Australia/New Zealand Check these film prices ... you may want to be sitting down!

[ChrisN]

I think that the shops that sell film at these prices are catering for a very small market, often the high-school kids that want to study photography, and have a compulsory unit that requires film. The prices they charge for paper are similarly ridiculous.

Yes, we do buy from overseas, and usually from B&H, benefiting from the economies of scale of the large US market. Luckily we can avoid paying import duties and taxes if we keep the total order below $1000.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

sometime last year, i decided that :

a. film prices will always go up, and will likely end up as as a niche hobby

b. i still want to shoot film as I only started Photography in the last 3 years.

I started accumulating film, and only iso 100 and iso 400 film. for iso 100 film
i chose Polypan F, and for iso 400 film, the choice at that time was Kentmere 400.

Well, kentmere 400@bulk roll at $30 is no more, and polypan f is still cheap at 300feet
at under $40.

i have accumulated around 3 year's worth of film, assuming a 20-exposure roll a day.
What I hope to achieve after the next three years is to be become a better photographer,
as opposed to become a better technologist.

raytoei

 

[sevo]

Bloody Hell! These guys are charging a full SIX TIMES the prices charged for the same films in the USA. Six f--king times the price! How do these guys stay in business??

Everybody outside the US pays at least twice the US price for all imported goods! That is the advantage of living in the proverbially evil empire...

 

[Scrambler]

Apart from the happy snaps I bulk load and have another 900 feet or so before I need to restock. But I don't love developing like some seem to and I don't really have a choice given the prices for b&w processing: which make film look pretty cheap.

 

[btgc]

Has this thread arrived to revelation "you is USA pay less dollars for more of goods" already?

 

[john_s]

Looks mad. May be an error. VanBar in Melbourne has 35mm 36 rolls of Fomapan Classic 100 for $5.83. The illustration on their site shows a box of 24 exposures, but even if that is not wrong it is still way cheaper.

On the other hand, Fotoriesel has Tri X for $16.95 and VanBar for $9.13. I suspect that VanBar overall is cheaper regardless of errors.

Vanbar's price for HP5+ seems to have gone up by quite a bit lately. I've been supporting them since my local guy closed, but it's now getting ridiculous. I shared in a group purchase from B&H recently and the saving is immense.

 

[csxcnj]

There is a pizza restaurant in Fort Wayne, near the neighborhood where I grew up that has been in business for more than 30 years. This despite NEVER having customers. Even on saturday evenings, when every pizza place in the city is packed, this place sits EMPTY, but open! People I know who have eaten there say the pizza is disgusting. People in the neighborhood have speculated that the place was a front for something illegal as long as I can remember, even when I was a little kid, I heard these rumors!

Growing up in north Jersey and spending a lot of time in NYC there were/are certain sandwich shops/pizzerias and the like that you just didn't go to.

For me The Sopranos was a semi-documentary disguised as a sometimes over the top TV show....😀

 

[lynnb]

I was hanging out for a neighbour to bring me back a few bricks from B&H, but it fell through. Since resorted to scavenging roll ends from cameras in junk stores (with permission), and even that seems to have run out lately. Time to look into bulk loading, when I can't find a roll for much under $10 locally...

 

[Frank Petronio]

OK, so just how much film can I get into the country without getting into a huge hassle with Customs? It just might pay a ticket and I'd love to visit ;-p I'll shoot digital to make more room in the carry-on.... what's the best way to fill a daypack?

 

[zauhar]

Keith, those are SUPPs (Single Use Photo Sensors), the latest thing - haven't you heard? Those prices are a bargain.

Randy

 

[rwintle]

Seriously, though, couldn't a bunch of you get together and make up an order big enough to buy from the US or even Hong Kong? According to the Australian Government Customs site you get a tax free allowance of $1,000. That would buy a fair amount of film.

Better yet, set up a company importing film. This might even be a viable business given enough film users interested... or a co-op or something?

Actually I have no idea if this could work, but maybe somebody who's enthusiastic enough could look into it?