charjohncarter
Veteran
I don't remember the prices of the 50s-60s-70s-80s, but I do remember not even worrying about film prices.
Film in the 80's: what was available, and how much did it cost?
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CMur12
Veteran
I just remembered that in the 1980s one could buy 35mm Ektachrome in bulk at Costco (US discount warehouse/club).
- Murray
- Murray
Steve M.
Veteran
There were a LOT of films available. One of my favorites was Agfa Ultra 50 and 100. That film was incredible.
TXForester
Well-known
There were also Konica and Scotch as well as many lesser used brands.
Polaroid had some interesting films. Their "instant" slide film. They also had a film made for copying black and white texts and charts for projection.
Polaroid had some interesting films. Their "instant" slide film. They also had a film made for copying black and white texts and charts for projection.
ornate_wrasse
Moderator
I remember as a kid with a new Brownie Holiday camera in the mid 1950's buying Verichrome Pan film in 127 size. I would take my film to the corner drugstore, where I bought it, to get it developed. It cost me probably $2.00 per roll for developing and printing.
Color film cost far too much for me to buy and have developed in the 1950's. Consequently, the first time I could afford to use color film was when I got older.
Color film cost far too much for me to buy and have developed in the 1950's. Consequently, the first time I could afford to use color film was when I got older.
Bill Clark
Veteran
Slide film I used the most. Either Kodachrome or Ektachrome. As I recall to develop and have each frame mounted was less than $2.00
Printing was expensive. Took a few rolls.
Some black and white but the darkroom stuff was put in the attic until my wife and I became empty nesters and I started my pro business in 2002.
Printing was expensive. Took a few rolls.
Some black and white but the darkroom stuff was put in the attic until my wife and I became empty nesters and I started my pro business in 2002.
plummerl
Well-known
Here's a B&H ad from Modern Photography, Sept. 1984. Read it and weep! 😀
x-ray
Veteran
Pan F, can't remember it it was FP3 or 4 and HP5. Delta 100 and 400 appeared late in the 80's or early 90's. I did trade trial testing for Ilford on the prototype versions before it hit the market. I did the same for Kodak on TMax 100 and 400. Again I can't remember exactly when they were introduced. I also tested Kodachrome 200 for Kodak. Kodak had a lot of emulsions; Royal X pan, Royal Pan, 320 ISO and 400 ISO TX, Panatomic X, Plus X, Super XX, Super Pancro Press type B, Ektapan, VPS, VPL, EPP, EPR, EPY, high speed Ektachrome400, ektachrome 200 and 160, Infrared Ektachrome, Kodachrome 64, 40 tungsten, 200 and 25, Kodacolor, Verichrome PanPro Copy and Ektachrome copy film (don't remember the exact name). Probably were a few more from Kodak. I used pretty much all of these at one time or another. Some were sheet only and some 120 and sheet and others were 35mm only.
I can't remember when Fuji hit the scene but think it was the late 80's. Provia would have been the one plus a tungsten version. Agfa was around in the 70's into the 90's. I shot tons of Agfapan 100 and some 25. Never used the 400. Also experimented with 50 and 100 chrome. It was a beautiful warm film with soft pastels. Unfortunately it was hard to find here. Ansco was gone at that time I think but 3M was selling a lot of cheap color neg. Agfa made a couple of color neg films but their names slip my memory. I think Efke was gone in the 70's.
We had quite a wide selection.
I don't remember prices but do remember some from the 90's. I was shooting tons of catalogs and annual reports and using thousands of rolls of chrome a year. I bought hundreds of rolls of 120 Provia a month and paid about $3 a roll.
I can't remember when Fuji hit the scene but think it was the late 80's. Provia would have been the one plus a tungsten version. Agfa was around in the 70's into the 90's. I shot tons of Agfapan 100 and some 25. Never used the 400. Also experimented with 50 and 100 chrome. It was a beautiful warm film with soft pastels. Unfortunately it was hard to find here. Ansco was gone at that time I think but 3M was selling a lot of cheap color neg. Agfa made a couple of color neg films but their names slip my memory. I think Efke was gone in the 70's.
We had quite a wide selection.
I don't remember prices but do remember some from the 90's. I was shooting tons of catalogs and annual reports and using thousands of rolls of chrome a year. I bought hundreds of rolls of 120 Provia a month and paid about $3 a roll.
CMur12
Veteran
Fuji slide film came out in the early 1970s, or perhaps even before. I think I first tried it around 1972. For several years, I always found it to have a strange brownish coloration. By the 1980s, they seemed to have this worked out.
- Murray
- Murray
Archiver
Veteran
This is a great thread, thank you so much to everyone for replying. The stories of Eurofoto Centre with its long aisle of film: what a dream that would have been. And that B&H ad from 1984, how amazing to have all those choices.
FrozenInTime
Well-known
My recollection while at school was that each shot on a roll of Kodachrome cost the same as a packet of crisps ( chips to you Americans )
Chuck Albertson
Well-known
Cheese and onion?
kangaroo2012
Established
I worked at Johns Hopkins in 1960s and was paid $80 per week.
To make ends meet I made B&W slides with Panatomic X for Slide lectures.
Grads drew the charts I copied them and charged per slide. Not much, but enough to keep me in film for myself.
From memory you double the ISO and develop normally, bleach, wash, re-develop , stop and fix.
Computers changed all that.
Kangaroo2012
To make ends meet I made B&W slides with Panatomic X for Slide lectures.
Grads drew the charts I copied them and charged per slide. Not much, but enough to keep me in film for myself.
From memory you double the ISO and develop normally, bleach, wash, re-develop , stop and fix.
Computers changed all that.
Kangaroo2012
oltimer
Well-known
I was out in Banff, Canada doing slide on Kodak in 1967, and ran out of it. The stores only had Agfa slide in stock there. Was very impressed with the results, and was looking at them yesterday and they look fresh with no fade.
ChrisPlatt
Thread Killer
I miss my Panatomic-X and Verichrome Pan.
Or do I just miss those days when I was using them?
Chris
Or do I just miss those days when I was using them?
Chris
David Hughes
David Hughes
For balance a few wage or salary slips from that period are needed.
Regards, David
Regards, David
oltimer
Well-known
David I was a tradesman on the Heidelberg Kord's in '67 and making a top rate of $2.25 per hour. Also, I purchased my 1st factory new M3 for $357.00 CAN. A new subdivision on homes (really nice); the low was $16,900 to a high of $23,000. All those today are selling for over $200,000. A Corvette Stingray was $4378.00
sevo
Fokutorendaburando
It is not really all that much. Kodak had little more than 20 different emulsions at that time (if we count Pro films with the standard version - at that time they were cold stored, selected batches, and not really a different product), and that was already at the edge of the era where film types really inflated, five years earlier they had six or seven less. Things got out of hand by the early nineties (when they had maybe sixty or seventy, perhaps even more if we count in localised variations of colour response and contrast).
x-ray
Veteran
I have images I shot on 120 in the 60's and they look as good as the day I had them processed. They made impressive products.
user237428934
User deletion pending
Ok. Tri-X was 2.05$. When I throw this in an Inflation calculator the price should be 4.77. Now it's 4.95.
Because inflation is not everything I think, that the Tri-X price today is cheap.
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