The price of film

david b · Mar 19, 2008

I was just doing a bit of "budgeting" for an upcoming project and Ilford FP4+ is now at $4 a roll for 120 film.

Freestyle has it at $3.99
B&H has it at $3.95
Calumet has it at $4.09

Did I miss a price increase somewhere?

RoBBo · Mar 19, 2008

Do they sell it in bulk rolls? Might be time to start doing that a bit.

markbb · Mar 19, 2008

it's £1.55 over here ( USD 3.00).

PVia · Mar 19, 2008

David...it's the dollar. All foreign goods are high right now.

David A. Goldfarb · Mar 19, 2008

And I think there was a price increase not too long ago of around 10%. It may have taken a while for the new stock to work its way through the shops.

trotkiller · Mar 19, 2008

I'm not sure what you are complaining about...

In my part of the world you are looking at about US$ 6-7 for a roll of FP4

Mick Fagan · Mar 19, 2008

And if you wish to purchase FP4+ in 135 format in Australia, you will pay $8.86 USD at the current prices.

Trust me when I say, you people up there, when it comes to high prices for film, have it very, very cheap.

I have been purchasing all of my film for the last couple of years from overseas.

Landed in this country, including freight, FP4+ 4x5 sheets, are currently 51.4% cheaper than walking into any local store in this country, if I purchase it from the USA right now.

I have also bought Ilford film from Germany, currently it is 35% cheaper landed than purchasing it here.

The only place where there is no real gain, is if I purchase it from a UK store, their freight charges are something else.

Whilst your dollar goes under a limbo bar, you will just have to grin and bear it.

But please remember, compared to anywhere else, it is so cheap in your country!

Mick.

Sino · Mar 19, 2008

Dollar going down or not, I've recently bought some rolls of FP4+ for 5 euros each (7.85 $). And I live in Europe! Seems like cheaper films ordered from other countries is my only option too, if I am to keep shooting whilst having something eatable in the fridge too.

-Sino.

usagisakana · Mar 19, 2008

Mick Fagan said:
And if you wish to purchase FP4+ in 135 format in Australia, you will pay $8.86 USD at the current prices.

Trust me when I say, you people up there, when it comes to high prices for film, have it very, very cheap.

I have been purchasing all of my film for the last couple of years from overseas.

Landed in this country, including freight, FP4+ 4x5 sheets, are currently 51.4% cheaper than walking into any local store in this country, if I purchase it from the USA right now.

I have also bought Ilford film from Germany, currently it is 35% cheaper landed than purchasing it here.

The only place where there is no real gain, is if I purchase it from a UK store, their freight charges are something else.

Whilst your dollar goes under a limbo bar, you will just have to grin and bear it.

But please remember, compared to anywhere else, it is so cheap in your country!

Mick.

I can second this, if I walk into a local camera store, and buy a roll of neopan 400 (35mm or 120), it will cost me at least nine bucks AUD.. I can buy it for 2.76 US a roll from B+H. sure shipping costs, but it's still a massive saving compared to buying film here. I am going to make an order with another australian (who lives in QLD though) soon.

kapro · Mar 19, 2008

usagisakana said:
I can second this, if I walk into a local camera store, and buy a roll of neopan 400 (35mm or 120), it will cost me at least nine bucks AUD.. I can buy it for 2.76 US a roll from B+H. sure shipping costs, but it's still a massive saving compared to buying film here. I am going to make an order with another australian (who lives in QLD though) soon.

When delivered from abroad, don't you have to pay custom fee and VAT?
When I order films from outside EU I have to pay 19% VAT and
6.5% custom fee of the price of films including shipping cost...

David:FP4 is $6,2/120 and $7,3/135 in Slovakia. And a gallon of pretrol around $7. Lucky you...

GeoffHill · Mar 19, 2008

Kapro, If you order from the UK, then FP4 is £25 for 10 rolls (135), and only £15.56 for 120 and you wont have to pay any import duty or tax. Thats from silverprint (www.silverprint.co.uk)

kapro · Mar 19, 2008

GeoffHill said:
Kapro, If you order from the UK, then FP4 is £25 for 10 rolls (135), and only £15.56 for 120 and you wont have to pay any import duty or tax. Thats from silverprint (www.silverprint.co.uk)

GeoffHill, I know about that. That's the advantage of EU. Time to time on my trips to Scottland I use to visit Silverprint. Last time I got penalty for wrong parking . Compensation was nice price of Delta 3200.
I just wonder if Australians (or Americans) have to pay import duty and VAT. In Slovakia it's very strict. If the value of goods is above $20, you have to pay. Week ago I received books of Michael Kenna from Amazon.com and had to pay. VAT but import duty for books is 0% here...

New English expresion for me-import duty. I thought it was custom fee...

Mick Fagan · Mar 19, 2008

Kapro, in Australia we now have a Goods and Services Tax (GST) like a VAT. It was introduce on the 1st of July 2000

Our GST is 10% on virtually everything except essentials like raw food and medicines and like stuff.

However there is a nice little opening for private citizens who bring in goods with a complete value of under $1,000.00 AUD. Customs let it through as there is too much paperwork and red tape to worry about small things like that.

Customs is more worried about dangerous goods, like food, animals, fur, skins, timber and many things like that. If some of the stuff that people wished to bring in to this country got in, there could be real problems.

For instance Australia is the only place in the world with out Apple Blight, currently it is illegal to bring in apples. New Zealand is threatening to go to the world court to get the permit to export apples to here, but I doubt if it will happen in my lifetime.

Basically we don't let the small things in life worry us. It's the same reason we removed the 1 and 2 cent coins, not worth worrying about, just adjust up or down to the nearest 5 cents.

Mick.

DaveOttawa · Mar 19, 2008

david b said:
I was just doing a bit of "budgeting" for an upcoming project and Ilford FP4+ is now at $4 a roll for 120 film.

Freestyle has it at $3.99
B&H has it at $3.95
Calumet has it at $4.09

Did I miss a price increase somewhere?

Bargain!
Lists at 5.69 canadian dollars here (henrys.com).
Buy 10 or more rolls and you'll get a discount (10%) but still pricier than US.

colrehogan · Mar 19, 2008

I don't recall having to pay any import duty (nor do we have any VAT) for some 8x10 Fuji Acros when I last ordered it from Japan.

kraker · Mar 19, 2008

My personal view... To me, it's a hobby. Hobbies cost money. That's all there is to it.

MattKing · Mar 19, 2008

DaveOttawa said:
Bargain!
Lists at 5.69 canadian dollars here (henrys.com).
Buy 10 or more rolls and you'll get a discount (10%) but still pricier than US.

FYI Don's Photo has 120 FP4 on their website at $4.66 (CDN).

Matt

Marcus K · Mar 19, 2008

Ilford FP4+ 120 is only $3.50 at Adorama! See Dead Link Removed They almost always have the lowest prices.

Photo Engineer · Mar 19, 2008

RoBBo said:
Do they sell it in bulk rolls? Might be time to start doing that a bit.

Spooling 120 or 220 from bulk rolls is a real pain.

PE

RoBBo · Mar 19, 2008

Photo Engineer said:
Spooling 120 or 220 from bulk rolls is a real pain.

PE

Oh!
Didnt realize he was talking outside of 35.
Indeed it would be.
Especially with the paper and all.

Thomas Bertilsson · Mar 19, 2008

I'll be silly and say that compared to your time invested film is relatively cheap. With that said I'm one of those guys that are always trying to find a deal and when I do I stock up on a lot of film.
- Thomas

jim appleyard · Mar 19, 2008

Photo Engineer said:
Spooling 120 or 220 from bulk rolls is a real pain.

PE

Be a whopper of a bulk loader!

Sometimes there are good buys on ebay for film.

jackc · Mar 19, 2008

It looks to me that the film manufacturers or retailers are trying to drive people out of the film market. This is usually what happens in a failing business: the less profit they make, the higher they raise the price, the vicious cycle continues until nobody wants it.

The real rescue would be something like China. Get the Chinese to make it, they'll soon flood the world film at 50 cents per roll, so cheap that you can eat the stuff. In time they'll get quality control right. Most consumer goods including electronics and computer components are made in China these days. They should be able to do film no problem. China is very behind in digital camera use. May be they are willing to take up film just on that account. Then photographers around the world will benefit.

Ian Tindale · Mar 19, 2008

I should be so Lucky.

sausage100uk · Mar 19, 2008

ERA film is about £1 a roll I have bought 20 rolls so far and am more than happy with it, also 7dayshop.com do some good deals.

The price of film

david b

RoBBo

markbb

PVia

David A. Goldfarb

Moderator

trotkiller

Mick Fagan

Sino

usagisakana

kapro

GeoffHill

kapro

Mick Fagan

DaveOttawa

colrehogan

kraker

MattKing

Moderator

Marcus K

Photo Engineer

RoBBo

Thomas Bertilsson

jim appleyard

jackc

Ian Tindale

sausage100uk

The price of film

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