News From Fuji Film

[Steven Barall]

I spoke to the Fuji Film woman today at the Photo Expo. She said that they are probably going to stop selling Acros in Quick Loads and will sell it only as loose sheets as far as 4x5 goes. That would make it much cheaper to buy here in the US. She also would not say much about Fuji taking over some of the Polaroid products but she said that a Chinese film company bought Polaroid's Pos-Neg film technology so it might show up here in the US sonner or later.

Also, they just shipped a bunch of the 4x5 instant pack film holders so if you want one get it now. As far as that new Fuji medium format film camera goes, it will not be available here in the US but Voitlander might sell it here.

She says that Fuji film sales are good here in the US and the biggest problem they have is with gray market Fuji film eating into their bottom line. Please do Fuji Film America a favor and make sure to always get the US market stuff. If the suits back at the home office see that sales are strong here in the US it can only help.

I did not know this but Kodak has discontinued their Ready Loads.

To all you Rolleiflex twin lens fans... In addition to making the standard 80mm camera they are now also making a 50mm and also a telephoto that I think is a 135mm. The wide will be about $6500 and the telephoto will be about $9500. They come covered in pebble grained cow hide. The would like to use an exotic animal skin but they can't import them that way.

The new HP 3200 series printers are really cool. They now have a better red. I complained about not being able to get a HP 17 inch version of the 9180 printer and I was told that it is a constant complaint but the home office says it would not make sense because it would eat into the sales of the 24inch one. They are also marketing their own baryta paper.

That's it. Cheers.

[Andrew O'Neill]

but she said that a Chinese film company bought Polaroid's Pos-Neg film technology so it might show up here in the US sonner or later.

Let hope.

[Fred L]

and that said Chinese company explores the idea of pos/neg in 8x10. this would be huge and worth opening the wallet for but yeah, continuation of a 55 type film would be very welcome.

[Pat Hilander]

Thanks for that update Steven! Some promising stuff!

[Pete Roody]

"She said that they are probably going to stop selling Acros in Quick Loads and will sell it only as loose sheets as far as 4x5 goes."

Quickload is the only reason I use Acros. Hopefully they will rethink this.

[Navy Moose]

With Kodak discontinuing the ReadyLoads and Fuji wanting to discontinue the Acros Quick Loads, there won't be much need for me to keep my 545 holder in a few more years. :-(

[Eric James]

Fuji Acros Quickloads (USA) from B&H arrives short dated at $60 a box; Badger ships a box of imported Acros Quickloads with a 2010 expiration date for $55 a box. I won't be doing Fuji Film America any "favors" other than to suggest that they tweak their business model and supply their resellers with fresh film.

[Paul Kierstead]

She says that Fuji film sales are good here in the US and the biggest problem they have is with gray market Fuji film eating into their bottom line. Please do Fuji Film America a favor and make sure to always get the US market stuff.

I like Fuji products; they really seem to have a dedication to quality. I buy em. But I really, really wish they, and their ilk, would shake this divide the world up mentality. The very idea of "gray market" is pretty silly with web ordering and the like, especially when the very said company often even balks at selling a full product line in your market. Fuji can fix this problem by "globalizing" their film sales.

That said, I am really hopeful at someone picking up the pos/neg tech.

[Kirk Gittings]

"She said that they are probably going to stop selling Acros in Quick Loads and will sell it only as loose sheets as far as 4x5 goes."

Quickload is the only reason I use Acros. Hopefully they will rethink this.

Me too!

[Stefan Lungu]

I like Fuji products; they really seem to have a dedication to quality. I buy em. But I really, really wish they, and their ilk, would shake this divide the world up mentality. The very idea of "gray market" is pretty silly with web ordering and the like, especially when the very said company often even balks at selling a full product line in your market. Fuji can fix this problem by "globalizing" their film sales.

That said, I am really hopeful at someone picking up the pos/neg tech.

Well, in my view everybody has this policy - and I am in Europe, where things are worse than in the US. Look at the prices of every camera manufacturer - even a Shen-Hao is cheaper to get from Badger and then pay for the crazy postage from the states and custom/VAT over here and it still is cheaper than what you would have to pay from a german source. Not to mention Canon and the likes, that will usually not service your gear if it was not for the "european market". So, nothing new really, Fuji is doing it same as everybody else.