The list of "soon-to-be-discontinued" stuff by Fuji in Japan

firecracker · Sep 2, 2006

Next year, Fuji will stop their production of many darkroom photo products in the Japanese market:

http://fujifilm.jp/personal/jan/monochrome/chemical.html

http://fujifilm.jp/personal/film/monochrome/paper.html

http://fujifilm.jp/personal/film/monochrome/film.html

Shockingly they will cut the basics such as their (popular) paper developers, fix, HCA, etc. What will be left after that is very little.

I don't use any of the affected products, I'm okay. However, if the domestic giant Fuji is like this, I'm not sure how well the foreign competitors such as Kodak and Ilford will manage to survive over here. I'm a bit worried.

Oil shock, global warming, terror attacks, and this. Death is coming and it is very near.

firecracker · Sep 2, 2006

Not all of the items from these links are the affected products, but the ones with the sign in small bold letters that says so.

Photo Engineer · Sep 2, 2006

Sumimasen, ga; beikokujin wa yomukotoga dekimasen!

Eigo de kakimasu o kudasai.

PE

firecracker · Sep 2, 2006

Photo Engineer said:
Sumimasen, ga; beikokujin wa yomukotoga dekimasen!

Eigo de kakimasu o kudasai.

PE

Sorry. But there are more than a few fellow APUGers in Japan, who may to see this kind of post first for their use. Like myself, they, too live far from big cities and don't seem to have much access to cetain goods in general. They might have a lot of reliance on these affected Fuji products.

I'm not sure which ones get shipped abroad. It might be better to check with your local/regional import dealer(s) again. There was a thread on this not long ago, but that only covered the film and paper, but photo chemicals, I believe.

Anyway Fuji might be dying faster than Kodak and/or Ilford, and that is all I'm trying to say.

coriana6jp · Sep 2, 2006

Hi Firecracker,

I was just reading over the list. Strangely most of the stuff on the list are items or sizes I have never seen outside of Yodobashi Shinjuku Film Kan. Everything that they sell out here in Niigata is not even on the list. I only hope that is the end of the product discontinuations for a while. I dont use any of those products either, just the film.

At least with film, the only they are cutting for the momenet is the 30m rolls. I was in Shinjuku last week, and I actually saw people buying new enlargers, and more than 20 people inthe darkroom section at Yodobashi. So I am not sure what is happening with Fuji. The film-kan was as busy as always, one guy ahead of me bought 7 boxes of 8x10 velvia.

Not sure if it was a good day or not, but at least it did not seem to bad. Even up here in Niigata, the last few times I was buying supplies at least two or three other people were doing the same. So there is at least a fair amount of business going on. But not sure if its enough to keep Fuji going.

I have never seen any Fuji Developers or even alot of Papers for sale back n the U.S. I think Fuji has made a mistake by not exporting alot of there products. Like boxes of Acros sheet film, (they only sell quickloads), and other products. Management has made some poor choices.

Gary

Dave Wooten · Sep 2, 2006

Photo Engineer said:
Sumimasen, ga; beikokujin wa yomukotoga dekimasen!

Eigo de kakimasu o kudasai.

PE

Precisely!

coriana6jp · Sep 2, 2006

Maybe I will translate the list later. I spend 8 hours a day translating(my job), so perhaps later this morning I will do it. Too much like work......

Regards.

Photo Engineer · Sep 2, 2006

coriana6jp said:
Maybe I will translate the list later. I spend 8 hours a day translating(my job), so perhaps later this morning I will do it. Too much like work......

Regards.

Arigato gozaimasu.

PE

Photo Engineer · Sep 2, 2006

Just FYI, Fuji has concentrated on sales of E6 compatible films, and C41 films are a secondary product. (this has no reference to quality but rather to quantity of sales)

Kodak has about 90% of the motion picture market. MoPic is steady or growing. E6 products are taking the biggest hit from digital. Therefore, apart from any government support in Japan, Fuji is taking a bigger hit than Kodak by comparison.

This has been a rather 'quiet' problem with Fuji, but they are truly mortally wounded by the change in the conventional product market.

PE

coriana6jp · Sep 2, 2006

One quick note. These product discontinuations were orginally announced at the same time fuji said they were stopping production of 30metre rolls a few weeks ago. Just did not get the plublicity that the film did.

Film sales here are still quite strong, alot of people using E6, went out shooting to a rather popular waterfall last week and over 3/4 of the people were shooting film cameras. Talked with several of them, and they were all using E6 films.

THough, I know its down from years past.

gary

firecracker · Sep 2, 2006

coriana6jp said:
One quick note. These product discontinuations were orginally announced at the same time fuji said they were stopping production of 30metre rolls a few weeks ago. Just did not get the plublicity that the film did.

Right. The last notice was very much focused on the bulk film and certain RC papers. What came to my attention this time is that the discontinuation of the basic photo chemicals.

When I google for the search for some available photo chemicals in Japanese, I see a lot of websites and blogs talking about both neg and paper developers by Fuji. I'm assuming these products are the bread-and-butter types for many users. Oh, well...

Personally if we lose Kodak Dektol and Ilford Rapid Fixer and Wash Aid, we'll be in serious trouble. I guess B&H is calling...

Shmoo · Sep 2, 2006

Photo Engineer said:
Eigo de kakimasu o kudasai.

PE

I thought it was "Eigo de kaitte kudasai"...

firecracker · Sep 2, 2006

Shmoo said:
I thought it was "Eigo de kaitte kudasai"...

But on each link you can see the little pictures of the products.

Again my concern was mainly on the discontinuation of the porduction of the basic photo chemicals, which came a big supprise to me because I thought they were much more stable and accessible in the domestic market and was almost starting using them on a regular basis.

But I highly doubt these photo chemicals ever get shipped out to other countries/markets. I've never heard anyone talking about them, but who knows?

Photo Engineer · Sep 2, 2006

Shmoo said:
I thought it was "Eigo de kaitte kudasai"...

Yep. I believe you got me. Thats what comes of 2 things.

1. Old age.

2. Not using it enough.

Of course, not using Japanese often enough hardly causes the problems that old age does.

PE

srs5694 · Sep 2, 2006

firecracker said:
But I highly doubt these photo chemicals ever get shipped out to other countries/markets. I've never heard anyone talking about them, but who knows?

I've never seen Fuji B&W photochemicals or Fuji B&W paper for sale in the US. Check big retailers like B&H, Adorama, and Freestyle, and you get a big nothing. Fuji color paper is pretty common, and Fuji color chemistry is available from a few places (like Unique Photo), and Fuji B&W film is readily available, but not the B&W chemistry or B&W paper. I don't know if there's some obscure importer that sells these items, or what the situation is in South America, Europe, Australia, or elsewhere. Dead Link Removed exports some of these items from Japan to just about anywhere, but I've never bought from them.

Photo Engineer · Sep 2, 2006

Whether a Fuji product sells in the US or Timbuctu is irrelevant. The important thing is that they are discontinuing them.

This is a sign of the times.

PE

haris · Sep 3, 2006

firecracker said:
Oil shock, global warming, terror attacks, and this. Death is coming and it is very near.

And just yesterday I read in newspapers meteorologists forecast limited ice-age in near future...

momonga · Sep 6, 2006

Just noticed this thread. The links show Fuji's current line of B&W products, and some have 'this product will be discontinued March 2007' appended to their descriptions.

I was surprised Fuji is dropping Fujidol-E, its PC film developer. I used to use it quite a lot,and know many who still do. Very good results with TMax and Delta films. Had a good reputation. Also Super Prodol-L, a PQ liquid concentrate much like TMax developer. Some of the sheet film developers are also going, although I don't think that's a great loss. Unfortunately, they are keeping Super Prodol, a PQ film developer I've never liked, although it seems to have its fans (if you like S-shaped film curves, this is your developer). Very different from the similar sounding Super Prodol-L above.

Not surprised many of the paper developers are going. But they are keeping their PC paper developer.

As for film, the long 35mm rolls are going. Also Neopan Ortho (available only in 4X5). Surprised that HRII Minicopy film is hanging on.

Many of the graded RC papers are going, including Panchro for making B&W prints from color negatives. But the graded RC and FB papers are safe (for the moment). Fuji RC papers are not very popular here. Most professionals prefer Ilford and the late Agfa.

Actually, I've wondered for years how Fuji could continue to market much of this stuff.

kjsphoto · Sep 6, 2006

Are they going to discontinue Acros 100 in 120 and 35mm format? I cant read the text but I see a picture of the film on that page as well as Neopan 400?

Thanks,

Kev

firecracker · Sep 6, 2006

kjsphoto said:
Are they going to discontinue Acros 100 in 120 and 35mm format? I cant read the text but I see a picture of the film on that page as well as Neopan 400?

Thanks,

Kev

Only the bulk films (30.5m) of Neopan Acros 100 and Neopan Presto 400 and Super Presto 1600 are going to disappear, but the regular ones will survive, well at least for now.

I just got a new used 6x9 press camera, and I need 120 film rolls also on a regular basis. There are usually very few choices for that format. So, if Fuji kills more products, it will kill me, too!

firecracker · Sep 6, 2006

momonga said:
Actually, I've wondered for years how Fuji could continue to market much of this stuff.

Hegemony and subsidies, perhaps? Fuji has a chain of network all over the country and seems to have the strong government support to block certain imports. If you see the competitiveness in prices and quality, Kodak has been the competitor for films and chemicals, and Ilford is for papers.

However, the problem is that too many "moms-and-pops" local photo stores are disappearing, leading pros and photo students moving to digital products, and the hospitals and others in the medical fields... I don't know what they are doing, but I doubt if they have to keep relying on the same old film technology any more.

This is my pure instinct, nothing scientific, but don't you so to some extent?

The list of "soon-to-be-discontinued" stuff by Fuji in Japan

haris

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency