Where to buy film for reasonable prices?

brainmonster · Aug 31, 2019

I used to purchase film locally, but at $7 per roll of ultramax, I started looking to Amazon, which is reasonably better priced.

But then they started raising their prices for some reason on Ultramax. Then I checked B & H photo, and they seem to be the cheapest I’ve found, reasonable for Ilford and Ultramax.

Anywhere else I can find film in bulk for even cheaper? Where do you buy your film from?

B&H seems to be well regarded, but I recently saw a post where someone was saying he bought his film for $3.50 per roll, developed for $3.00 per roll. I forgot to ask him where he got his film and development from!

Should be noted that I live in the US.

Ko.Fe. · Aug 31, 2019

I have no idea why would you bother to buy film anywhere else than from BH if you are in USA. I'm Canada and still buy film from them with free shipping.

Ariston · Aug 31, 2019

You can buy a 100-foot roll of Ultrafine Xtreme 35mm film for $39. I am loving it, and don't know if I'll buy HP5+ in 35mm ever again. Go to the ultrafine online store.

Kodachromeguy · Aug 31, 2019

Be cautious with Amazon. Now that so many marketplace sellers have signed up, many prices for identical items are completely out of line, and it is often hard to tell if different listings are for same product or completely different items. I think the marketplace sellers have ruined Amazon. Stick with a real photographic vendor like B&H, Adorama, or Freestyle.

brainmonster · Aug 31, 2019

Ariston said:
You can buy a 100-foot roll of Ultrafine Xtreme 35mm film for $39. I am loving it, and don't know if I'll buy HP5+ in 35mm ever again. Go to the ultrafine online store.

Thanks, will do. Does your photo developer return your canisters after development and did you have to buy a bunch of refillable film canisters or can you just use old commercial ones?

Ariston · Aug 31, 2019

brainmonster said:
Thanks, will do. Does your photo developer return your canisters after development and did you have to buy a bunch of refillable film canisters or can you just use old commercial ones?

I develop my own film. I don't think a mail-in lab will return them, but if you have a local lab, it doesn't hurt to ask.

You will save a lot more money developing your own film in your bathroom than you will save by bulk loading, in my opinion. I have re-usable cannisters. If you decide to load your own, just PM me and I'll send you two or three to try for yourself. Keep in mind, you can't buy any normal color film in bulk... only B&W.

BradS · Aug 31, 2019

Been buying roll films from B&H, Adorama and Freestyle for decades. They always have the best selection and prices.
I usually buy sheet film from Badger Graphic....but occasionally from the big three already mentioned.

Alan Edward Klein · Aug 31, 2019

I used to visit B and H in NYC Went to the film counter where everything was refrigerated in the freezer. Not sure if they still do that. But now living in New Jersey, I just order the film to be shipped to me.

Grim Tuesday · Aug 31, 2019

Adorama has Fujicolor C200 for $10 / 3 pack of 36 exp. You can buy from their store on eBay to get free shipping.

Paul Howell · Aug 31, 2019

I buy from Photowearhouse which sells Ultrafine, black and white ISO 100 and 400 Ultrafine as my B&W shoot around film. I also buy Kodacolor and Fujicolor 200 and 400 from Photowearhouse. I buy Kodak Tmax and Ektar 100 from Freestyle. I have bought from B&H and Adorama the past. Photowearhouse also odd lots of out of date film and 35mm from end rolls of movie film like double X.

Kino · Aug 31, 2019

Be aware Photo Warehouse appears to have a minimum $9.99 shipping fee, so it's best to avoid small purchases.

Grim Tuesday · Aug 31, 2019

One of the best places to buy stuff from Photo Warehouse is on eBay. There are often 15% coupons, the price is the same and shipping is sometimes cheaper.

Arklatexian · Sep 1, 2019

brainmonster said:
I used to purchase film locally, but at $7 per roll of ultramax, I started looking to Amazon, which is reasonably better priced.

But then they started raising their prices for some reason on Ultramax. Then I checked B & H photo, and they seem to be the cheapest I’ve found, reasonable for Ilford and Ultramax.

Anywhere else I can find film in bulk for even cheaper? Where do you buy your film from?

B&H seems to be well regarded, but I recently saw a post where someone was saying he bought his film for $3.50 per roll, developed for $3.00 per roll. I forgot to ask him where he got his film and development from!

Should be noted that I live in the US.

While you certainly live in the USA, My daughter just came back from a trip to Maui and said that prices were much higher than on the mainland. I live in Louisiana, about equidistant from Los Angeles and New York. I buy film, paper, etc. mostly from Freestyle Photographic Supplies in Los Angeles. Their prices, I can still afford........Regards!

brainmonster · Sep 1, 2019

Arklatexian said:
While you certainly live in the USA, My daughter just came back from a trip to Maui and said that prices were much higher than on the mainland. I live in Louisiana, about equidistant from Los Angeles and New York. I buy film, paper, etc. mostly from Freestyle Photographic Supplies in Los Angeles. Their prices, I can still afford........Regards!

Good to know. I’ll have to buy from photo warehouse, they are certainly the cheapest. Yes, there’s only 2 photo development places on the whole island and they both don’t have good prices on film unfortunately.

California is certainly the cheapest and fastest shipping to here. You’d be surprised how fast things comes even from New York or a major city, but probably takes +1 day from continental US unless it’s from cali.

Looks like Photo Warehouse is located there. I’m getting a lot of good recommendations for Ultrafine film, so I’ll have to check it out

Adrian Bacon · Sep 1, 2019

brainmonster said:
I used to purchase film locally, but at $7 per roll of ultramax, I started looking to Amazon, which is reasonably better priced.

But then they started raising their prices for some reason on Ultramax. Then I checked B & H photo, and they seem to be the cheapest I’ve found, reasonable for Ilford and Ultramax.

Anywhere else I can find film in bulk for even cheaper? Where do you buy your film from?

B&H seems to be well regarded, but I recently saw a post where someone was saying he bought his film for $3.50 per roll, developed for $3.00 per roll. I forgot to ask him where he got his film and development from!

Should be noted that I live in the US.

I sell film on Amazon and have the same wholesale price lists that BH has. They sell most film with a 2-3 percent margin. Personally, I feel that they are not doing anybody any favors with that practice, but they can get away with it because they sell a whole pile of other much higher margin stuff to cover it.You’re going to be hard pressed to get better pricing elsewhere unless the seller is losing money because 2-3% margin barely covers credit card processing fees. Amazon takes 15% of the total sale price (including the cost of shipping), so in order for an Amazon seller to even break even, they have to be at least 15% above wholesale plus shipping costs. The only good thing about Amazon (for a customer) is they generally have pretty fast ship times, and Amazon has *very generous* customer service and satisfaction policies. The only reason I sell on Amazon is because despite the prices, Amazon is a massive marketplace.

guangong · Sep 1, 2019

Except for movie film, I buy almost all film from BH. Free shipping. There is always something I need to qualify for free shipping, since they sell much more than photo supplies. Only bought in emergency from Freestyle because of their shipping price policy, which is according to dollar amount of order and not according to actual cost of shipping. Which means that shipping for a small but expensive item that could be shipped in a business envelope can cost more than a far heavier item that cost less.

foc · Sep 1, 2019

Adrian Bacon said:
I sell film on Amazon and have the same wholesale price lists that BH has. They sell most film with a 2-3 percent margin. Personally, I feel that they are not doing anybody any favors with that practice, but they can get away with it because they sell a whole pile of other much higher margin stuff to cover it.You’re going to be hard pressed to get better pricing elsewhere unless the seller is losing money because 2-3% margin barely covers credit card processing fees. Amazon takes 15% of the total sale price (including the cost of shipping), so in order for an Amazon seller to even break even, they have to be at least 15% above wholesale plus shipping costs. The only good thing about Amazon (for a customer) is they generally have pretty fast ship times, and Amazon has *very generous* customer service and satisfaction policies. The only reason I sell on Amazon is because despite the prices, Amazon is a massive marketplace.

The 2-3% margin is tiny and hardly worth their while, except as you say they sell more products at higher margins to make up for it. I would like to know their film sale volume, it must be large.( of course they will never release those figures)
It's like supermarkets, (years ago) and below-cost selling. Those items were the enticement to get you in.
Of course, high volume sales with low margin will create a profit.

Paul Howell · Sep 1, 2019

Looks like Photo Warehouse is located there. I’m getting a lot of good recommendations for Ultrafine film, so I’ll have to check it out [/QUOTE]

I bought from Photo Warehouse for over 30 years, located in Ventura they sell a lot of film, paper and chemistry to schools. Of course Freestyle is also located in California and I buy from Freestyle as well. By the way does Honolulu have a Target or Walmart, in my neck of the woods both still sell color film.

Paul Howell · Sep 1, 2019

I checked on line, your local Walmart list Fuji Film, no price, I guess you could call and confirm.

runswithsizzers · Sep 1, 2019

If you have a local store that stocks the film you want, it might be worth paying a little extra so they will be there when you need them. It's worth something to have somplace where you can pick up a couple of rolls in the morning, shoot in the afternoon, and develop it tonight. Oh yeah, that reminds me, I'm out of fixer so I'll get one of those, too. To me, that kind of convenience is worth paying a little extra for.

As a relatively low volume hobby user, it does not really matter to me whether I pay $6 or $7 or $9 for a roll, but if you are shooting 2 or 3 rolls a day, I can see how it might.

For the exotic stuff that my local store does not stock, I'll use B&H and Freestyle.

destroya · Sep 1, 2019

I buy my film from samy's. they have the lower or the same prices and much better customer service than any of the NY places. I still buy from BH or adaorama though, depending on what im looking for. now that BH collects sales tax for california, they have lost a major edge they used to have. so now I get the same price ow lower from samys and instate shipping, so much faster. also freestyle, now that they are selling kodak color liquid C41 chems, shipiing is much cheaper than across the country from unique. so I usually get some arista film to go with my order.

Adrian Bacon · Sep 15, 2019

foc said:
I would like to know their film sale volume, it must be large.( of course they will never release those figures)

Believe it or not, the film market in the US is not nearly as large as you'd think. I can't speak for BH, but I can say that on Amazon, except for the most popular films (like HP5), I rarely have more than 100 rolls of a given emulsion on hand of what I carry and that takes me weeks to months to sell down. And this is with me having Amazon's buy box on most of what I carry (if a seller has the buy box, that means that when you buy that item, that seller is the default choice for who gets the sale and who ships it out). The popular films, like HP5, Amazon rotates between sellers as to who gets the buy box. When you get the buy box on something like 3 packs of 135-36 HP5, it's typically 20-30 units a day, or basically a 100 roll case per day.

BradS · Sep 15, 2019

destroya said:
I buy my film from samy's. they have the lower or the same prices and much better customer service than any of the NY places. I still buy from BH or adaorama though, depending on what im looking for. now that BH collects sales tax for california, they have lost a major edge they used to have. so now I get the same price ow lower from samys and instate shipping, so much faster. also freestyle, now that they are selling kodak color liquid C41 chems, shipiing is much cheaper than across the country from unique. so I usually get some arista film to go with my order.

Good to know. I just placed an order with B&H today and got hit with sales tax...and will suffer 7~10 days shipping delays. Will be looking to Samy's next time. Thanks.

destroya · Sep 16, 2019

BradS said:
Good to know. I just placed an order with B&H today and got hit with sales tax...and will suffer 7~10 days shipping delays. Will be looking to Samy's next time. Thanks.

I think you are local to SF right? if you go to the store, the prices will be a little different, but they will match their own online prices at the store, just ask. they even have a nice free parking lot!

Andrew O'Neill · Sep 16, 2019

I no longer buy from outside of Canada, unless it is for something that I cannot source here. I prefer to support Canadian businesses. HP5 at B&H is exactly the same price here at Kerrisdale Cameras, after the exchange rate.

Where to buy film for reasonable prices?

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