The price of film

Paul. · Mar 20, 2008

When you realise that approx £30,000 worth of silver arrives in an armoured car at Ilfords plant every week, makes £1.65 for a roll of HP5+ 120 seem very reasonable to me.

Go on the factory tour, get an insight into the figures and effort involved and suddenly it seems cheap at twice the price we are currently paying.

Regards Paul.

argus · Mar 20, 2008

jackc said:
$4 per roll is already driving me towards digital. That's 10 bucks a day for 2 rolls or so. On the other hand, digital has ZERO incremental cost

But you get to buy a new camera every 3 - 4 years.

Most of the cameras I frequently use were made before I was even born.

G

Curt · Mar 20, 2008

It's not just Ilford, Kodak prices went up, I missed the increase deadline, didn't know, but found a source that had not raised its prices until the following business day. I bought sheet film and was glad to have gotten it at the old price.

On a separate note the price of gas went down at the local gas station and I saw today that the price of a barrel of oil is around $100.00 again. That's better than $112.00.

johnnywalker · Mar 20, 2008

argus said:
But you get to buy a new camera every 3 - 4 years.

G

Not to mention computers, software, and printers.

Chazzy · Mar 21, 2008

So if the price of silver and fuel came down, and the dollar edged up again, would we see a price decrease? Not a chance.

jd callow · Mar 21, 2008

Chazzy said:
So if the price of silver and fuel came down, and the dollar edged up again, would we see a price decrease? Not a chance.

you don't know that. If the film market gained some added life we mihght see some competition in pricing. If manufacturer costs fell the smart company would lower prices to gain market share and increase volume.

My film costs between 3.00 and $8.00 a roll I'm ok with that especially if everyone is making a profit. This is how we ensure a supply. When we squeeze so hard as to reduce the profit to next to nothing (which might mean a price of 2-$6) people will stop stocking and or stop making the product. I'm not that interested in saving a buck.

firecracker · Mar 21, 2008

In Japan, right now, for 135-36 film, Fuji Neopan Presto400 is about 3.75 USD per roll. Kodak Tri-X is around 4.25 USD. And Ilford HP5 plus is over 5 USD. I don't mind paying up to 5-6 USD per roll at this point as long as we don't lose any of these products from the market.

Iwagoshi · Mar 21, 2008

firecracker said:
In Japan, right now, for 135-36 film, Fuji Neopan Presto400 is about 3.75 USD per roll. Kodak Tri-X is around 4.25 USD. And Ilford HP5 plus is over 5 USD. I don't mind paying up to 5-6 USD per roll at this point as long as we don't lose any of these products from the market.

I just paid 341 yen ($3.40 USD) for 120 Neopan 400 in Japan and I thought that was cheap, but then I looked at the on-line price (Ador/BH) it's $2.74!!
How do they do that? *rhetorical*

Terry

WarEaglemtn · Mar 21, 2008

"Aqua Regia is one of the most dangerous chemicals one can have around the house"
Is it worse stuff than the Potassium Dichromate use for sensitizing carbon tissue? I keep a bit of that around to put in a glass of water and toss in the face of a burgler or intruder... and then we bury the bum in a corner of the pasture.

Photo Engineer · Mar 21, 2008

WarEaglemtn said:
Is it worse stuff than the Potassium Dichromate use for sensitizing carbon tissue? I keep a bit of that around to put in a glass of water and toss in the face of a burgler or intruder... and then we bury the bum in a corner of the pasture.

I would say that the Dichromate is not that bad, especially when compared with Aqua Regia. I would say that is especially true due to Aqua Regia's instant horrible reactivity.

Lets not pursue this any further please.

PE

jackc · Mar 21, 2008

I take photos to capture the moments (is it called street photography?) So I shoot a lot of exposures in bursts. A roll of 35mm will only do 3 or 4 scenes at most. For those who make only a few elaborate exposures and spend the next 2 months making prints from them, $4 a roll isn't much. But for me it's a lot.

Incidentally I find film cams are better suited for this type of photography. They are small and fast in operation. They don't run bloated software, drain battery, weigh a ton, or take an hour to boot up (by which time the moment will have passed.) The sort of candid moments you can capture with film cams are worth foregoing the higher resolution of digital. What's the point of photographing people with fake expressions any way.

But at my burn rate I wish film were cheaper. That's not necessarily bad for the film companies if they can sell more. In fact a drop in film prices would be a definitive sign of film comeback.

Antonov · Mar 21, 2008

I don't know about you, but it seems to me that you don't know how lucky you are, when film prices are about.
I live in Croatia, here is average monthly sallery 1018$ USD ( as of january 2008. by CENTRAL BUREAU OF STATISTICS, www.dzs.hr ), and USD rate by CROATIAN NATIONAL BANK, www.hnb.hr as of 04. march ), and prices of films are next:

Ilford 35 mm, from 5,07$ USD for PAN100 36 to 8,52$ USD for DELTA 100, 400 36.

Ilford 120 roll film, 6,49$ USD for FP4+ too 8,52$ USD for DELTA 3200.

Kodak Elitechrome Extracolour 100 36 35mm is 8,11$ USD.

Fuji Velvia 100 36 35 mm is 16,23$.

Prices given are of official vendors of Ilford and Fuji products.

Now, compare your average monthly sallery and film prices in your country.

Do you still think you have expensive film? :/

Alex Bishop-Thorpe · Mar 21, 2008

It's $8 Australian for a roll of HP5+ at my local store, that's with my student discount. I've seen it as high as $16, but around $10-$12 is most common in my neck of the woods. Velvia 50, if you can find it, you're looking at $20 for a 36 exposure 35mm roll.
The Australian dollar is hovering around $0.90 to the US Dollar, so it isn't an exchange thing.

This is why I hoard my money and buy 50 rolls of HP5 for about 300AUD from the states, including shipping.

Thomas Bertilsson · Mar 22, 2008

So consider this:
How much time and effort do you put into making one 'good' photograph? Time spent in the darkroom, chemistry, paper, but mostly your time - time you could have spent earning money.
I still think that film is pretty cheap, although the writings from Croatia above is probably a difficult situation. There comes a point when you simply can't afford it. $15 for a roll of Velvia. Wow!
- Thomas

Bob F. · Mar 22, 2008

This is not the place for comparing digital and film photography. You can use statistics to "prove" anything you like. All such comparisons are by definition subjective and inevitably lead to irritable posts, or worse. Points made. What say we let it rest at that?

Cheers, Bob.

Photo Engineer · Mar 22, 2008

I am not going to argue one over the other (digital vs analog), but I wish to remind you that there is ample proof that digital is not yet "ready", but is touted as being the avant garde of technology and therefore is embraced by the multitude. It is simple and quick, but not inexpensive, and not archival. Lets not argue more about it.

Film prices are rising for several reasons. There is less baryta and RC paper being made, there is less film support being made, silver costs more, suppliers of sensitizing dyes are vanishing, specialty chemicals are vanishing from the market or going up in price and finally, much of this is due to the increase in the price of oil.

Of course, as companies vanish or combine, competition lessens and this also increases the price of film.

So, expect film to continue to go up in prices over the remaining life of film. For a while, prices dropped. Color film and paper were exorbitant when they first came out (Type C paper was about $2 / 8x10 sheet in the 50s). Now they are more reasonable (Endura is about $0.40 / 8x10 sheet). Accounting for inflation, this is a huge drop in price in the last 40+ years.

PE

mark · Mar 22, 2008

I went grocery shopping last night. Have you guys noticed the price of food! DAMN!!!!! Everything is going up in price, and there is very little we can do about it. I think I am going to spring for a box of 8x10 color neg and slide film just to say I did it and get the experience, before I will need to hock one of the kids.

By the way, there is just no comparison between analogue and digital food.

Andy K · Mar 22, 2008

Bob F. said:
This is not the place for comparing digital and film photography. You can use statistics to "prove" anything you like. All such comparisons are by definition subjective and inevitably lead to irritable posts, or worse. Points made. What say we let it rest at that?

Cheers, Bob.

Aw Bob! You mean I've got to go take my DMs off again!?

firecracker · Mar 22, 2008

Iwagoshi said:
I just paid 341 yen ($3.40 USD) for 120 Neopan 400 in Japan and I thought that was cheap, but then I looked at the on-line price (Ador/BH) it's $2.74!!
How do they do that? *rhetorical*

Terry

Then many of us here in Japan might consider buying the Fuji products from the U.S. as we see the U.S. dollar going so weak against (already pretty weak) yen...

Iwagoshi · Mar 22, 2008

firecracker said:
Then many of us here in Japan might consider buying the Fuji products from the U.S. as we see the U.S. dollar going so weak against (already pretty weak) yen...

But unfortunately the on-line per roll price I quoted did not include the cost to S/H to Japan, which could eat up any savings.

Also I would like to thank the Moderator for paring down this thread.

Bob F. · Mar 23, 2008

Andy K said:
Aw Bob! You mean I've got to go take my DMs off again!?

I hardly ever take mine off (DM shoes that is...) - literally can't remember the last time I bought any other make...

As for film prices, shop around folks - prices here vary by at least 50% depending on where you buy. I imagine the same applies in most places.

Have fun, Bob.

firecracker · Mar 23, 2008

Iwagoshi said:
But unfortunately the on-line per roll price I quoted did not include the cost to S/H to Japan, which could eat up any savings.

I know. It's just that for the value it's often better to buy locally. I think most items we talk about here are pretty competitive and reasonable in terms of the price settings unless we end up with awful importers/distributors.

Iwagoshi · Mar 23, 2008

firecracker said:
It's just that for the value it's often better to buy locally.

Totally agree. That is why, when I get home, I am going to Calumet in San Francisco ASAP to pick up more Fuji Neopan, just checked their prices, it's even cheaper there.

Harrigan · Mar 23, 2008

Get the cheap film (IE Neopan) while you can.

My tmax 100 in 5x7 just increased from $74.50 a box to $96.95 this past week. Now thats down right significant in my opinion. Gives me thought to getting a large mega-schmega back or whatever. Oops were not allowed to talk about that here, sorry.

Iwagoshi · Mar 24, 2008

Harrigan said:
Get the cheap film (IE Neopan) while you can.

My tmax 100 in 5x7 just increased from $74.50 a box to $96.95 this past week. Now thats down right significant in my opinion. Gives me thought to getting a large mega-schmega back or whatever. Oops were not allowed to talk about that here, sorry.

Mega-schmega=15,000 sheets of Tmax 100 (5x7). IMO that's a lot of film.

The price of film

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