I was in touch with John at J&C today and he informed me that the orders received to date for the T Max 400 ULF offering is lukewarm. What are you waiting for?
In order to avail ourselves of the standard high priced Special Kodak Order and to get Kodak to consider cutting T Max 400 in ULF sizes, we needed to get their attention by purchasing an entire master roll. Encouraged by the interest expressed from the ULF community to put T Max 400 into the film holders of the ULF shooter, we invested a year of our time to secure terms and pricing that we have the opportunity to take advantage of as we speak. When we pre-notified the ULF/LF community of our success in climbing this mountain, we received tremendous interest in this project that encouraged us to set up the payment vehicle at:
http://www.jandcphoto.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=24
I honestly felt that folks would be absolutely chomping at the bit at this opportunity and so far, that is not proved to be the case. . Come on fellow sheet film users, help us out here. We opted to act in the best interests of the entire ULF/LF community when we could have negotiated a deal for a handful of participants.
Considering the cost of a master roll of any film, the willing underwriter (J&C) needs our commitment in the form of actual film orders to offset a reasonable portion of the financial exposure to make this deal work. Without every interested person downloading the payment forms and committing to the largest commitment of this film possible, there is a real risk that this deal could not come to fruition.
Why? Unlike the Ilford offering that is being fronted by the manufacturer, J&C is stepping up BIG TIME to fund the purchase of the master roll but cannot (and should not) be asked to accept the entire financial exposure for this deal. Our participation as a group of sheet film users in the form of real orders is absolutely essential to offset a reasonable portion of the cost of this deal.
A tactical strategy in insuring that we have quality sheet film in the future is to take an offensive posture and convey to the film manufactuers that we are in fact a ready willing and stable market now and in the future. Given what we felt was the interest in T Max 400 that is exactly what we did with Kodak. To allow this offering to fail for a fundamental lack of participation would be absolutely devistating to the prospects of the future for ULF sheet film. It would make us as consumers completely reliant upon 50 year old film plants in Eastern and that does not set well with me one bit.
Help us help you and secure the prospects of participating in this marvelous art form for years to come - step up to the plate and send your order form to J&C.
Sincerely,
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