Film Out of Stock - Beware!

[Wayne Crider]

I wonder if Kodak's just cutting rolls once, maybe twice a year now? I doubt they could run a line 52 weeks a year. There may not be that much demand year wise when you figure in competition from Fuji, Ilford, Efke and the rest. In fact alot of photographers are sitting on more film then they can shoot, which is why you see the out of date sales. Personally I wouldn't expect otherwise. Outages will probably be normal from time to time.

[Tony Flora]

Film will go away one day right along with buggy whips and steam locomotives....Evan Clarke

and paint brushes....

[Drew Wiley]

Judging from the batch codes on recent TM film, they're not doing too shabby. Kodak seems to be making frequent production runs. Local shortages are another matter,
but I haven't personally encountered any problems other than the annoying 10 sheet
packaging in 8X10.

[jnantz]

they were asked by our favorite film cutting people in california a while back,
if they would sell them a master roll and let them do the cutting, packaging and REdistribution,
... K said NOPE ..

it is kind of sad since the people in california could cut to pretty much
any size asked for ( small or big ), and odd-sizes wouldn't have had to be special ordered through a dealer ...
do ulf folks have a hard time getting film these days ... ?

[D. Bryant]

they were asked by our favorite film cutting people in california a while back,
if they would sell them a master roll and let them do the cutting, packaging and REdistribution,
... K said NOPE ..

it is kind of sad since the people in california could cut to pretty much
any size asked for ( small or big ), and odd-sizes wouldn't have had to be special ordered through a dealer ...
do ulf folks have a hard time getting film these days ... ?

I think Kodak's answer is quite reasonable for a number of reasons.

[jeroldharter]

Badger is out of stock.

[Greg Blank]

I'll share some thoughts, this week I purchased a 50 sheet box of Provia, I would have liked Velvia 100F but Calumet said they have had the film on BO for over 4 months- what they did have was past date . Maybe the Velvia 100F is going to be axed?

In speaking with another dealer they stated Slide film is dead. I've been shooting slides since 1982. I have also like negative films but don't like the scanning quality of Fuiji negative films... and I wanted to try my hand at E6 processing....which I have also been doing this last week using old frig stored film and stuff I have yet to process from the last two years, not knowing who does good E6 around here.

In the past decade with regard to 4x5, I have mostly shot color negative film then printing in my wet darkroom, until I revived slides for my editorial work using 6 x6 , then came digital. I don't like the over all resolution of digital for landscape, but the colors can be nice :0

Some time ago I bought 600 dollars of Ilford 4x5 b&w and 8x10 when they threatened bankruptcy. So I have alot of B&W - and add that I would purchase at least another 2 K+ of Ilford now, if I would be assured I have a life time supply of B&W.

My point is I think the days of calling up and expecting a dealer to stock a 5 percent or less item of their budget is over, if you want the product support it, buy more of it once or buy more of it more frequently. I've been saying this for years on various forums.

I live in the Chicago area & shoot T-Max 400 film. There is not one box of T-Max 400 for sale in the entire city. I tried Calumet, Central Camera, Helix, PJs & some suburban camera stores....nothing.....nix....zero.....zip. I even checked with Freestyle to see if they could overnight a box (they can, it would be expensive, but even they only have 6 in stock). They all say college students buy it up. If everybody is out, someone is not "getting it." Either Kodak does not think there is a demand, or the photo supply stores think there is no demand...maybe both.

Is this a sign of things to come? Where is the commitment to film I keep hearing about from the manufacturers?

hmmmmm.......?

Rick Tapio

[Greg Blank]

And they are????? Those reasons you find reasonable???? Are?

I think Kodak's answer is quite reasonable for a number of reasons.

[Marko]

And they are????? Those reasons you find reasonable???? Are?

The first very obvious and very reasonable reason that comes to mind is QC.

If they let someone else into the loop, they basically give up on the part of the process that pretty much defined Kodak as such, as much as their films did.

All it would take to make irreparable damage in this kind of market would be sudden appearance of a faulty batch. Say a scratched base, or slightly miss-cut size... Happens with some other manufacturers occasionally and each time it drags the reputation down.

That being said, what's with all the question marks? Keyboard stuck or something?

[Andrew O'Neill]

Me and a buddy just ordered 12 boxes of 8x10 TMY-2 from The Camera Store in Calgary, Canada. Their supplier has it in stock and should ship shortly.
Not too keen on these 10 sheet boxes though. Why doesn't Kodak make it more attractive? 25 sheet boxes at least.