thoughts on the announced Kodak film price increase?

[Ai Print]

Welp, I figured I had better replace some of the TMY2 I have shot over the past couple months. I just ordered 100 rolls of it in 120 before the price hike.

 

[DMJ]

This interview is gold. Andy Church from Kodak Alaris (Nov 14)

 

[AgX]

This interview is gold.

To me it is tin a best.
I even stopped listening as I got so much difficulty in understanding the mumbling interviewer.


Positive though is him listing arguments in writing.

 

[DMJ]

To me it is tin a best.

Good idea. The film in question should be called Kodak Tin; and it is perfect given the look of the new canisters

 

[grat]

When used in accordance with its directions, the Combi-Plan T rack holds 4x5 sheets under slight compression against the rack's curved slots. I conclude that this prevents any movement of the film during agitation and precludes anything non-liquid, including other sheets, from touching the base side.

I only had one Combi-Plan T tank, and its fill/drain times are so long that, used alone, it suffered from uneven results. Desiring to use inversion agitation rather than the open top "dip and dunk" method others have written about at the LF forum, I solved that issue by obtaining additional tanks, then turning lights off when removing the cover and moving the rack from one solution/tank to the next, immediately attaching the cover and turning lights back on. For non-Ilford sheet films of all sizes, I still develop in Jobo Expert Drums on my CPP-2 processor.

FWIW, I use the 20th Century Reels in a Paterson tank, and haven't had the issues you describe. Granted, I've only developed a handful of sheets of FP4+ so far, but I've used both the reels and the SP-445 from Stearman Press.

 

[Pat Erson]

Plus they get tired of hearing from their own equivalent of the Kodak haters bitching at them. But then again, if Kodak haters could not bitch, they would have no meaning to their life at all. View attachment 290646

It's not bitching it's disgust and disbelief at watching a once-great brand playing Russian roulette with itself. For me the disgust and disbelief are quite moderate as I went 100% Ilford in 2019.
Kodak can buy it, croak, go belly-up, it won't alter my photographic practice one bit but I'll shake my head wondering "how did they go there?".

You know... like THIS :
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgur...AhUM14UKHSt8DXMQ9QF6BAgCEAk#spf=1637272552038

 

[Sirius Glass]

It's not bitching it's disgust and disbelief at watching a once-great brand playing Russian roulette with itself. For me the disgust and disbelief are quite moderate as I went 100% Ilford in 2019.
Kodak can buy it, croak, go belly-up, it won't alter my photographic practice one bit but I'll shake my head wondering "how did they go there?".

You know... like THIS :
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgur...AhUM14UKHSt8DXMQ9QF6BAgCEAk#spf=1637272552038

Gee with an attitude like that, when you saw the recent increases in the price of gas you must have napalmed and dynamited your car.

 

[faberryman]

It's not bitching it's disgust and disbelief at watching a once-great brand playing Russian roulette with itself.

That is sort of how I feel about General Mills. I was in the grocery store shopping the other day, and pushing the old cart down the cereal aisle, when I saw a box of Trix which was my favorite cereal when I was growing up. So I was looking at the front of the box and noticed that the cereal was in about six or eight colors and fruit shaped. Whatever happen to those round balls in three colors, you know, raspberry red, lemon yellow and orange orange. You can't trust anybody not to screw up a good thing. It is sort of like Trix went digital or something. Anyway, I put the box back on the shelf and got some Cheerios. They haven't screwed those up yet. I guess the moral of the story is to stock up on the good stuff while you can, because you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. I don't shoot color film any more, but if I did, I would be spending some of those pre-inflation dollars on a lot of Kodak color film before the price increase kicks in and while it is still available.

 

[removed account4]

That is sort of how I feel about General Mills. I was in the grocery store shopping the other day, and pushing the old cart down the cereal aisle, when I saw a box of Trix which was my favorite cereal when I was growing up. So I was looking at the front of the box and noticed that the cereal was in about six or eight colors and fruit shaped. Whatever happen to those round balls in three colors, you know, raspberry red, lemon yellow and orange orange. You can't trust anybody not to screw up a good thing.

I guess trix might not be for kids either ?
sounds like you need to call Mr Sheehan
https://www.npr.org/2021/11/12/1055...-lawsuits-against-food-and-beverage-companies

 

[pentaxuser]

They seemed to spend about a quarter of the video discussing the large price increase, giving examples of why "supply matters" for want of a better phrase has not returned to normal. The world has not yet returned to its pre-Covid self and it would seem that although not stated, that we need as consumers to get used to the new reality that we cannot expect to return to that golden era in terms of price, namely the mid 2000s to the early part of the second decade

What wasn't even touched upon by either the KA man nor the interviewer was the question of when can we expect film price rises to return to levels that by and large match inflation so that film purchases remain in real terms about that 1980s level

What has to be clear to Kodak or is it, is that consumers need to know at what point things might return to normal. Is there light at the end of the tunnel in terms of price rises i.e. a point at which Kodak expects a return to normality? This was the missing aspect of the price increase discussion.

pentaxuser

 

[faberryman]

What has to be clear to Kodak or is it, is that consumers need to know at what point things might return to normal. Is there light at the end of the tunnel in terms of price rises i.e. a point at which Kodak expects a return to normality? This was the missing aspect of the price increase discussion.

Inflation or no inflation, I expect Kodak to keep inching the price up until customers cry uncle. Ektachrome was $11.99 when it was reintroduced in 2018. It is now $19.99, and it is going close to $23.99 in January with the latest price increases of 20%.

 

[BrianShaw]

Inflation or no inflation, I expect Kodak to keep inching the price up until customers cry uncle. Ektachrome was $11.99 when it was reintroduced in 2018. It is now $19.99, and it is going close to $23.99 in January with the latest price increases of 20%.

More likely, until the stock holders cry “uncle”, if profit and stock values decrease.

 

[MattKing]

More likely, until the stock holders cry “uncle”, if profit and stock values decrease.

Well, Kodak Alaris is privately held, by the UK Pension Protection authorities.
So "uncle" might sound a bit different.
I don't know that there will ever be a "normal" again - where photographic film product prices are affected in the same way and to the same extent as the items that are priced and compared in order to determine an inflation "rate". Instead I think they will always be in the niche category, and much more likely to be highly variable, and at the mercy of market forces unconnected with the business they mainly participate in.

 

[BrianShaw]

Stock holders or board of directors… they all cry Uncle the same way.

 

[cmacd123]

That is sort of how I feel about General Mills.

general mills has changed that product many times. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trix_(cereal)

 

[faberryman]

general mills has changed that product many times. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trix_(cereal)

If you think about it for a minute, it's a metaphor.

 

[removed account4]

If you think about it for a minute, it's a metaphor.

I know huh?
... and they eventually let the silly rabbit eat some trix too!
"The plight of the Trix Rabbit has drawn comparisons to Sisyphus, a Greek figure who was doomed to endlessly repeat a futile task.[11] He did succeed in obtaining and eating Trix cereal on occasion, including three times as the result of a box top mail-in contest (1968, 1976, 1980, 1984, and 1991) titled "Let The Rabbit Eat Trix".[12] The results of the vote were overwhelmingly "yes", and the Trix Rabbit was depicted in a subsequent commercial enjoying a bowl of Trix.[13]" * ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trix_(cereal))

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

More likely, until the stock holders cry “uncle”, if profit and stock values decrease.

I'd rather they raise the price instead of dropping the film like Fuji is eliminating Velvia 50.

 

[eli griggs]

Very much the lesser of two misfortunes.

I wish they'd do offerings of 70mm at least once a year, as Ilford does for HP5 (and hopefully soon, Fp4)

Ilfords support of photographers is a grand thing and the savings from those films, in any format, anchor b&w film photography, as a continuing hope for our work and pleasure.

Ilford rules, and for good reason, many of us will continue to shoot, more frames, more often than those who use Kodak.

When I buy Tri-x 400, it's expired stock, several years old, but when I buy Ilford, it's always new, fresh and in my bags.

I'd rather they raise the price instead of dropping the film like Fuji is eliminating Velvia 50.

 

[laingsoft]

More likely, until the stock holders cry “uncle”, if profit and stock values decrease.

Kodak is a penny stock. Shareholders are largely irrelevant

 

[Sirius Glass]

I'd rather they raise the price instead of dropping the film like Fuji is eliminating Velvia 50.

Y*E*S!!!!

 

[kuparikettu]

Supply chain issues are really bad currently. Also, for film there is very high demand. Currently the Finnish retailer of Kodak motion picture film gives for 16mm film stocks 3-8 weeks delivery time.

It's not Kodak's fault this time. Things are really breaking apart in logistics and many companies are having considerable difficulties. Let's just hope these issues stay mostly restricted to such items as film and consumer electronics; if tractors don't get spare parts and food spoils on the fields or food related logistics break down, our film price related anxieties are going to be the least of our worries.

 

[Craig75]

This might be a dumb question but what supply issues?

I see Sony have stopped some camera production because of chip shortages and obviously there are shortages everywhere

Are people dropping like flies in china because of covid and its all just unreported or are some supply countries in heavy lockdown. I lost track of whats going on years ago

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

This might be a dumb question but what supply issues?

I see Sony have stopped some camera production because of chip shortages and obviously there are shortages everywhere

Are people dropping like flies in china because of covid and its all just unreported or are some supply countries in heavy lockdown. I lost track of whats going on years ago

Lockdowns and transportation truckers and others not working have caused manufacturing and supply issues. There are over 100 huge cargo ships waiting to be offloaded on the West coast of America with goods from China and other Asian countries. Probably loaded with my film that's expiring. I don't know whether you have similar problems in the UK.
https://www.businessinsider.com/sup...rd-number-of-container-ships-ca-ports-2021-11

 

[Craig75]

Lockdowns and transportation truckers and others not working have caused manufacturing and supply issues. There are over 100 huge cargo ships waiting to be offloaded on the West coast of America with goods from China and other Asian countries. Probably loaded with my film that's expiring. I don't know whether you have similar problems in the UK.
https://www.businessinsider.com/sup...rd-number-of-container-ships-ca-ports-2021-11

So infrastructure breakdowns at import countries is one huge factor. I think its same here. We got out of lockdown things seemed to be coming back to normal then one day it was supermarkets saying oh we have shortages and this came as a shock to me.