deals on film - post here!

[Trius]

Originally Posted by ChrisPlatt

A thread some months ago mentioned that Eckerd drug stores were closing out Kodak 35mm slide films.
I decided to check it out and it's true. This morning I picked up 8 rolls of Kodachrome 64, 135-24, dated 6/2006 for $1.67 each. Another store had Elitechrome for the same price, I think.
Selection is spotty; some stores have fresh film, some outdated; some have both, one or neither.

Porter's is still advertising Konica VX400 C41 black and white print film, 135-24, for about a buck per roll...

Excelsior, you fathead!
-Chris-

Chris: Yeah, I posted that as I found the K64 and Elitechrome on clearance here in Rochester. 3-packs of Kodak B&W 24 exp. were also on sale, I think around $2.87.

All the Eckerds I've visited recently are all out, and any of the chromes available are at regular price. I'm going to an Eckerds this afternoon, so I will check for current status. If there is more in the system, I'll grab some more.

Trius

[Kat]

Thanks, Bill. I'll think about the ultra, then. Oops, my booboo on agfa/arista, it's 1 am my time, so the eyes are starting to get bleary. Did a search on past threads related to these films, info's great.

As for film deals, I found a B&W film here in Manila for a little less than $1USD per 36 exp roll, 100ASA. Brand name is Colpan. It's imported (not sure from where) but packed locally, the box has spanish words. Not up to the quality of other branded B&Ws, of course, but the price is great, so it's not bad if you want to waste film or just practice. No website/online stores, though, so I'm not sure how anyone else here can avail of it...I buy and use it and can pick up some for whoever wants, but I'm not sure the shipping would be worth it. Picture quality...my friend who used it in the past said it leans more towards shades of gray. All my B&W pics here (http://flickr.com/photos/70813240@N00/) used the film, but they're not very good test shots as the camera I used appeared to have some flare problems (no hood yet).

Fuji has a portrait film ("ProPlus") they sell here in packs of 5, comes out probably about $1.25 USD per 36exp roll. The RF colored shots in the same webalbum are from this film.

[bmattock]

Originally Posted by Kat

Thanks, Bill. I'll think about the ultra, then. Oops, my booboo on agfa/arista, it's 1 am my time, so the eyes are starting to get bleary. Did a search on past threads related to these films, info's great.

As for film deals, I found a B&W film here in Manila for a little less than $1USD per 36 exp roll, 100ASA. Brand name is Colpan. It's imported (not sure from where) but packed locally, the box has spanish words. Not up to the quality of other branded B&Ws, of course, but the price is great, so it's not bad if you want to waste film or just practice. No website/online stores, though, so I'm not sure how anyone else here can avail of it...I buy and use it and can pick up some for whoever wants, but I'm not sure the shipping would be worth it. Picture quality...my friend who used it in the past said it leans more towards shades of gray. All my B&W pics here (http://flickr.com/photos/70813240@N00/) used the film, but they're not very good test shots as the camera I used appeared to have some light leak problems.

Fuji has a portrait film ("ProPlus") they sell here in packs of 5, comes out probably about $1.25 USD per 36exp roll. The RF colored shots in the same webalbum are from this film.

Thanks, Kat. I spent a little time in Olongapo City back in the early 1980's. PI is a beautiful place!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

[bmattock]

I went out at lunch today and did a little local sleuthing...

We have three chains of drugstores here in Wilson, NC - Walgreens, Eckerds, and CVS/pharmacy. I am quite familiar with the contents of Walgreens, so I went to Eckerds and CVS. Here are my results, yours may vary:

Eckerds:

They have a store brand of 200 and 400 C41 film, all outdated and covered in dust. From the packages, I do not know where it is made. The packages say "Made for the USA, packaged in the USA." It is about a buck a box (of 4) cheaper than the similar Kodak Gold 200 and 400. By the way, I was able to confirm, the Kodak Gold *is* all made in China, according to the box. That was a shocker to me when I first heard it here on RFF.

Eckerds DOES have a deal, though. They have Kodak Kodachrome 64 (24 exp) for $1.67 per roll - this is a good deal. Says "Made in USA" on it. Process K-14. Expiration 06/2006. They also have Kodak EliteChrome 200 for $1.97 per roll - also a good deal. I bought a roll of Kodachrome 64 for old time's sake. In total, they had maybe 10 rolls of slide film on display. Not dusty/outdated like their own house brand.

CVS/pharmacy:

I then went over to CVS. They have a store brand 200 and 400 C41 film as well, theirs are both marked "Made in Japan." I don't know if they are therefore Fuji, or Konica Minolta, or even Mitsubishi (if they even make C41 color film in Japan, I dunno). The prices are again, about a buck a box (of 4) cheaper than the same thing in Fuji or Kodak 200 and 400. However, they have TRI-X 400 at $4.12 per roll (24 exp). I was surprised, I did not think anyone in town had true B&W film anymore. I guess I didn't look good enough. However, it was all past-dated, it expired in June of 2005. They DID have some Kodak Elite Chrome 200 just like Eckerds, but they wanted $7.97 per roll for it - yikes!

That's the news from here. The Eckerds slide film seems a good deal, if you have an Eckerds where you live, you might check it out if you shoot slide film.

Next time, I'm going to start checking the various and sundry 'Dollar' stores around this town.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

[bmattock]

Just found this:

Mitsubishi MX II 100 135-24
Mitsubishi MIT124
Pack of 10 - US $9.50 (95 cents per roll)

http://www.imageprointernational.com/shopexd.asp?id=256

I have never dealt with Image Pro International and do not know what kind of company they are, but I think they are legit - they are based in Miami and I found an online purchase order for the City of Fort Lauderdale Police Department - they ordered a bunch of stuff from them in the past, so that's a good sign.

I also have no idea how good (or bad) Mitsubishi color C41 film might be. So there you go.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

[Trius]

The one Eckerd I visited at noon has no more Kodachrome (at any price), and if there was any Elitechrome (I don't recall seing any), there wasn't any special pricing on it. My guess is that here in Rochester, where slide films, and Kodachrome particularly, are likely more "appreciated", the sale stock sold out pretty quickly. I know I did my bit!

Most of the chrome I bought was dated 2006 or even early 2007, but there was some 2005 stock, so I'm shooting that first. Now that it's cooler I can take it out of the fridge and move it onto the (enclosed but not heated) back porch. My wife seems to think the fridge is for food.

Trius

[jan normandale]

Originally Posted by bmattock

Just found this:

Mitsubishi MX II 100 135-24
Mitsubishi MIT124
Pack of 10 - US $9.50 (95 cents per roll)

http://www.imageprointernational.com/shopexd.asp?id=256

I have never dealt with Image Pro International and do not know what kind of company they are, but I think they are legit - they are based in Miami and I found an online purchase order for the City of Fort Lauderdale Police Department - they ordered a bunch of stuff from them in the past, so that's a good sign.

I also have no idea how good (or bad) Mitsubishi color C41 film might be. So there you go.

Best Regards,


Bill Mattocks

Bill , that's a crazy price. I'm going to see if I can find opinions of some users. At that price I might be a buyer of 20 rolls just to see.

[Jordan W.]

Jan -- I'm in Toronto, like you.

I'm still whittling down my stockpile of film that I gathered up before moving back here from the USA, so I haven't felt the full brunt of the prices here yet. But Jon of www.groundglass.ca and I have an order on the way from Freestyle in L.A. with a bunch of the Arista.EDU Ultra 200 (aka Fomapan) -- he has had them ship to Canada before and it went pretty smoothly. Even after currency conversion and shipping costs, this film is cheaper than out-dated B&W film bought locally. (It kills me to see what places like Downtown Camera want for stale-dated Portra 800 -- $7 a roll or something? Craziness.)

I would also second the recommendation of the Megaperls webshop in Japan. I was very pleased with their service -- I bought 100' of Neopan 1600, which arrived in under a week and slipped through the customs radar (i.e. no tax or import duties). Dirk Roesler, who runs it, is very friendly and helpful. You'll definitely save money on Fuji films vs. local prices.

My third recommendation is a seller who goes by the name (IIRC) jay3jay3 (or something like that) on eBay. I bought a whole mess of Fuji Press 400 and 800 in 35mm format from him at very reasonable prices. He has other film up on a regular basis. I think he's located in Hamilton.

Good luck...

[Pico]

Originally Posted by lynn

120 film is extremely expensive in the Netherlands; I buy all mine (non-expired, that is) from an *bay person called knotrc. His prices, even including shipping (from Hong Kong) and insurance, are less - sometimes HALF of - what I am charged here. They may not compete with North-American prices though...

Are you sure his film is not counterfeit? Hong Kong is notorious for selling such.

[rbiemer]

My local Walmart has Polaroid 200 speed color film for 77 cents a roll(.77$US). Only 12 exposures but I bought a bunch and didn't come close to cleaning them out.
Rob

[kully]

I've found 7dayshop.com to be the cheapest in the UK for C-41, E-6 and black and white. Have a butchers, they have special deals on quite often.

At the moment it is five rolls of thirty-six exposure Superia for £4.95 (99p/rool).

[jshelly]

If your willing to buy in bulk quantities, I've been very happy with BatteriesandButter.com especially with the canister only stuff

http://tinyurl.com/nlb78

[John Robertson]

In Scotland my local Lidl Supermarkets are selling packs of 2 x 36 exp Agfa XRG 200 colour films for 99pence. They are dated Dec 2007.

[telenous]

Just to give another nod for 7dayshop.com for the UK and EU(?) market. Lots of offers - and for the friends of Velvia 50, there's some remaining stock.

[berci]

Yes, I always buy from 7day, there is always something on offer. My fridge is full of slightly outdated film and I have shot a lot of them and haven't had any problems.

[anandi]

In Ottawa, and probably other Ontario stores, Loblaws is carrying Kodak Max 400 at 5.87 (CDN) for 3 rolls. It expires in Oct 2007 as I recall.

[schow]

The CVS here in FL is having another deal on their Kodak UC 400. 10.99 w/card as opposed to 13.99 regular priced. The Kodak HD 400 is also 9.99 instead of 10.99.

Additionally, 4 packs of Fujifilm are 7.49 instead of 9.99. The guy I talked to said CVS is phasing out their Fujifilm.


sherm

[mc_vancouver]

Originally Posted by wlewisiii

Also http://www.jandcphoto.com has some very inexpensive films.

William

Just ordered from them. Also, they are publishing a new quarterly for FILM photography, that is, there will be no digital photography in this magazine, none, zero, that is to say, NO bytes. They sell what looks like a really interesting series of films of their own making, plus some from the Czech republic. Of note is a 25 ISO film I'm going to try for portraits, and for some slow shutter speed project I've been itching to do.

[mc_vancouver]

Originally Posted by rbiemer

My local Walmart has Polaroid 200 speed color film for 77 cents a roll(.77$US). Only 12 exposures but I bought a bunch and didn't come close to cleaning them out.
Rob

Good deal, but I have to say this, even though I'm opening myself a big ol' can of worms: shopping at WalMart, for all its price advantages, is what is killing independent stores. Not only that, its killing America, which is odd considering its the quintessential American success story. When all the goods we buy are made in China, and its fast becoming that, will we then have any manufacturers or retailers left in North America?

[Trius]

Petzi (Michael) on APUG has some Agfa Optima 100 in 35mm, and bulk rolls of Agfa Optima 400

[clintock]

I don't know if Voightlander slide film is worth a flip, but it's certainly worth a dollar-
http://www.photosuperia.com/film-sli...m-c-23_62.html

I had some german 100 speed slide film I hope is the same thing- photo porst or something like that, it was good stuff- no kodachrome mind you, but better than ektachrome anyway.

I ordered some of the 100 speed voightlander slide film, I'll see how it compares to kodachrome..

[mervynyan]

Originally Posted by mc_vancouver

Good deal, but I have to say this, even though I'm opening myself a big ol' can of worms: shopping at WalMart, for all its price advantages, is what is killing independent stores. Not only that, its killing America, which is odd considering its the quintessential American success story. When all the goods we buy are made in China, and its fast becoming that, will we then have any manufacturers or retailers left in North America?

Can't resist to respond. It is the same landscape if you are going to travel/live in other developing countries.

WalMart IS an American capitalism success story. I don't agree some of its employment policies, e.g. capping what a part-timer employee can earn annually even if he/she is willing to work overtime, or not paying health benefits for part-time worker. But that is the flaw of American labor law, or the fault of our pension system, not the business per se.

Having said that, if you go to WalMart overseas, products on the shelf are also considered imported, it's imported from even cheaper-labor countries. WalMart in Mexico is selling imported Fuji or Kodak films at about the same price as here in the States in dollar term, so at least they don't price-discriminate shoppers like some manufactuerers.

There are no WalMarts near where I live, in New York City. So I have to go the B&H for all my films/darkroom purchases so you should consider them an indenpendent shop. I can tell you they are not pleasant to deal with if you don't know what you are asking. Becasue they are the only one game in town, their schedule is more strict than any retail places I have been to. How can you close whole last week for Succos even though I understand it is important Jewish holiday and they can do what they see fit. So can they hire some professional management team to run on retail hours?

If you can do it better, please let someone else try. I don't think WalMart can substain this way much longer, maybe a new kid will be on the block... That's the American way.-

[raid]

I have found out that the best way for me was to place a WTB ad for film at RFF and PN. Offers will arrive from several potential sellers. If you want slide film, there will be photographers who have just decided to quit using slide film. If you use print film, it's the same story as some photographers are going 100% digital. I buy the leftovers!

Raid

[clintock]

Got my big ol box of Voigtlander slide film from photosuperia.com..
It appears to be made by Fuji, based on all I now have to go on, the way the can is made and the plastic cannister. Sensia II? about a dollar a roll..
I hope it works!

[mich8261]

If you're in NYC, K&M Camera @ 385 Broadway has Kodak C-41 B&W that just expired 9/2006 for $1/ea.