Kodak increasing film prices by 15%

[Tim Gray]

Understood. But if the USPS were allowed to raise prices to offset that $5 Billion loss, postage would be more than 44 cents.

Also, private companies do have to fund their pension obligations. That's why so many are trying to get out from under that and discontinue them. Kodak being a prime example.

Don't want to get in a political argument, but I'd be shocked if private companies had to pre fund their pension obligations 75 years into the future like the USPS is required to.

[Frank Petronio]

I haven't seen the prices go up at B&H yet, I just bought another load of Portra 400.

I actually don't want to buy so much that wouldn't be able to shoot it should they discontinue their color negative films and C41 processing becomes harder to find/much more expensive. A year makes sense, a five years' supply doesn't.

This is kind of like the discussion of $10 per gallon gasoline (avoiding politics, lol) - at what point do you quit driving? I see used 2007-era medium format digital systems in the $6000 range now, and those would be good at lower ISOs, just like film. So frankly in 2-4 years I bet a lot of us will be converting, especially for color work. If you can get a 39mp Hasselblad HD3 for $5K then that's a sweet spot for many.

I don't doubt that B&W film will be available indefinitely and home processing isn't hard so my cameras won't be obsolete. It's just nice to have color options.

[Roger Cole]

I quit driving when it's impossible, not when it's expensive. Pretty much anything else, including photography, would be sacrificed first. There is no other way to get from my house to my job, for example.

I didn't even cut down when gas went from a buck a gallon to four bucks a gallon, I just spent less on other stuff.

[Frank Petronio]

A lot of telecommuting will happen as gas prices increase....

[Greg Miller]

I guess the other thing that puts it into perspective is that the 5d MkIII and the D800 are both much more expensive than than the outgoing models. I think I paid £2000 for my 5d mark II three years ago and the new one is starting off at £3000. So that's a 50% increase for early adopters probably coming down to 25-30% in a few months.

I can't speak about the Canon, but the D800, at 36 megapixels, doesn't really replace any existing Nikon camera. It is publicly commonly linked to the D700 (12 megapixels). The D700 and D800 were both introduced at $3,000. Given a small amount of inflation, the D800 is slightly less expensive than the D700.

Regarding film prices, it is just like the weather. Everyone complains about it but nobody does anything about it