Ilford Price Increase

[interneg]

Hope the following quote can help.

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Below, confirmed prices again:

A friend ordered for me some 4X5 film plus 120 Rolls, just arrived.
Super careful packaging, triple packaging(plus courier envelope), fresh batch of film and a clear printed warning message to Customs not to open light sensitive materials in the most internal packaging material.
Checked invoices, and yes $23 per 25 sheets of 4X5 film, and $3.2 per 120 roll, plus reasonably priced Express service.
I should say: Trustworthy Professional group.
Wish the seller maintain the same prices.
Price of almost 3 sheets of Shanghai film for the price of only one(1) sheet of TMY2 film.
That's really big gap.
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BTW and IMHO,
Herd mentality may be good horse for politics and commerce, But not good for Artists at all.
In this community(and any photography based community), I believe it's good for the future and wellbeing of film and much appropriate, to encourage emerging manufacturers and who keep lower price for the longest possible time.
While film market leaders keep escalating prices, hopefully only few still can not realize that the biggest thread(if not one of) in this LFPF forum IS about using X-ray as a photographic medium! Let alone realizing WHY? and HOW?
http://www.largeformatphotography.in...example-images
Started: April 2009.
Number of posts: Approaching 5100 posts, so far.
My 2c.

You're clearly clueless about the severe limitations of x-ray films for non x-ray purposes & there is no indication that the supply of Shanghai film is in any way assured even in the very short term - it went off the market for a considerable period of time while the factory moved & their QC was never as good as it could be (hopefully it has improved). TMY-II (let alone Portra) is a vastly more sophisticated product than GP3 which uses technology that was mature 50-60 years ago - realistically it's a 40-50 speed material with grain at the level of current films a stop or two faster. First rate art materials are expensive & always have been. Deal with it. There's nothing stopping you using GP3 or x-ray film, but don't expect it to match the quality of TMY-II or FP4+ etc. If you want to waste hours of your life fiddling with x-ray materials, go ahead - or pay your money, buy a box of regular film & get on with making images.

[Vaughn]

Check it out! Ilford 8x10 is back down to $114.95! -Joshua

FP4 Plus, 8x10, is now up to $130 at B&H. I recently received from B&H three boxes of 8x10 PF4+ that I paid $110 per box for. Since the price was going up, I thought I would stock up. I go to the fridge to put away the 3 new boxes to find I must of had the same thought not too long ago -- there were three boxes of 8x10 FP4+ already in there with the same expiry date on them! Boy -- pretty nice having 6 boxes of 8x10 film in the fridge!

PS -- x-ray film can be very nice to use as a 'conventional' film.

[tgtaylor]

I think the current B&H price for Delta 100 is temporary and will be raised back to its previous price upon exhaustion of the current order. The price increase notice was widely disseminated on the web which specifically stated that current orders wouldn't be effected. At the time B&H had Delta 100 on back order and those orders were fulfilled at the original web price. After a little while the price was raised and I suspect that it brought a backlash if the product emulsion code was identical with the older order. Just speculating.

Thomas

[Jim Fitzgerald]

I added some FP-4 in 8x10 as well at 110 a box. This adds to the 6 boxes of 50 sheet Efke 25 in my freezer. One can never have enough film.

[Michael Kadillak]

I choose to look at the bright side. At least we have very high quality film options. The film you are acquiring at low costs will eventually be consumed and one is back at the decision point which as far as I am concerned is what it is. Eventually the price increase comes home to roost. If you are constantly thinking of costs how in God's name can you be an artist? I photograph what I feel I want to photograph when I chose to do so. When I shop for film I look for a fair price, buy a pile of it and move on. The purchase hopefully keeps the wheels of commerce moving. Fact. I have never seen current manufactured film go down in price. LF and particularly ULF are investment entry points to be in the game beyond our control and investments in chemistry and darkroom time that cost real money from beginning to end. Onward!

[Vaughn]

In college (1977 to 1981) I could only afford to take a photo class one quarter (9 weeks) a year. I would save up enough money from working a long summer break and buy all my paper (Portriga Rapid 111 and Ilford Gallery Glossy...both Grade 3, 16x20), a bunch of 4x5 film, and a pack of 25 sheets of 32x40 4-ply rag board for the quarter and then use it up over the course of the quarter. Once the quarter started, I did not have to think about the cost of the material or having to decide between art and food. It was only photograph and make/mount prints -- plus whatever other classes I was taking and a lot of basketball. I cut window mats for students and faculty for beer.

Since I have to mail-order now anyway, I still tend to buy larger amounts -- and enjoy knowing I have plenty of material I need to work with stashed away!