Freestyle: film, darkroom paper sales "show substantial increase"

[lynnb]

My apologies for repeating PR releases, but I thought this was worth mentioning - I just received a newsletter from Freestyle which says in part (my emphasis):

With the fall school semester off and running, we are happy to report that film and darkroom paper sales have shown a substantial increase for the first time in four years. This is a great sign as it appears that educational budgets and photo programs have expanded, student enrollment is up and an interest in traditional photography is growing.

- Eric Joseph, Snr VP Merchandising and Product Development

My guess is that this is probably a reflection of the improvement in the US economy. Whatever the reason, a pickup in sales is good news for film users..

Now if only Fuji can be persuaded to continue producing FP3000B.. a film I've always admired the look of.

Also mentioned is the introduction of Adox CHS 100 II, a new version of the discontinued Adox CHS 100 film. I don't know if this has been mentioned elsewhere, so here is what they say:

"It is a classic emulsion formulation that has been around for years and has been modified to resemble the old version as much as possible. Adox CHS II is a single layer emulsion film with the same base material as the previous film, including the option for reversal processing. A special anti-halation layer between the emulsion and the base enhances sharpness."

"The new film is now manufactured in Germany with modern quality standards and, thus, upgraded to Adox's professional line. It will be available in 35mm, 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10 sheet film sizes by the end of 2013 and 120 size early next year."

 

[zuiko85]

It appears that by now all the local film and darkroom retail supply sources have died out and only a few mail order suppliers remain. Freestyle, B&H, are two of those who were large enough to survive.

Freestyle's press release is certainly good news. I would be interested in what results other major outlets are seeing.

 

[lynnb]

Today I dropped in to a local suburban camera store in Sydney - one of the Paxtons chain - and the salesman mentioned his surprise at the large number of films being purchased and left for development - in this store, 40 films developed just today. He also mentioned one customer who stocked up on Portra for fashion shooting "because everyone shoots digital and film is different".

 

[thegman]

I was in a Frankston camera shop a few weeks ago and they reported that they were getting a lot more into film cameras now. I suppose if you want digital, you can just order from Amazon or wherever, but film cameras, you tend to need go somewhere a bit more specialist.

 

[Dirk]

Other than Holgas and single-use film cameras, (and Leica M7/MP) is anybody still making film cameras?

 

[maddoc]

Other than Holgas and single-use film cameras, (and Leica M7/MP) is anybody still making film cameras?

My guess is that no (not sure about the KENKO SLR made by Cosina) but there are plenty of cheap film cameras available in the used compartment to play around with. 🙂

 

[Eugen Mezei]

sales have shown a substantial increase

Expressed in what? In money quantitiy or number of items sold?

I also see price of used and new film at ebay climbing rapidly and boy oh boy are large format cameras expensive now. Still I don't think more is sold, au contraire the offer on the market is more restricted.
Could it be, that with the increased prices for argentic material the bookkeepers at Freestyle see more income but this not necesarrily mean more sales?

 

[charjohncarter]

I can see B&W paper sales increasing, have you ever had a B&W printed on color paper (uggh)?

 

[ajramirez]

Other than Holgas and single-use film cameras, (and Leica M7/MP) is anybody still making film cameras?

Voigtlander, Nikon (F6 and F10 I believe), Rollei, Fuji (GF670 and GF670W), Mamiya, and large format equipment. There may be some others.