LF supplies in Canada

[Jonathan Lee]

I would like to share some very pleasant experiences I had in obtaining LF supplies by Canadian mail-order. I used Treck-Hall (www.treckhall.com) to get 5x7 FP4+, HP5+, 4x5 Velvia, and Azo paper. I got everything within a week at VERY reasonable prices. Azo is about 30% cheaper than from Michael and Paula. I also used FOTOCHEM (http://www.colba.net/~fotochem/) to get all the bulk chemicals for Pyrocat, Amidol developer, and Van Dykes. Prices are good and everything came within a week.

I have no connection with either company other than as a customer, Eh!

[tim atherton]

cool! I'd never come across them before (+ they have Ilford inket suppiles etc) - let's see how they pan out on 8x10 colour film prices

[Nick_3536]

Treck-hall in my limited expierence ranges from damn cheap to gulp. I'm a little suprised they had a good price on film. That's always one thing that seems closer to the wrong end of the scale.

Foto-chem is great.

Nothing more then a some time customer of both.

[Roger Hein]

Thanks for the heads up Jonathan. I wasn't aware that Trek-Hall dealt on a consumer level - they were traditionally only wholesale (ie. distributors).

[Jonathan Lee]

Roger,

I ended up spending just a little over $500 on one order. While this was a lot of cash for me, it isn't wholesale size. They certainly didn't complain about breaking up boxes. According to the invoice, 25 sheet boxes of 5x7 Ilford comes in cartons of 23. I ended up buying 4 boxes of each. They didn't have Azo in stock, but they did special order one measly box for me. Everything else was in stock and they were apologetic that it would take one week for the order to arrive becasue of the Azo. I was impressed!

Since they don't have online prices, I think the the more you spend, the better the price quote you get. The price quote took one working day. Anyways, no-one here in Ottawa would even order 5x7 film for me, so price wasn't the primary concern. Prices from my order:

8x10 Azo (box 100) $79.63 5x7 HP5+ (25sheets) $35.25 5x7 FP4+ (25 sheets) $35.25 4x5 Tmax 100 (50 sheets) $56.27 4x5 Velvia ( 10 sheets) $30.13 free shipping and handling

[tim atherton]

"Prices from my order:"

Canadjun?

[Philippe Gauthier]

I can also testify for Fotochem. The guy is almost my neighbour, so I usually pick up my orders in person and have a chat with the friendly, elderly chap there. He's very honest and he can pre-mesure your chemicals if you ask, etc.

[tim atherton]

Those Ilford prices are cheaper than Freestyle for their "PresidentsChoice Arista" Ilford or B&H for real Ilford. Fuji, about the same price as Vistek.

I just sent in for a quote on a bunch of 8x10 stuff + some inkjet papers - they have a minimum $100.00 order, + only ship in Canada I see

[Jonathan Lee]

Yup, dem prices be as Canadian as a Noctilux. Frankly, I was surprised at how reasonable the prices were. I am SO tired of getting robbed by exhorbitant shipping/handling prices from US suppliers and outrageous brokerage fees (UPS is the worst).

[Michael Kadillak]

Am I missing something here? When I went to the web site listed, in large red letters they said that they are only a Canadian distributing company that does not ship outside of Canada. I can handle the minimum purchase size of $100, but this one is a deal killer. How did you get around that?

[N Gray]

Hi,

I've never had occassion to use Harry's Pro Shop (http://harrysproshop.com), but certainly worth a look.

Good luck,

Nathanael

[tim atherton]

"How did you get around that?"

Move to Canada...

I think the point of the post was - LF anything is hard to find in Canada. LF supplies, especially anything other than 4x5 are near impossible to find a lot of the time, even at the few major stores. As a result, even with the (thankfully not quite so bad now) weak Canadian dollar, many Canadian LF photographers end up ordering from the US - not only does it often cost us more because of the exchange rate, shipping charges are often high to extortionate. Also, customs brokerage fees are often ridiculous (even when duty/taxes are minimal - I once paid UPS $35.00 in fees for them to collect $4.95 in GST tax).

As an example, I recently needed Portra 400 8x10 for a magazine shoot. We couldn't find any anywhere in Canada after going around several major stores coast to coast. We would have had to order from B&H and it wouldn't have got here in time, so we ended up having to do without and change our plans accordingly.

So to find a Canadian supplier with semi decent prices as well as either LF supplies in stock and/or willing to order obscure stuff is fairly out of the ordinary.

Mind you, isn't AZO now a Canadian product? I've usually found any Kodak product that is made at the Canadian plant is usually a) cheaper here and b) easier to get hold of (e.g. Verichrome Pan before they let it go)

[Nick_3536]

I bought an enlarger from Harry's and some smaller items. The most pleasant photo shopping expierence I've ever had.

[Jonathan Lee]

Well said Tim. Azo is an example of a great irony in the Canadian LF scene. As my new box attests, it is a Canadian product. Without Treck-Hall, I would have probably bought it from Michaelandpaula.com. So my Azo would have travelled from Canada to the US and back again, picking up frequent flier miles and brokerage charges along the way.

And another thing about Treck Hall: Si vous parlez en francais, ils peuvent parlez francais aussi.

[Ken Dangerfield]

I agree with the comments about UPS. Avoid them like the plague. They (and FedEx for that matter) have a neat little extortion racket going. Your parcel arrives at UPS or FedEx's bonded warehouse in Canada, pending clearance through Canada Customs. Someone has to clear it through Customs. Even if UPS or FedEx contacts you in advance (which they seldom do) you would still have to arrange for another broker to clear the shipment (probably for a similar, high fee) or show up at the Customs wicket and clear it yourself (which in my case is impossible).

So despite NAFTA, you end up paying UPS or FedEx's in-house broker between $35-45CDN to tell you that no customs duties are owing. Huh???

I always INSIST that shipments from the US be sent by USPS. If the parcel is small enough it comes all the way in the mail and I pay Canada Post $5CDN to process it. For larger items, Canada Post hands it off to their designated broker (PBL Global Logistics) and their subsidiary ground courier and, if I remember correctly, they charge $15CDN.

[Nick_3536]

The only time I've had to deal with PBL was with a product sent next day. Global priority? The part that drove me crazy is they asked for the money months latter. I get this letter saying I owe $X for a package received. It's from somebody I've never heard of before. It's months later. I finally figured out what it was related to but if I hadn't been able to they would still been thier with thier hands out. It's nice that they don't ask for money when they drop off the package but can't they send a bill in a timely fashion?

I've had some pretty big stuff get dropped off by the postman. Just had two rolls of paper that came pony express. Only took three weeks from the US west coast.

[tim atherton]

"For larger items, Canada Post hands it off to their designated broker (PBL Global Logistics) and their subsidiary ground courier and, if I remember correctly, they charge $15CDN."

I think it's actually the postal service option that's chosen in the US - if it goes good old Surface or Ari Mail Parcel/small packet (and regular parcels can be pretty big) - it still comes via Canada Post.

If it's USPS Global Priority or Global Express (I think), at the border it gets handed off to Canada Post's generally useless courier subsiduary Purolator, who deal through PBL Logistics for their brokerage. PBL while cheaper than those used by Fedex/UPS sometimes get it right, but often get it wrong. I have had some very bizarre duties charged on photo stuff (basically, a Customs broker who doesn't seem to understand the extensive Canada Customs tarrifs tables - gee I thought that's what they were getting paid for...). But then they have ocassionally come through every now and then - the actual broker on the bonded warehouse floor calling me when there was a problem. So I have found their record variable - good sometimes, not so good others. But if you can take the time, USP/Canada Post seems the best - especially as they still seem to completely miss duties on about one out of three packages... They have charged me $1.95gst + $5.00 fee on some small camera part, but then not charged anything on a $1500.00 camera - go figure (was probably coffee break time)

[Jari]

About year ago I try buy used Sinar 8x10 F2 from Harry´s Pro Shop. Sure they want sell lens etc. I allready have a lens and need just that camera (camera was listed in their web sites without any equipment, just camera) and I got angry E-mail because I want buy only camera! Never need to contact Harry´s Pro shop again... Jari

[Paul Kierstead]

Jari, are you SURE it was Harry's Pro Shop? It is a one man operation and I have found him to be exceptionally polite and nice on all occasions, regardless of how much I was buying. Brian (the proprietor) doesn't seem to care at all how much you are buying. Sure he'll say "Do you want anything with that?" but it is hardly angry...more like the "Want fries with that?" at McDonalds.

My experience with him has been extremely pleasant.

[Jari]

Paul, it was Harry´s Pro Shop. My english is not perfect and I send Harry´s Pro Shop mails to my U.S. friend and he was also very supprised what kind of E-mails I got from Harry´s Pro Shop. And when I want to got some photos about that camera it was impossible. I think that why it is so difficult to camera store to take some digiphotos and send by E-mail. They really try sold me lott of extra with camera and when they realize that I want only camera I start to got really angry E-mails and they was not anymore to interest to sold the camera! I was very supprised and I think that if they don´t want sold it it is OK for me. Shame that I don´t save those E-mails. But this was my experience only and maybe they just have very bad day... Jari