As a follow on to Steve’s post yesterday there was also a lot of discussion at the conference on 5x7 film. Steve mentioned that he told several folk that I might act as a point person for making more 5x7 available in the US.
As most of us who shoot 5x7 know both Kodak and Fuji provide many more emulsions in 5x7 and/or 13x18 than are sold through their US channels. Of course there are also emulsions available from efke, Foma and Bergger.
As Steve suggested, I am happy to act as a point person for the possible establishment of a ‘collective’ to make more of these emulsions readily available to us. I discussed just buying 13x18 film from Europe with several people but European postage costs make that highly impractical unless you are willing to buy 5 or more boxes at once; not to mention the need for 13x18 holders if you do not already own them.
Please let me hear from you if you are interested and detail the emulsions of interest (e.g. 100VS, Velvia, etc.). I will then see what I can arrange in terms of film. As far as 13x18 holders go they are available new in this country from J&C at the same cost as 5x7 holders.
5x7 Fuji is commercially available from Japan. The problem is simply that if you want to buy it one 20 sheet box at a time you eitehr need to speak Japanese well enough to deal with Japanese stores or deal with the few who deal in export. Those who export the film regularly do so at an outrageous price of $130 per box for Velvia. Sometimes Jeff at Badger and Jim at Midwest have Provia in the range of $100 for a 20 sheet box but not always and very very seldom Velvia. Contrast that to 40-50 Euros for the same emulsions in Europe in 13x18.
My hope si that if I can put together a large enough order .... say 50 or 100 boxes I can get it to us at a more reasonable cost and I'll do the work if folk are interested. Hey, I may even get the cost down to where it won't be worth your while to cut your own as I know you do now <smile>.
Youa rwe absolutely correct. The problem is that the filmis not available in North America through normal distribution channels. Why? Two different answers:
1) According to Fuji US Senior Product and marketing people ... those who were present at the View Camera Conference last week .... the US market would not support their bringing in the film .... whenbever they have tried it sat on the slelf and went short dated .... e.g. market not large enough for them to consider. When asked how couldit be possible that the Europena market is so different and how could it be so much largr they had no answer.
2) When Fuji corporate officials were asked the same question at Photokina the gist of their answer was basically that they just were not in terested in the US market ... no further explanation.
BTW, I believe that Velvia 100 and 100F are NOT special order in 13x18 but will ahve to go look to confirm.
Yes, that's right. I thought the listing from their Japanese catalog might be of value because it probably puts limits on what would be possible here even for an independent importer. If it's not a catalog item somewhere in the world - whether Japan or Europe - I expect it would be impossible to convince Fuji to produce it at all. That's all that I had in mind - I know that the home-market stuff is not readily available here.
I think it's great that you're willing to take on a facilitator role here. As it happens, my own 5x7 needs are well served by the B&W emulsions currently available from Ilford and Kodak - FP4 Plus, HP5 Plus, TMX and TXP. My unmet needs are more in the way of odd and ultralarge formats for B&W, as discussed in the thread on larger formats that's running in parallel to this one.
But I really appreciate the effort that you and others are currently making to communicate our needs to the manufacturers and help re-establish reliable channels for obtaining quality product as the film market consolidates. Many thanks!
Just for curiosity : what about color negative films in either 5"x7" or 13x18 ?
My understanding was that Rollei bayonet accessories in size V would soon be easier to find than 5"x7" or 13x18 color negs ;-);-)
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