Price of Film Going Up

[r.e.]

Today I updated spreadsheets I have on the U.S. availability and prices of Fujinon, Ilford and Kodak films that are available in 4x5 and 8x10. The original spreadsheets, one for black and white and one for colour, were made on August 4, 2021. The data is from B&H.

Kodak Alaris, in particular, is implementing significant price increases for some Kodak films. For some Kodak B&W stocks, B&H says that the price reflects a temporary saving. I've noted these instances in the new B&W spreadsheet. In the new spreadsheets, I've also noted when the film is not in stock. In these instances, the price may not reflect what the price will be when the film is back in stock.

The second price in a cell is the price per sheet or per frame.

Black and White Film Stocks

August 4, 2021





January 22, 2022






Colour Film Stocks

August 4, 2021




January 22, 2022

[Michael R]

Buy or buy not. There is no afford. Lol.

[r.e.]

I had a problem getting the attachments to display properly, now fixed.

I think that this amounts to Kodak Alaris telling its customers for black and white film to move to other suppliers. One question is how Ilford will respond. Will it see the Kodak price increases as a green light to hike its own prices?

[Alan Klein]

I had a problem getting the attachments to display properly, now fixed.

I think that this amounts to Kodak Alaris telling its customers for black and white film to move to other suppliers. One question is how Ilford will respond. Will it see the Kodak price increases as a green light to hike its own prices?

I'm not moving. I'm staying with Kodak Tmax 100. It;s only 10% more than the equivalent Delta 100. Meanwhile Fuji stopped production of its; Velvia 100 and will eliminate some of its Velvia 50 soon.

[r.e.]

I'm not moving. I'm staying with Kodak Tmax 100. It's only 10% more than the equivalent Delta 100.

T-Max 10 sheets: $3.60/sheet (temporary $0.30 saving on this price)
T-Max 50 sheets: $2.80/sheet
Delta 25 sheets: $2.52/sheet
Delta 100 sheets: $2.00/sheet

If one wants the best pricing, a 100 sheet box of Delta is $200, and two 50 sheet boxes of T-Max is $280, or 40% more expensive.

[Alan Klein]

T-Max 10 sheets: $3.60/sheet (temporary $0.30 saving on this price)
T-Max 50 sheets: $2.80/sheet
Delta 25 sheets: $2.52/sheet
Delta 100 sheets: $2.00/sheet

If one wants the best pricing, a 100 sheet box of Delta is $200, and two 50 sheet boxes of T-Max is $280, or 40% more expensive.

If you buy 100 sheets. If you buy 25 sheets there's only a 10% difference. My wife shops at Costco and keeps getting those extra large quantities, half of which go bad before we eat them.

[SergeyT]

My wife shops at Costco and keeps getting those extra large quantities, half of which go bad before we eat them.

Booz does not go bad and there is a lot of other items at Costco that don't go bad and are cheaper than elsewhere

[r.e.]

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Have you looked at the actual prices? I don't regard an increase in the price of 10 sheets of 8x10 T-Max 400 from US$100 to $170 as "just the way it works". At the moment, at least, HP5+ is $10/sheet less. That may be spare change to you, but I daresay that some people, indeed most, would have a different view.

My point was that Kodak Alaris is effectively inviting its customers to change suppliers. I don't quite get how a 70% price increase can be interpreted as benignly as you suggest. Do you really regard this as normal, and anyone who questions it, to use your word, as a "moaner"?

A 70% price increase is 12 times the current pandemic-induced inflation rate in OECD member countries.

I'd also like to address this sentence in your post: "There is no "signaling" to each other." As it happens, antitrust law (competition law outside the U.S.) is one of the few things that I know something about. "Price signalling" is a technical term. You appear to have decided that I'm alleging that there's a price-fixing scheme in the works, which is where that term is relevant. I have no idea how you got that from what I wrote. I simply raised the question of how Ilford will respond to Kodak Alaris's price hikes.

I didn't say, nor imply, anything whatever about price signalling and price fixing. As a matter of common sense, Ilford will be thinking about the fact that it prices 8x10 HP5+ 400 at $7.12 a sheet and Kodak Alaris is now pricing T-Max 400 at $17 a sheet. Also as a matter of common sense, people who shoot 8x10 ISO 400 B&W will be thinking about whether they want to spend $10/sheet more (240% more) for T-Max 400.

I happen to be making that decision now. I guess that I'm one of the people that you've branded as moaners. What I think is that you don't even know what the prices are, despite the fact that I put them right in front of you.

[Alan Klein]

Have you looked at the actual prices? I don't regard an increase in the price of 10 sheets of 8x10 T-Max 400 from US$100 to $170 as "just the way it works". At the moment, at least, HP5+ is $10/sheet less. That may be spare change to you, but I daresay that some people, indeed most, would have a different view.

My point was that Kodak Alaris is effectively inviting its customers to change suppliers. I don't quite get how a 70% price increase can be interpreted as benignly as you suggest. Do you really regard this as normal, and anyone who questions it, to use your word, as a "moaner"?

A 70% price increase is 12 times the current pandemic-induced inflation rate in OECD member countries.

I'd also like to address this sentence in your post: "There is no "signaling" to each other." As it happens, antitrust law (competition law outside the U.S.) is one of the few things that I know something about. "Price signalling" is a technical term. You appear to have decided that I'm alleging that there's a price-fixing scheme in the works, which is where that term is relevant. I have no idea how you got that from what I wrote. I simply raised the question of how Ilford will respond to Kodak Alaris's price hikes.

I didn't say, nor imply, anything whatever about price signalling and price fixing. As a matter of common sense, Ilford will be thinking about the fact that it prices 8x10 HP5+ 400 at $7.12 a sheet and Kodak Alaris is now pricing T-Max 400 at $17 a sheet. Also as a matter of common sense, people who shoot 8x10 ISO 400 B&W will be thinking about whether they want to spend $10/sheet more (240% more) for T-Max 400.

I happen to be making that decision now. I guess that I'm one of the people that you've branded as moaners. What I think is that you don't even know what the prices are, despite the fact that I put them right in front of you.

You're assuming that the other manufacturers won't raise their prices soon.

[r.e.]

You're assuming that the other manufacturers won't raise their prices soon.

I've already said three times in this thread, including in the post that you quoted, that the question is how Ilford will respond From post #3: "One question is how Ilford will respond. Will it see the Kodak price increases as a green light to hike its own prices?"