Kodak Alaris announces ‘significant’ price increases for January 2022

[Labradorhund]

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Haven't seen it mentioned on the forum yet, so I thought I'd share the (bad) news. Here's a link to the article:

https://kosmofoto.com/2021/10/kodak-alaris-announces-significant-price-increases-for-january-2022/

Edited November 3, 2021 by Labradorhund

[otto.f]

That would mean that one sheet of 4x5” TriX would cost you 5€. Which is crazy because Kodak and TriX weren’t living up to their reputation already since 2010. 🤮The better film would be Adox CHS 100 which is 1,40€ per sheet. You get HP5+ for about almost 3 times cheaper than TriX, if you want a big name like Ilford. 

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[ianman]

I don't mind paying a high price for film but this is starting to get ridiculous. At this rate they are going to price themselves out of the market.

[wattsy]

I've just had a look in the freezer and can see I'm down to a single 'brick' of Portra 400. I've got loads of black and white film – both silver based and C41 – but hardly shoot the stuff. I guess I'd better stock up on colour at £65 per pack before it becomes £80 per pack.

[wattsy]

1 hour ago, ianman said:

At this rate they are going to price themselves out of the market.

For so-called "pro" colour neg film in 35mm, Kodak pretty much are the market now.

Edited November 3, 2021 by wattsy

[Labradorhund]

vor einer Stunde schrieb wattsy:

For so-called "pro" colour neg film in 35mm, Kodak pretty much are the market now.

Not only pretty much. I think they are the only ones with professional color film, aren't they? 

 

vor einer Stunde schrieb wattsy:

I've just had a look in the freezer and can see I'm down to a single 'brick' of Portra 400. I've got loads of black and white film – both silver based and C41 – but hardly shoot the stuff. I guess I'd better stock up on colour at £65 per pack before it becomes £80 per pack.

Me too. I've got some rolls of various Portras left and if I feel like it, I might buy a few more this year. Unfortunately I recently really enjoyed shooting Portra 800, which I find to be pretty expensive already. 

But it doesn't seem feasible to shoot large quantities once the prices go significantly up. For b&w I prefer HP5 and Acros anyway.  

[ianman]

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1 hour ago, wattsy said:

For so-called "pro" colour neg film in 35mm, Kodak pretty much are the market now.

That's a good point of course

Are you really paying £65 per 5 pack now? It's the equivalent of about £53 here at the moment, and it was only £45 last time I got some a couple of months ago.

I just got a couple of packs.

[wattsy]

5 minutes ago, ianman said:

That's a good point of course

Are you really paying £65 per 5 pack now? It's the equivalent of about £53 here at the moment, and it was only £45 last time I got some a couple of months ago.

I just got a couple of packs.

Yes. That's for the 400 variety. Portra 160 is about £53. Maybe I'll give latter a try again because I don't actually need the speed, I just have the (possibly unfounded) notion that I prefer the look and colour of the 400 variety.

[ianman]

I've seen that you seem to always use 400 so I did use that speed as comparison. I got some very cheap ColorPlus 200 a few months ago but haven't got around to using it yet. Generally I quite liked what I saw on Flickr when I did a search on that one.

[Labradorhund]

I've recently purchased 10 rolls of Color Plus for a great deal (4,70€ per roll) - I've only shot it once two years ago and, actually, I was very happy with the results. It's been very difficult to get hold of it after that, but it seems to be back in stock lately. 

[ianman]

22 minutes ago, Labradorhund said:

I've recently purchased 10 rolls of Color Plus for a great deal (4,70€ per roll) - I've only shot it once two years ago and, actually, I was very happy with the results. It's been very difficult to get hold of it after that, but it seems to be back in stock lately. 

That is an excellent price. It's the same as Maco but without shipping which is quite expensive for me. I got a pack of 10 for €52 which is - for me - slightly less than the maco price plus shipping.

I would be interested to see your results if you can post

I'm a fan of Acros too, I still have about 4 bricks of the old version!!

Edited November 3, 2021 by ianman

[otto.f]

17 hours ago, ianman said:

I don't mind paying a high price for film but this is starting to get ridiculous. At this rate they are going to price themselves out of the market.

Maybe they like us to break up instead of vice versa and is going bankrupt more advantageous than just stopping. 

[Labradorhund]

vor 13 Stunden schrieb ianman:

 

I'm a fan of Acros too, I still have about 4 bricks of the old version!!

That's really cool! I've never shot the old version, maybe I'll find some one day and try it. Price for Acros II  is pretty high, though, at least compared to HP5. But I'm still taken aback every time I shoot portraits with it. I want to try it in 120 in the future too. 

Still waiting for my Color Plus to arrive and it usually takes me forever to finish enough rolls to send to the lab, but I'll share some once I have it back  

[Sandokan]

Price hike seems strange as silver has dropped in price and is at one of its lowest rates. 

[adan]

Enhh. Silver is a tiny part of the cost of a roll of film. Something on the order of 1-2%.

Amount of elemental silver in a 35mm 36-exp roll = ~0.17g

Price of that in today's market ($22.47/ounce) = ~US $0.12

The metal in the cassette may be more expensive, per roll.

Tin is skyrocketing, up about 80% since January (was $10.26/lb, now $18.15/lb.) And up 126% since Jan. 2020 (was ~$8.05/lb)

Works out to 4 cents a gram (how much does a cassette shell and caps weigh?)

But really, more like shipping expenses for all the "ingredients" - and the finished product. There's a shortage of cargo containers, so the cost to rent space in one is a sellers' market. Up nearly 400% since Jan. 2021.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/shipping-container-costs-record-high-china-us

[Labradorhund]

I think it would be great if there was a way to re-use or recycle empty film canisters. I have so many of the black and white ones lying around at home, but that's another thing.

Anyways, I've ordered five more rolls of Portra 800, which I prefer over Portra 400, but I think it's quite expensive already. I paid 13,79€ per roll, which was the cheapest offer.  

I still have some Portra 400 and Tri-X in the fridge, so I'm good on Kodak films for now. 

 

Edit: if I find another good offer on Portra 800, I might get weak and buy some more. I might have also put it on the Christmas wishlist, so who knows? 🤪

Edited December 2, 2021 by Labradorhund

[adan]

Just for some perspective, when I entered grad school in Visual Communcations in the autumn of 1984, I signed up for an "Multimedia Production" class (more or less, making extended computer-programmed slide shows on a subject, with soundtrack) - and immediately had to go out and buy 20 rolls of Ektachrome 100N 135-36.

Those cost a nice round $100, or $5.00 per roll (excluding tax)

In inflated 2021 dollars, that would be $13.33 per roll (excluding tax)

I note that, 37 years later, Freestyle Film is offering the revived Ektachrome E100 at $17.79 per roll (which would have been $6.69 in 1984 dollars). Although they are out-of-stock, and won't get a new delivery until after the 2022 prices have gone into effect.

On the one hand, that means an extra $4.46 per roll, above and beyond inflation.

OTOH, that means only an extra $4.46 increase, to make up for the huge collapse in economies of scale in photo-film production, which since 2000 have been ~99 to one (1 roll now has to pay the overhead for the factory and staff that 100 rolls paid for in 2000, and probably 80 rolls paid for in 1984).

In some ways, it is surprising that film does not cost 100 times as much as it did in 2000, or 1984. Imagine you are a musician living off 100 concerts per year - or an artist living off selling 1000 prints per year. And suddenly you have to survive on the proceeds of 1 concert or 10 prints per year...... What would happen to your ticket or print prices?

(Sadly, in the past 20 months, that scenario may have actually been the case. If so, my deepest and most heart-felt sympathy!)

Kodak (and Ilford/Harman and Fuji) are not charities. They have to make some profit, or they go bankrupt (again). In which case there won't be much film available at all.