How dependent on the internet is your continued use of film?

How dependent on the internet is your continued use of film?

  • Most of it.

    Votes: 296 67.6%

  • Very little of it.

    Votes: 60 13.7%

  • A combination of online and conventional retail.

    Votes: 82 18.7%
  • Total voters
    438
Luckily where I live I can find all kinds of film easily. Sometimes I go for fresh still in production film in shops, and others for expired at local fleamarkets. I turn to the internet and mostly to ebay to try some exotic film that I cannot find locally.
Pitty for ebay's global shipping program. In many cases you see a $5 film roll requiring a $25 shipping. Not sure what is the advantage of that shipping program, but I turn to sellers that do not use it.
 
I used to buy them online, now I pass through my regular camera store in town. They get good deals on bulk buys and I get a good price from them.

I don't buy a lot of film because I don't shoot that much
 
Interestingly, the Boots chain in the UK are selling Ilford black and white film. Including HP5+ in 120 format, the first medium format film they've sold for over ten years. Only in their larger branches, admittedly, but I was so pleasantly surprised to see that I bought a few rolls there and then.

Online gives me more choice, but between Boots and the little old camera shop in the area, there are two places I can buy film within a short bus ride of my house. Which is good to know.
 
There's only one remaining camera store left in Washington DC where I could buy film and a professional camera & lenses -- which is pathetic because the greater Washington metropolitan area has a population of around 5.9M people! Guess which one is the last camera store? A Leica store! They even started carrying TMax400 and that's where I buy it from.

I'm am thinking about getting a Leica from them (M7 or M-P) to reward them for being so loyal to photographers! I'd rather give them my money instead of one of those brick & mortar stores who are owned by god-knows-who (Adomara, B&H, Best Buy…). And unlike previous camera stores, they really care about their community, have free photo exhibits, organize workshops, photo rallies, competitions, etc. I think they deserves some recognition and speaks volumes that the company who invented 35mm cameras has the last camera store in the capitol of the US.
 
I buy almost all of my film online, because on orders of 20+ the online prices are much better. However, I have two places within 30 minutes drive that sell developer and fixer for the same price or less as online, and I frequent them for chems and small quantity film purchases.
 
I'm not completely dependent, but ordering online certainly does makes it easy.

Most of the "brick and mortar" camera stores around here are long gone.
Do CVS and Walgreens still stock film?

Fortunately B&H is just a subway ride away,
though their selection of film and film gear gets slimmer every day.

Freestyle still mails a nice catalog, and is but a phone call away...

Chris
 
i buy all my film online as the selection is not only larger, but much cheaper. but my local store is where I buy all my darkroom stuff as well as all my chems. luckily they have a very large selection of photo formulary chems and if they dont have it they can get it at the same price as online. so I reward them with my chem and paper business. I also bought an enlarger from them, even though it was new in the box, it was much less than buying used on craigslist. and they also have a very good selection of used equipment. bought a hasselbald pcp-80 slide projector from them like new for peanuts
 
I don't buy any film on the internet, luckily it is still easy to find in Tokyo. "Impossible" Polaroid film is not widely sold in stores, but there are three I know of that carry it. All of the major camera shops have Fuji pack film, and usually 4x5 sheet film. Some stock 8x10, but I haven't yet got an 8x10 camera. The conveneince store across the street carries Fuji Superia, which is, well, convenient. But gone are the days when I could get Kodachrome 64 at the local 7/11.
 
Very much dependent on the internet, my film shooting. But not the way you'd think.
I only shoot film to post results on the internet. :D
 
While I only shoot colour slide, I don't purchase any on-line because I have mountains of it stored in my freezer that was donated to me by my photobuds when they switched to digital.
If I did need any, it is still available here in Toronto from at least one major photogtraphy store (Downtown Camera) that is making a major effort to keep film alive by even providing E-6 processing through a lab in Montreal.
 
I'm entirely dependent on the internet for my film purchases. I live in a small northern Michigan town with no camera store. The nearest good camera store is about 100K away, and their supply is limited (and expensive).

And I'm talking B&W only. All of my color work is now digital.

Jim B.
 
"What percentage of your film do you buy on line?"
Click to expand...

I no longer buy instant film.

I buy large format sheet film only on-line.

I buy 35mm, 120, and 220 roll film locally or on-line.

By the way, it upsets me that most of my local sellers no longer refrigerate the film they sell.

Film Supply by Narsuitus, on Flickr
 
Hong Kong is blessed with tonnes of photo stores and buying film is easy... I shoot 120 and buy it all from shops here. I might pick up some 220 for a couple of cameras that can, and that'd have be online.
 
Living in Los Angeles makes me pretty lucky as far as film availability goes. Freestyle is a couple miles from my apt. so I buy most of my film there, and Samy's is a few miles from my work, so I have options. Walgreens and Rite-aids here still sell consumer films too.
 
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