Just looking now at film pricing at B&H and Adorama and it appears that prices have dramatically increased for B&W film. Like an Acros100 single roll is just over $7, 4x5 Acros went from 46 to 56. Even Ilford's prices have increased, FP4 25 4x5 sheets from 29 to 33. Anyone have an idea what is going on? Are they ready to discontinue film? Is it a matter of currency exchange rates?
It's 2013. Niche market.
Acros 120 on B&H's site is $4.62 according to my screen right now
EDIT:
unless you're referring to 35mm, which is $6.59/roll, but is currently @ $5.99/roll sale-price
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I checked a few prices just a few days ago and found I still can buy 100 sheets of Ilford FP4+ and HP5+ for about $1/sheet.
What shocks me is that 4x5 Portra 160 is hovering around $3.50-$4/sheet. That's nuts. Large format color film is going to become very scarce very soon at those rates.
Acros is one of my favorite 120 roll films, and it's become more expensive. I have taken a "dollar-cost-average" approach to buying it. Every time I go to the camera store or have a few bucks to spend, I buy a pro pack, whether I'm planning to use it or not. It's surprising how quickly you can build up a stock that way.
Most of the prices are substantially up for both Ilford and Fuji, certainly large format. I can understand the price rising slightly, but Acros 4x5 25 shts from 46 to 56 and FP4 from 29 to 33? Something else seems to be at work here.Originally Posted by Daniel Stone
Acros 120 on B&H's site is $4.62 according to my screen right now
EDIT:
unless you're referring to 35mm, which is $6.59/roll, but is currently @ $5.99/roll sale-price
$6 per roll, what a bargain!!!!!!! I also use 35mm, but I may have to start counting frames.Acros 120 on B&H's site is $4.62 according to my screen right now
EDIT:
unless you're referring to 35mm, which is $6.59/roll, but is currently @ $5.99/roll sale-price
I never claimed it'd be a price I'd pay
for 35mm(which I hardly ever shoot these days, 645 is usually the smallest I'll use), I just shoot Tmax 400 for b/w. Mostly slides and Portra 400 these days goes through the Nikons, if I'm not using 120/220 and the Pentax
Stone Photo Gear
https://www.stonephotogear.com/
A good portion of your posts cite price as a concern and while you are not alone in this, many of us have accepted that film, paper and even chemistry prices are going to up, not down and we have made the appropriate arrangements in preparation thereof.
We also realize the expected price increases do not necessarily mean a product is being discontinued. Having said that, yeah, Fuji is really jacking it up, I don't use Acros in 4x5 but I love it in 120 and bought several hundred rolls of it when Adorama had it at less than $3 a roll.
Like Vinny said, it is a niche market, this is the new reality.
Yep.
Please correct me if I am wrong. I presume that the majority of commercial photographers using large format are using color more than B&W. Thus the majority of users for B&W are "fine-arts" and hobbyist photographers, which I suspect is an even smaller market than color. This and future increase in prices can only result in a smaller user base, for which production of large format film in both color and B&W will become increasingly difficult for the large manufacturers such as Fuji and Ilford to justify. While there is no substitute for large format, photographers will devise to get around the limitations by using digital. Lets face it, we can begin counting the days until the end of film photography.
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