]

Yep, equilibrium inevitably occurs sooner or later when the ship sinks, and thousands of small businesses permanently go under with it.

 

[Kino]

Yep, equilibrium inevitably occurs sooner or later when the ship sinks, and thousands of small businesses permanently go under with it.

Yes, the new 104% tariff on Chinese goods will certainly cause equilibrium on Shen Hao, Seagull and darkroom goods...

 

[Melvin J Bramley]

Way too many posts on this subject to crawl through.
Just guessing but if the US puts tariffs on film and paper , surely the Europeans and the UK will export directly to Canada?
Americans can then smuggle darkroom supplies from Canada to the US , just like eggs!?

 

[GregY]

Way too many posts on this subject to crawl through.
Just guessing but if the US puts tariffs on film and paper , surely the Europeans and the UK will export directly to Canada?
Americans can then smuggle darkroom supplies from Canada to the US , just like eggs!?

Melvin... Amplis in Canada is already the importer for Ilford products. Foma is imported by LightPro...another Canadian company.... neither comes in via the USA.

 

[c41]

Hoping this doesn't impact Ilford manufacturing costs within the UK. Does anyone have any idea on that?
I'm happy to avoid purchasing or selling from/to the USA (from here in Australia) and use non-US suppliers for everything. No more Kodak for some time but hoping Ilford can weather this storm.

 

[GregY]

Hoping this doesn't impact Ilford manufacturing costs within the UK. Does anyone have any idea on that?
I'm happy to avoid purchasing or selling from/to the USA (from here in Australia) and use non-US suppliers for everything. No more Kodak for some time but hoping Ilford can weather this storm.

There may in fact be increased sales for Ilford products in other countries....