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What type and how much film do you guys shoot in NZ?

rayonline_nz

Member
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Mar 20, 2010
Messages
658
Location
Wellington,
Format
Multi Format
I see Photo and Video in Christchurch have their Velvia 100 (35mm) at $48NZ now. They used to be $40. So they have increased. I shoot film, 35mm and medium forrmat for some years now I had to import my film from overseas and export them for processing. For me it is getting to the point maybe I should just shoot b/w film and processing the film myself and stop shooting colour slide flm other than the very occasional roll.

Cost is something, I was just looking on Trademe auctions the other days and as a occasional film user I've racked up $8k on film cameras and associated things like scanners, film sleeves, film and lab. Some of the preowned digital medium format are not that expensive now.

Cheers.
 

I shoot 35mm 120 4x5 5x7 and soon 10x12. I buy all my films and papers overseas and maybe 3 rolls/year at Wps (Wellington). I consume ~40 rolls per year and one box of 4x5 and two boxes of 5x7. Except fixer and selenium toner which I buy locally all the others chemicals I prefer DIY... I was very disapointed with by my last batch of velvia processed locaĺly (15 rolls badly processed). It was ten year ago so... I would like to try C41 at home next year but I have not looked where to get the chemicals here in NZ yet.
 
rayonline_nz said:
I see Photo and Video in Christchurch have their Velvia 100 (35mm) at $48NZ now. They used to be $40.
Click to expand...


W-w-what!?
Even given the favourable exchange rate with Australia, that is horrific, absolutely gouging. Nothing particularly precious about Velvia 100, being one of the hyper-enriched, hyper-contrast emulsions that instantly turn off first-time users, which is a real shame. Are they simply trying to kill off film over The Ditch? eBay sellers are probably better for you even if the postage bumps up the final price a bit. There have been recent reports of tainted Velvia (50, 100) coming from Thailand — it is likely it was improperly stored prior to being released.
 
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Silly price indeed....
5x rolls of Velvia 100 35mm from BandH cost NZ$90 including shipping so NZ$18/each..... No point to buy locally something which is not produced locally.
Did you try to process E6 at home instead of shipping them overseas?
I will have to develop color at home next year as I will have 50x 5x7 portra 400 to process and nobody in NZ has the equipment to develop 5x7 color....
 
I have thought about E6 but never done it. No equipment to heat the chemistry and from what I seen the chemistry needs to be imported over, many of the liquids re: color chemistry are not exported there was one company in Germany but their freight charge just made it not economical. I shoot maybe 20 or 30 rolls of slides for now and given how quickly color chemistry goes off for me it would be a once off binge development.

Freestyle looks like the best bet for color chemistry but they don't ship outside of the USA and it's ground freight only.

Edit. Yes, I import film over from B&H or Freestyle.
 
maybe you could ask Reatha Kenny who used to run "film soup" here in Wellington where she got her chemical from?
She has retired last year... Google tell me she is on flickr but I don't know if she is still active.

I have just found those in her "film soup" kickstarter description:
"Bulk chemicals. Currently we are purchasing in small amounts from the UK because it is impossible to get C-41 or E6 chemicals in NZ unless you buy in bulk. We have already sourced the relevant information from the Fuji rep here in NZ and we would need $1550 to purchase the chemicals."
So she succeed to import them in NZ.

If there are enough kiwi interested, maybe we could organize a big order (eg half a cubic meter of E6 and C41 kits) in the US and have it delivered by "DHL Ocean" (they do door to door ocean freight delivery). It might take one or two months for the chemicals to arrive in NZ from the US but shipping might cost less than air shipping and it is ground delivery.... The order must be consistent to be worthwhile.
 
I have been getting my film - 35mm/120 FP4+ for apprx $9 - $11 each - from the UK - Mathers of Lancashire. Postage is around £10-£15 so spread over a decent sized order is not too much. I have had a couple of rolls of FP4+ 35mm for $16 and a C41 colour neg for $24, from Photo Warehouse here in Dunedin which wasn't too bad as a stop-gap but overseas seems to be the best option. 5x4 I have bought from Auckland Camera who are fairly reasonable at $80 for 25 sheets. Mathers don't supply sheet film.
Photo&Video's price for Velvia does seem high in comparison to the rest of their stock. I shot some not too long ago bought in Wellington but I was disappointed in the processed results. Not a plug for Mathers, but, for example, they sell Velvia 100/36 for £14 - approx $30 plus postage so around $2 a film on an order of 10 $320 or so in total.
Good hunting,
Tony.
 
Wellington-er here - signed in for the first time ages just to post in this thread.
Don't pay the exorbitant camera shop prices for film - I moved here from Melbourne 2 years ago and nearly died when I saw the prices in the usual shops. There are now a few little labs that have opened up that sell film much cheaper and have really quick delivery too.

Check out:

The Black and White Box in Auckland:
https://theblackandwhitebox.co.nz/shop/

and

Splendid Photo lab and Shop in Wellington
https://splendid.nz

Or alternatively I order from Walkens House of Film in Aus which is still the cheapest overall.
 
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