TMAX P3200, cheap online or in San Francisco?

[Felinik]

I'm going to SF with my job in a month and I am in interested to know where I can get TMAX P3200 at a good price?

Here in Europe it's seldom found for less than 6-7 euros a roll, and I am hoping to find something cheaper than that and buy a cpl of bricks to have in the fridge/freezer when needed.

I can order online and send to our sales partners address in the US, or if there's a shop in central San Francisco I can just visit them when there.


Any ideas?


Thanks!


J.F. Felinik

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Tjena!

The trouble is to bring it through the airport X-ray scanners, so it's better to purchase locally. Calumet Photo is local to SF, and they are located here: Link
They sell it for $8.69 a roll, which is some of the least expensive I've seen. I would recommend emailing or calling ahead to make sure they have stock.

Have a fun trip!

- Thomas

 

[mnemosyne]

I can't help with your question but please remember that you could encounter problems with the x-ray sensitivity of Tmax P3200 when bringing/sending the film home on an airplane. I regularly take along film up to ISO 400 when flying (cabin luggage) and have not encountered any problems so far, but I would personally refrain from doing that with high speed film (ISO 800 and above). AFAIK such film is also not very suitable for long term storage beyond the "best before" date, even in a freezer, because it will fog rather quickly.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I would echo Thomas' suggestion. I would call or email ahead and order it to be held at the store- they will NOT have several bricks of Tmax 3200 in the shop. You'll be lucky if they have any in the shop at all- Calumet has scaled back their film stocks in their retail stores significantly. They do keep most things in stock at their warehouse though and will ship it to any retail store within 2-3 days. When you are done with your trip and are planning to send the rest of it back home, go to a FedEx shipping facility and hand it to them, and make sure to tell them it is photographic film, please do not x-ray/scan. They are pretty good about these kinds of things.

 

[ric_kb]

I would echo Thomas' suggestion. I would call or email ahead and order it to be held at the store- -----. When you are done with your trip and are planning to send the rest of it back home, go to a FedEx shipping facility and hand it to them, and make sure to tell them it is photographic film, please do not x-ray/scan. They are pretty good about these kinds of things.

+1

pick up a film shield for the return shipping. even though it is going FX.
put a copy of sales receipt in box. maybe a direction sheet, so the acronyms will know what the stuff is.

 

[edibot42]

Last time I flew, the TSA at SFO hand-inspected my film with no hassle whatsoever. They were, however genuinely surprised that I use film at all, and asked me why.

 

[Felinik]

Thanks for all your thoughts, didn't think about the airport scanners, would I not be able to pass security actually showing them the rolls and ask them not to scan them? I mean, I can unpack them and they can inspect but of course not open the actual "roll" ?

I've found a price online at $7.49 a pcs. with shipping to CA for less than $10 (based on 30 rolls). Sounds like hard to beat, right?

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

How long will you be here? Welcome!

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

$7.19 a roll from B&H in New York. When I'm not diving into my freezer stash that's where I get almost all my film. $9.05 shipping for 20 rolls.

 

[aleksmiesak]

Isn't Freestyle somewhere in CA? They have really good prices as well and shipping might be even less then B&H since it's within the same state (I think). As far as flying, I had no problem asking for hand inspection at numerous airports in US. And I think FedEx shipping to Europe might make the point of saving you money mute.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Thanks for all your thoughts, didn't think about the airport scanners, would I not be able to pass security actually showing them the rolls and ask them not to scan them? I mean, I can unpack them and they can inspect but of course not open the actual "roll" ?

I've found a price online at $7.49 a pcs. with shipping to CA for less than $10 (based on 30 rolls). Sounds like hard to beat, right?

Don't count on airport security to be that accommodating. If you catch them on a bad day, it's entirely up to luck whether they will hand inspect your film or not.

Seven bucks for a roll of TMZ is a good deal.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Isn't Freestyle somewhere in CA? They have really good prices as well and shipping might be even less then B&H since it's within the same state (I think). As far as flying, I had no problem asking for hand inspection at numerous airports in US. And I think FedEx shipping to Europe might make the point of saving you money mute.

$9.99 a roll and $13.99 shipping for 20 rolls. Nope.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

$9.99 a roll and $13.99 shipping for 20 rolls. Nope.

I'm actually a bit surprised by that.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

I'm actually a bit surprised by that.

I'm disappointed. I'd love to buy from Freestyle and would pay slightly more as I'd love to support them, but not that much more.

 

[edibot42]

Yes, you could pass security with them. They usually don't open sealed boxes of 35mm, and if they do they just take the roll out of the canister and swab the leader. Don't worry, they won't expose your film.

 

[Felinik]

$7.19 a roll from B&H in New York. When I'm not diving into my freezer stash that's where I get almost all my film. $9.05 shipping for 20 rolls.

Woo! Even better, and if I'm not wrong our business partner in the US (who I'm gonna spend the time in SF with) is a supplier for B&H... This could indeed become interesting!

 

[Felinik]

How long will you be here? Welcome!

Five very intense days, at best I have half a day off (trade show)...

 

[summicron1]

too bad, a coupla years ago I cleaned out the newspaper's darkroom and had a brick of 3200 -- the fotogs who rememberd using it said it should really be shot at 1600. I tried a couple of rolls and decided I was getting vastly better quality by pushing HP5-plus to 1600.

So I sent the whole pile to a friend at the getty conservation Institute who archives film chemistry.

You really should try the Ilford stuff pushed -- it pushes very nicely, is designed to do so, and will be cheaper to buy and easier to buy locally.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I tried a couple of rolls and decided I was getting vastly better quality by pushing HP5-plus to 1600.

So I sent the whole pile to a friend at the getty conservation Institute who archives film chemistry.

You really should try the Ilford stuff pushed -- it pushes very nicely, is designed to do so, and will be cheaper to buy and easier to buy locally.

That's all a matter of taste what is better results and not. My experience is exact opposite of yours. TMZ looks just like old Tri-X, and prints like a dream. Especially when processed in something like DD-X, TMax, or Xtol.

 

[MattKing]

You might consider contacting Matt Osborne (tjaded here on APUG). He owns Glass Key Photo - a photo store in a record store in San Francisco. His web presence is Facebook based, but you can probably reach him through his APUG private messaging or his website email.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

You want some interesting results with Tmax 3200? rate it at 1000, soup it in Dektol 1:3 for 3.5 minutes @ 75f. The shadows positively glow. Grainy as all get-out, but then it's Tmax 3200, what do you expect?

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

You want some interesting results with Tmax 3200? rate it at 1000, soup it in Dektol 1:3 for 3.5 minutes @ 75f. The shadows positively glow. Grainy as all get-out, but then it's Tmax 3200, what do you expect?

It's my favorite film, Scott. If I could afford shooting it all the time, I would. I've used it with Rodinal, DD-X, and Xtol, and it works beautifully in anything I throw at it! Even big prints look good.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I've printed it as large as 12x18 and it held its own. I don't know that I'd want to go much bigger than that though - but I don't think I'd go much bigger than that with any 35mm film, period.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I've printed it as large as 12x18 and it held its own. I don't know that I'd want to go much bigger than that though - but I don't think I'd go much bigger than that with any 35mm film, period.

I print as big as 16x20, so similar size to you. I actually crop lengthwise a bit for a 3:4 aspect ratio, so it ends up being 13.5 x 18". To me it really comes alive at that size.

 

[cmacd123]

But buy it quick..

from facebook toaday...

.Kodak Professional shared a link.
13 hours ago
We wanted to update you on a change to our film portfolio. Due to low sales volume, Kodak is ending production of KODAK PROFESSIONAL T-MAX P3200 Film (TMZ). The demand for ultra-high speed B&W film has declined significantly, and it is no l
onger practical to coat such a small volume of product.

The suggested replacement is KODAK PROFESSIONAL T-MAX 400 Film (TMY-2). The latitude of TMY-2 allows it to handle one stop of underexposure (EI 800) without being pushed. In low light situations, TMY-2 delivers very good results when exposed at EI 1600 with increased development time.

You can find more information here about the remaining portfolio, as well as information on sheet films available through special order at K. B. Canham Cameras, Inc.