Fujichrome Provia availability

[Eclectic Man]

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I recently tried to buy some Fujichrome Provia 100F film, bit got the response that the supplier is awaiting stock from Fuji.  Today (2020-08-05)* the supplier stated:

"Fuji UK did reply this morning explaining that  there is no Provia in the UK of any size for the foreseeable future and cannot provide any dates as to when it may be available."

Does anyone know why?  Nothing for the foreseeable future seems a bit worrying.

(2022-08-05 as corrected by a.noctilux below, sorry)

Edited August 5, 2022 by Eclectic Man
Correction

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[a.noctilux]

10 minutes ago, Eclectic Man said:

Today (2020-08-05)

do you mean 2022 ?

Just try in France this link

[Eclectic Man]

@a.noctiluxThanks, could this be another 'Brexit' issue? (For the record, I voted to remain, but accept that others voted to leave the EU.)

[250swb]

1 hour ago, Eclectic Man said:

I recently tried to buy some Fujichrome Provia 100F film, bit got the response that the supplier is awaiting stock from Fuji.  Today (2020-08-05)* the supplier stated:

"Fuji UK did reply this morning explaining that  there is no Provia in the UK of any size for the foreseeable future and cannot provide any dates as to when it may be available."

Does anyone know why?  Nothing for the foreseeable future seems a bit worrying.

(2022-08-05 as corrected by a.noctilux below, sorry)

Ah, a 'Brexit issue', or you not searching for it?

If you find it's out of stock right after I post this ok, it's out of stock, but right now, at this moment in time,  after a cursory search of only three retailers they are advertising 135 Provia 100F as 'in stock', First Call, Analogue Wonderland, and Mathers of Lancashire. Fuji are not the most reliable company for informing the public, and they make film in large batches every now and then, so there are often gaps when it isn't available, and slide film is becoming less popular anyway. But the power of the internet can help reverse the curse of Brexit, use it!

And if you use 2022-08-05 as your timeline then you are clearly a foreign spy,  it is 05-08-2022!

Edited August 5, 2022 by 250swb

[adan]

Freestyle Photo in the US is showing 135 Provia as "out-of-stock - due Sept 2." B&H shows in-stock.

As 250swb notes, it may be a "batch production" thing, same as Leica film bodies these days. Cycling through different formats and base types for Velvia/Provia (and whatever else they are still making), one at a time.

Underestimate demand for a specific item (say, Provia in 135 format) and it may be unavailable until the next scheduled batch.

[Eclectic Man]

12 hours ago, 250swb said:

...

And if you use 2022-08-05 as your timeline then you are clearly a foreign spy,  it is 05-08-2022!

I refer the hon gentleperson to ISO 8601: https://www.iso.org/iso-8601-date-and-time-format.html

"

Organizing meetings and deliveries, writing contracts and buying airplane tickets can be very difficult when the date is unclear.

ISO 8601 tackles this uncertainty by setting out an internationally agreed way to represent dates:

YYYY-MM-DD

For example, September 27, 2012 is represented as 2012-09-27.

"

But thanks very much for the tips on who has Provia in stock, I shall have a look.

[Guest]

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@250swb thanks for the heads up on Mathers. Finally got a roll of Acros 100 to try, well it arrives in a few days.  
 

@Eclectic Man Provia 100F stated arriving on August 9th. Provia link
 

EDITED: just had a conversation with Mathers seems their website defaults to a 2 day availability (BS me thinks) but he expecting delivery in 1 - 2 weeks on Acros, I’ll give him benefit of doubt for 2 weeks I’m in no rush. @Eclectic Man beware and check up BEFORE you order. 

Edited August 6, 2022 by OThomas

[Stuart Richardson]

I have been trying to buy 120, 4x5 and 8x10 Fuji from B&H for a couple months and it has been out of stock. I switched to E100 for the meantime. But the prices on both are staggering at this point. Last time I bought provia it was already staggering 330 dollars for 20 sheets of 8x10, plus 30 bucks or so for shipping, and then 33% tax on top of that. Last price they had was 400 dollars for 20 sheets before tax. I cannot even imagine what it will be next. Unfortunately shooting color 8x10 is no longer something that I can really do, other than as a sporadic thing.

[frame-it]

16 hours ago, Eclectic Man said:

Does anyone know why?  Nothing for the foreseeable future seems a bit worrying.

 

https://www.fujifilm.com/ffis/ja/news/104

 

in English >

 

https://kosmofoto.com/2022/04/fujifilm-warns-of-shortage-of-its-120-slide-films-in-near-future/

 

[Anbaric]

I just checked the stock of all 35mm colour films at a popular UK supplier, Analogue Wonderland. They have a couple of varieties of Cinestill and a small selection of repackaged gimmick / expired emulsions, but nothing at all from Fuji, and only E100 from Kodak at £17.50 a pop.

[Whitford]

B&H had it for a few minutes the other day. I got lucky and snagged 10 rolls while I could.

The price was… significant.

Edited August 8, 2022 by Whitford

[Eclectic Man]

I am expecting a delivery tomorrow, form one of the sources suggested by 250swb above.

[Eclectic Man]

It was delivered, so the message form the other suppliers was erroneous.  I got mine form FirstCall, thanks for the suggestion.  (It is now in the fridge, along with my other film.)

[armadsen]

Color film in general, from both Kodak and Fuji has been in short supply recently. Provia's my favorite film and so I've kept a close watch on its availability. As others mentioned, B&H got some recently. It seems to be sold out now, but was in stock for several days. My local store told me they have 600 rolls on order. Last week they received less than 100 rolls from their order. Nevertheless, it _is_ available, just in very short supply. Between B&H and my local store (in the US), I've bought 20 rolls in the last couple weeks.

Rumors are swirling that Fuji is not actually planning to manufacture film anymore and is just selling through their existing stock. Of course that's not at all confirmed. They did confirm that they "mothballed" their production lines at the start of the pandemic. More recently, there's been some chatter that they have indeed spun up their production lines again. I hope that's true. Either way, I'm being a little more aggressive about stocking up my freezer with Fuji film.

Kodak is definitely still actively manufacturing film, but it's been really hard to find too.

[250swb]

On 8/9/2022 at 10:10 PM, armadsen said:

Color film in general, from both Kodak and Fuji has been in short supply recently. Provia's my favorite film and so I've kept a close watch on its availability. As others mentioned, B&H got some recently. It seems to be sold out now, but was in stock for several days. My local store told me they have 600 rolls on order. Last week they received less than 100 rolls from their order. Nevertheless, it _is_ available, just in very short supply. Between B&H and my local store (in the US), I've bought 20 rolls in the last couple weeks.

Rumors are swirling that Fuji is not actually planning to manufacture film anymore and is just selling through their existing stock. Of course that's not at all confirmed. They did confirm that they "mothballed" their production lines at the start of the pandemic. More recently, there's been some chatter that they have indeed spun up their production lines again. I hope that's true. Either way, I'm being a little more aggressive about stocking up my freezer with Fuji film.

Kodak is definitely still actively manufacturing film, but it's been really hard to find too.

I don't think any of the negative vibe is totally accurate or inaccurate. But Fuji keep shooting themselves in the foot by not explaining that to turn on their massive machines to produce a worthwhile output there needs to be a backlog, not like the drip, drip, drip of film manufacture pre the digital age. Kodak have gone some way to addressing this by downsizing the production process, and Ilford addressed it first by cleverly downsizing their machines and then only running them for a few days a month when necessary. This is why Ilford film is always in stock and other film is available when the critical production limit is reached.

 

[Eclectic Man]

I have belatedly checked the date on my box of Provia 100 4x5 film delivered in August:  "2022-3".  

I'm guessing that means it was out of date by some months when it was sent to me.

:o(

[Guest]

On 8/6/2022 at 11:10 AM, OThomas said:

@250swb thanks for the heads up on Mathers. Finally got a roll of Acros 100 to try, well it arrives in a few days.  
 

@Eclectic Man Provia 100F stated arriving on August 9th. Provia link
 

EDITED: just had a conversation with Mathers seems their website defaults to a 2 day availability (BS me thinks) but he expecting delivery in 1 - 2 weeks on Acros, I’ll give him benefit of doubt for 2 weeks I’m in no rush. @Eclectic Man beware and check up BEFORE you order. 

119 days after ordering a pack of Acros 100 has finally arrived I my doorstep😳😳😳

[Eclectic Man]

Update.  Firstcall Photographic offered me various options including another box of 20 Provia 100F 4x5 sheet film (which I accepted) as the first one was pout of date.  I now have two boxes of out of date Provia 100F (for the price of one in date box).  These had better be ok, as the processing per sheet is several pounds.  Looks like I'll be giving the Intrepid 4x5 Mk4 a real test soon.

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[armadsen]

My experience with slide film has been that it doesn't degrade nearly as quickly as color negative film. I'm guessing your Provia will shoot just fine, particularly if it was cold stored.