"Attention Valued Freestyle Customer"

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http://www.freestylephoto.biz/important_pricing_information.php

We are sensitive to how important pricing is to you and are very focused on keeping your material costs as low as possible. As you have noticed, many prices have increased on B&W films, papers and chemicals in recent months as a number of manufacturers passed along substantial price increases to us. In light of newly increased prices by the manufacturer of Ilford & Kentmere brand B&W films and papers as well as our other manufacturing partners, we are forced into the unfortunate position of having to make some further price adjustments. Trust that we have worked closely with all of our manufacturing partners to do everything possible to limit the impact this has on your purchase prices.

Our manufacturing partners and suppliers, universally, have informed us of the many factors that have contributed to these increases including costs of raw materials, energy/fuel, transportation, fluctuation in the value of various international currencies, etc. As an example, silver alone has increased in value by almost 80% in the 2010 calendar year alone. The amount of this precious metal in Black & White materials comprises a very large percentage of the raw material costs.

See below graph taken from Monex Precious Metals
silver_price_chart.png

http://www.monex.com/why/silver_market.html?gclid=CN6-4YOh66YCFQEGbAod2k8TBg


As a result, Ilford & Kentmere brand B&W films and paper prices have been increased approximately 8 – 18 %.

In the coming weeks price increases on other items will follow. We hope you will use this opportunity to stock up while we are able to hold current prices for a limited time on these other items.

While these price increases are unavoidable, we are grateful for your continued support of traditional photographic materials.
 
i bought 50 x arista premium 400, 50 x arista premium 100, 50 x Fomapan 120.
Bringing my m3 and my czj sonnar 1.5 and heading for the hills.....
 
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I bought some Ilford SFX and Delta 3200 film this week. I had counted on spending $35 but it was closer to $40 when they rang it up. Now I know why.
 
Look on the bright side ... a full frame digital SLR now costs less than it did a few years ago when full frame was ground breaking technology. SD and CF cards are cheaper than they have ever been. Epson have just released a new printer ... the 3000.

Not to mention ... (drum roll please)



















The new Fuji X100 hits the shelves next month! (insert emoticon for jumping up and down joyfully)

I'll leave now! 😱
 
Timing is everything - my 1000 rolls of Arista Premium 400 arrived last week! Still, even if the price is going up some 10-15% - it is still reasonable. Just checked today at a store here in Vancouver. My price for TriX - even in bulk volume would be close to $6/roll with taxes. The Arista came in at $2.55/roll, shipping and taxes included! That is a $3450 saving!
Freestyle is also very efficient and pleasant to deal with.
Fireboy: dont have room for more film - shooting fast and furiously - just to squeeze another 100 into the fridge.
 
LOL. I put all mine in the garage then when the weather warms up, into the big freezer we have out there.

Fireboy: dont have room for more film - shooting fast and furiously - just to squeeze another 100 into the fridge.
 
Timing is everything - my 1000 rolls of Arista Premium 400 arrived last week! Still, even if the price is going up some 10-15% - it is still reasonable. Just checked today at a store here in Vancouver. My price for TriX - even in bulk volume would be close to $6/roll with taxes. The Arista came in at $2.55/roll, shipping and taxes included! That is a $3450 saving!
Freestyle is also very efficient and pleasant to deal with.
Fireboy: dont have room for more film - shooting fast and furiously - just to squeeze another 100 into the fridge.

OT: Might I ask is that 1000ft of film (10x100ft rolls) or 1000 rolls of 100ft film? And if it is the latter, I don't know a fridge smaller than a industrial meat locker that will hold that much film. 😱 You could potentially be shooting rolls for many many years to come. 😉

Back: Well, the price of many things are going up over where I am now, and let me tell you B&W film is the last thing I'm worried about. Prices for daily necessities are going through the roof!

I shoot at best 2 to 4 rolls a month, so this increase is but a minor inconvenience. Tri-X for me cost about $6 too, but I have seen Arista Premium for around $4.50 and Legacy Pro for $4.00 (taxes included). I wanted to ask the shop about where they're getting their Legacy Pro as they've replenished a couple of times already. I'd better just buy some before their supplier run out. 🙄
 
Every time the price of film, chemicals, paper etc increases there will be a backlash ... statistically it's unavoidable. There is always going to be a marginal group of film shooters no matter how small who will consider a shift to digital when these increases occur. It may only seem like a small rise and may only trigger a minimal reaction but I see it as disastrous sorry.
 
I wonder if most of us stock up - will companies experience period when new, more pricey stock will not move? I'm just thinking they may notice "umh, film costs more than people are ready to pay. Well, let's move on...."
 
"Disastrous" seems a little strong to me. I'm in the "so what" camp about this. Inflation is a fact of life. We're affected a little more because our drug of choice contains silver, that's all. I'm much more worried about dwindling choices.

Two more points I'd like to make:

Kudos to Freestyle for their communications skills. I wish more businesses would treat their customers like reasonable adults.

Stockpiling film: If you're thinking about it, do your math. I just ran some quick numbers, off of the Home Depot website. A chest freezer runs about $200, plus $30/year in electricity. Assuming you get ten years out of that freezer (which may be optimistic), this works out to a known cost of $50 a year, versus the unknown (but indeed, very likely) price increase over a year. Whether that makes financial sense or not depends on how much you shoot, of course. I just want to point out that the freezer as a hedge against price increase is not for everyone.

Bottom line, I wouldn't waste freezer space on an emulsion that's likely to be around for a while. Different story altogether if your favorite stuff is on the brink of being discontinued, of course.
 
When I say disastrous I'm considering that film's natural enemy (no need to use that word) seems to be getting less expensive and more diverse (micro four thirds~X100~FF DSLR etc) while film itself suffers with inflated silver prices and a dwindling market.

I realise that price increases are unavoidable, and kudos to Freestyle for giving us advance notice, but I'm worried that eventually I and many others will have to cut back on our consumption based on our limited disposable incomes. Personally, I'm struggling financially at the moment ... and I know I'm not Robinson Crusoe here!
 
I haven't bought film for the last 2 years since i've been using free stuff. That said, I have no problem having to pony up some dough. I never knew "cheap" fresh film.
 
Well, I'm glad that i bought a couple of 100ft cans of LegacyPro 100 (gotta buy more soon though, before they run out) and a can of AP400. Still, I'll be buying film even if the prices go up. It's a slight inconvenience, but I don't really mind.
 
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