Kodak discontinues all but 4x5 TMAX films

[rguinter]

I bought a separate film refrigerator almost 2-decades ago when I first started shooting MF and LF in order to stockpile my favorite films. It didn't take too many complaints from my old-lady about film in the refrigerator to make that choice. And I've never looked back.

Recently I outgrew it and bought a larger refrigerator and a separate freezer. When I want to stockpile favorite films I buy several hundred sheets, seal it up with a kitchen food sealer, and stash it in the freezer. When a box gets opened it then moves to the refrigerator until used up.

Regarding TMY... I've used a few rolls in MF but I don't really need the speed so I never stocked up with it. Not a favorite. But I do have quite a bit of Adox 25 which has become a fav.

That's my solution to the constant demise of films.

Bob G.

[Sirius Glass]

I have two freezers that I use to keep film. One on the West Coast and one on the East coast. When I heard that Ultracolor 400 was being discontinued in 120, I bought every roll I could find in Los Angeles to keep them from the hoarders. Recently I bought 25 boxes of Portra VC 160 4x5 also to keep them from the hoarders. If I had more money available I would have bought more.

I recommend that you buy up a discontinued film, that you like, for yourself and deny the hoarders an opportunity to take it all.

Steve

[Brian C. Miller]

Sirius, I absolutely agree with you. When Kodak cancelled 4x5 HIE, I bought up all the boxes in Seattle. I had to deny the hoarders their victory!

[Drew Wiley]

I got all my film out of the kitchen refrig and that made the wife happy. But from time to time I have to share some of my big darkroom freezer space with a frozen
turkey or big bag of shrimp! Worthwhile trade I guess.

[Sirius Glass]

Sirius, I absolutely agree with you. When Kodak cancelled 4x5 HIE, I bought up all the boxes in Seattle. I had to deny the hoarders their victory!

Now that one I really screwed up! I went to Samys and they had an unopened box of 24 rolls of HIE 135 that they told me was the last box on the West Coast. I had not shot HIE before and so I only bought two rolls. They asked me several times if I only wanted two rolls. [I am on a first name basis at two Samys locations.] Like, what if I did not like it. Samys later told me that the other 22 rolls were sold in less that an hour and a half! Now if they had had HIE 120 I would have at least bought that too. [I only started LF again this summer.]

[jnantz]

ssdd

They're only getting rid of it as a stock item. As long as they still have a SKU # for it, it will still be available by special order. This has already been discussed. Why is anyone surprised?

Chris

exactly ...

[goamules]

I have two freezers that I use to keep film... When I heard that Ultracolor 400 was being discontinued in 120, I bought every roll I could find in Los Angeles to keep them from the hoarders...

I recommend that you buy up a discontinued film, that you like, for yourself and deny the hoarders an opportunity to take it all.

Steve

So by hoarding it, you are preventing hoarding? Seems a little...well, I don't get that, but

I'm wondering if somehow Kodak misread the market because there wasn't a constant flow of people buying these films? I'm not thinking about this too hard, but if they saw as steady flow of buying, would things be better? Or is that what people do already, except for when a type goes obsolete?

[John Bowen]

Only in America......

So on Monday evening President O announces he is going to reduce my Social Security taxes for 2011. Talk about a Free Lunch! On Wednesday, I spent the entire tax savings, and more, on 8x10 TMY. The President wanted me to stimulate the US economy and I did. :-) At least TMY is made in the USA. It is made in the USA, isn't it?

I also need some new tires for my truck. I would like to buy some "made in the USA" tires. Are any tires made here anymore?

[Drew Wiley]

Garrett - in some ways it's a downward spiral once a mfg draws backwards. Folks like me consume film much more conservatively once the price goes up and availability declines. Plus I'll hoard if I have to, meaning less frequent orders. But as
I already mentioned, without specific inside information, there might not be any logic to this kind of discontinuance at all. Kodak is simply too big for its britches, and one or two products get about as much respect as a gnat; and significant losses in a completely different division might result in cutbacks in even profitable depts. And in the current economy, there's a lot of kneejerk panic maneuvers going on. If you had to deal with corporations as much as I do, there isn't a whole lot of mystery why this country and certain others are such a mess. A lot of big public traded companies are being terriby run. The stockholders demand instant magic, so the
CEOs are under a lot of pressure to perform smoke-and-mirrors tricks, and once that stops working, they figure out ways to grab their Golden Parachute and bail.
They don't give a damn about our hobbies or niche professions. In an instance like
film, a smaller company dedicated to a single product category would probably do a much better job, if they could capitalize the R&D in the first place.

[Sirius Glass]

So by hoarding it, you are preventing hoarding? Seems a little...well, I don't get that, but

I'm wondering if somehow Kodak misread the market because there wasn't a constant flow of people buying these films? I'm not thinking about this too hard, but if they saw as steady flow of buying, would things be better? Or is that what people do already, except for when a type goes obsolete?

No, no, no! I am a film aficionado, not a hoarder! I am keeping the film from the hoarders!

Kodak looks at how long it takes to sell a master roll. If the film starts becoming out dated before it is sold, a big red flag is raised. The only way to keep loosing LF [and other film sizes] is to buy and shoot more film.