I know that complaining about price is a true sport on the internet, but I wanted to see what people thought about the current situation. I have only been shooting 8x10 for about five years, but I love it. In smaller formats I have standardized on Tmax 400 and Provia 100F as my main two films for black and white and color. I think both are tremendous products and I really want to support them and continue using them, but the prices have truly climbed to absurd heights. I am a bit unlucky in that Iceland has an additional 33% tax on film (VAT and a customs surcharge), which means that prices are even harder to swallow than for those in the US or many parts of Europe. I look now at FotoImpex and Provia with shipping to Iceland would cost me 650 euros a box for twenty photos, not including processing or scanning (both of which I do myself). E6 chemicals, if you can find them, are pricey and take forever to arrive, as they are not able to be shipped by air (again, a disadvantage of being on an island in the middle of the ocean). So for this at least, we are looking at around 40 euros a sheet all told.
For black and white, thankfully Ilford still has some manageable prices. I would love to use Tmax, but it is not much better. With shipping and tax, Tmax 400 costs me 30 dollars a sheet without processing or scanning from B&H. I know that the prices are a bit better for those of you located nearer to the source or in places with lower taxes, but is it really possible to continue selling the film at this rate? Is this a stealth discontinuation on the part of Fuji, perhaps? There is nothing more spectacular than looking at an 8x10 slide, but I think I bought my last box last time, when it was "just" 330 dollars a box.
I would appreciate to hear from people who might have some more inside information. I remember hearing that Kodak was saying that the current high prices were allowing them to increase production and hopefully lower the prices, and while I have the deepest respect for the engineers and workers at Kodak, I would not really trust the executives farther than I could throw them. What do you all think? Are we all going to be all boutique companies and black and white only pretty soon, or is there a light at the end of the tunnel?
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