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.

[Songyun]

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.

The only disadvantage of gray market item is that it is exposed to the risk of currency exchange rate.

[venchka]

Here's a novel idea. Are you reading this Mr. Fuji?

What would be wrong with shipping 4x5 Acros to North America in both packages, Quickloads and sheets????????????????????? With the departure of Kodak, Fuji has the Quickload market all to themselves.

[Ralph Barker]

Me too!


Me three.

[Drew Wiley]

I use ACROS in both 4x5 Quickloads and bulk sheets, and also have some 8x10 sheets.
Quickloads are truly more convenient for certain types of travel than a changing tent.
Unfortunately, some of the marketing people in certain corporations aren't very bright.
With Kodak tanking Readyloads, Fuji's sales should increase automatically, even if they
offered the same film parallel in regular boxes as well, which is what they should do.
Rather than finding new opportunites, companies tend to copy the mistakes of their competitors, like lemming following each other off a cliff. I see it all the time.

[Armin Seeholzer]

I just filled my freezer with the last Readyloads from Kodak and in 2 years from now I have to switch to the Fuji's Quickload again!!!!!
So Fuji you should not stop it they will increase in the near future, Fuji are you hear me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Stefan Lungu]

I was actually happy to be able to get myself a Readyload holder since I was thinking that it would be great to go on travel with some Velvia and Acros, but that could be over before I started. That's abad thing.
One thing I do not get is : Fuji makes money out of selling these special holders and with that gets also a customer for them, but the again, they also want to rip you off with the sheets too. No wonder demand is so low and they think to stop it ( Acros first, I imagine demand for the slides is bigger for shooting nature and such ).

[gevalia]

Well, it would be nice if we could consistently get Acros 4x5 sheets. As it is, it seems like it is available only a few times a year in the US.

[Kirk Keyes]

Another Acros Quickload user here. I too hope they keep up production of it. I haven't loaded a 4x5 holder since 1990. Good thing I never sold my MIDO system, I guess.

[Tim Povlick]

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.

I talked with Jeff and Badger and he said they absolutely do not sell gray market film.

BTW
The Fujifilm instant 4x5 pack film PA-45 holders are in stock at B&H as of 26-Oct.

Best Regards,

Tim

[claudiocambon]

The problem with the statement "only buy from Fuji America" is that it only refers to some internal, US-division related sales target they have. If you buy gray market film here in the US, you are still buying Fuji film. In other words, Fuji still sees profit from the film they sell you, still understands the US market as profitable, etc. No threat is posed to Fuji's perception that selling film in the US is good business.

[Eric Leppanen]

If you buy gray market film here in the US, you are still buying Fuji film. In other words, Fuji still sees profit from the film they sell you, still understands the US market as profitable, etc. No threat is posed to Fuji's perception that selling film in the US is good business.As far as I know, Fuji grey-market film sold in the U.S. is imported directly from Japan. Fuji has no way of knowing that this erstwhile "Japanese market" film has been shipped to the U.S., therefore Fuji perceives it as Japanese market business. Thus grey-market film understates the amount of film sold in the U.S. from Fuji's perspective, making U.S. market demand appear weaker than it is. This is a bad thing if we want to encourage Fuji USA to continuing stocking a wide variety of film types and sizes here is the U.S.

That being said, for larger LF film formats Fuji USA stocks limited (8x10) or no (5x7) film types, so occasionally one may have no choice but to buy grey market. For example, when I last heard, Fuji USA stocks only Velvia 50, Provia, Pro 160S and Acros in 8x10; so if you want something like 8x10 Velvia 100, for example, you will either have to participate in a large group buy (which I did) or import it yourself. And I thought Jeff at Badger had to import Fuji 5x7 film himself, since Fuji USA has abandoned this format (5x7 Provia and Velvia 100 are available in Japan); perhaps he negotiated an occasional special buy through the Fuji USA folks?

[Kevin Convery]

I've been a long time fan of Acros and Fuji Films in general and rather annoyed by its lack of LF availability in the US. It's a pain in the ass and more expensive to use Quickload for me. I do mostly studio/indoor work and have no need to purchase a QL holder so am left to rip apart the 4x5 packets. Loose sheets being available is nice to hear. It also makes no sense to me why Fuji won't import Acros in 8x10 to the US. As far as I know its only available through MPEX or occasionally eBay.

Also, a few months back I heard Fuji makes BW paper. It completely blew my mind on Saturday at Photo Plus when the Fuji rep told me they have "absolutely no intentions of importing Acros 8x10 or BW papers to the US, there is no market." Really?

[Toyon]

I have heard that their b&w paper is manufactured by one of the established european makers. If that is the case, export from Japan doesn't make much sense. As to their contumacy regarding Acros sheet film, let's hope that it changes.