Is this the future of (slide) film??

[noimmunity]

The price at retailers in France is well above US$10, usually around US$13-14.

I haven't seen anywhere with prices as low as the United States.

 

[paulfish4570]

i don't shoot slides, but goodness gracious, i feel for you guys.

 

[gavinlg]

Yeah. Film in AUS is pretty much like sugary treats for me. Costly and largely unsatisfying for what it gets me.
I paid $21 for a roll of 35mm ektar 100 the other day from the largest camera store in melbourne. So much fail.

 

[Jani_from_Finland]

RVP50 in 135/36 is 12,2€ locally at this moment.
I can't pay the store price anymore, i buy old film of ebay instead. I have about 15 rolls of Velvia in 35mm and 10 rolls in 120 in both 50 and 100 speed.

 

[batterytypehah!]

I think it's time for you guys down under to take some hostages 😀

Absolutely insane. Last time I checked it was a good deal shorter by boat from Japan to Sydney than to NYC. I don't know what your government's take is, and I suppose in-country transport is more costly than in the US, but seriously, you're getting screwed.

 

[bgb]

Film prices just as bad in New Zealand so it's no wonder more kiwis are going digital.
I haven't purchased from the USA but did some calculations and even with the crazy shipping prices it's still much cheaper than buying from a local retailer ... if you can find one of course.

 

[kosta_g]

I never buy film in Australia unless it's a desperate moment, but I usually come prepared.

I scoffed at the lady who asked me for $18 for a roll of neopan 400.

doesn't matter how much you order from freestyle and bh plus shipping you still save heaps over the local market.

It's just a joke that fuji and the likes can't come to the table and give us a good price. that said, there are little to no film cameras available to buy new like in Japan.

lofico.com.au do reasonable prices (most likely imported from bh/freestyle).

 

[fergus]

Absolutely insane. Last time I checked it was a good deal shorter by boat from Japan to Sydney than to NYC. I don't know what your government's take is, and I suppose in-country transport is more costly than in the US, but seriously, you're getting screwed.

It does seem to depend on the industry so I think it's the importers.

Eg Hoyt bows are within a few dollars whether bought from the US or Oz. I checked before my last purchase. But for books or camera gear or bicycles, we're ripped off royally. Just three areas that I'm aware of.

The gov't charges 10% GST on retail sales, not enough to explain the price differences of 50% and more.

 

[kosta_g]

Yeah. Film in AUS is pretty much like sugary treats for me. Costly and largely unsatisfying for what it gets me.
I paid $21 for a roll of 35mm ektar 100 the other day from the largest camera store in melbourne. So much fail.

don't ever buy from Michael's camera again 😛

seriously, buy online. $6 for ektar. much more reasonable.

I get my colour negs done at big w for $4.95 a roll and scan at home most of the time then get the ones i like printed. that's where you save money.

if anyone wants in on a bulk order from bh to melbourne, to split shipping, let me know as I will be doing a large b&w order soon and would be happy to organise with others who need film - things like this will be where we save money on film. (This is what melbourne silver mine do too)

 

[Dylan Hope]

Two words: insane postage!
Regards,
Brett

Postage isn't that bad if you order in bulk. I recently ordered 75 rolls of black and white with enough XTOL to make 15 liters. It came to between $600-700 after customs and the like. And yet, it was still much cheaper - $1014 would be the film alone if bought locally. They don't even sell XTOL in New Zealand, so I'd have had to buy other developer for $20-30 bucks a liter, so add another 150-200 on there depending on what Ilford developer I could've bought. Not to mention the additional 80 dollars worth of hypo-clear, wetting agent and stop bath (Though I decided to get that locally because I couldn't figure out the tariff on that stuff and the additional shipping costs would have undone the benefit of overseas ordering). I basically halved my yearly costs, and as a student, every 600 dollars counts 😉

Buying my film locally, and developing it (15 bucks to develop a roll of black and white film at Kodak Express, with a 1 week waiting time. Colour is only 6 bucks though, so that's good) almost sent me to the poor house.

 

[paulfish4570]

you guys have got to LOOOOOOOVE film. goodness gracious.

 

[raid]

Digital cameras come to mind .... this is the future until something else pops up.

 

[fergus]

Raid has a point. Whether we like digital or not, at these prices it's looking more and more inevitable.

 

[bgb]

I like my film cameras but at the end of the day if you can't afford to feed them it's time to move on.😱

 

[zvos1]

Maybe we should do a poll to find out what is the price (per roll) sensitivity or a tipping point of an average RRF member.
I believe it is around 15-20 dollars per roll.

However, I know there are number of people here who have fridges full of film to last them for another 30 years ha,ha.

 

[fergus]

$15-$20 per roll? Hmmm... with B&H purchasing, o/s shipping (even in big orders) and processing for slides, we're already there. But do we really need another poll 🙄

 

[mfunnell]

Maybe we should do a poll to find out what is the price (per roll) sensitivity or a tipping point of an average RRF member.
I believe it is around 15-20 dollars per roll.

I can't comment about price sensitivity - it's not that I'm price insensitive so much as I'm very sensitive to the huge inconvenience of getting colour film developed down here. Even two years ago, it wasn't much of a problem for C-41, though E-6 had become a right pain (so I stopped). It is almost to the point that it would be more convenient to send film away for C-41 development, and get the results back in a couple of weeks or so (which isn't even cheap), than to look for "1 hour" development of even the recently cheap-and-cheerful kind. The number of shops that still advertise $6.95/roll 1 hour development on their signage is large - and the number who can develop at all - or even send out - is rapidly approaching zero. As for C-41 (or, the Gods forfend, E-6) 120 film, well, you might as well bend over and kiss it goodbye. It can be processed "professionally" or not at all at $50+/roll everywhere I've looked recently (I have a couple of rolls of Reala which might never be developed).

Self-developed black and white it is for me, from now on, as long as I can bulk order from overseas. Digital for colour, and develop myself for B&W. If I were paying Australian Velvia prices for bulk-ordered Tri-X or Delta 400 (or whatever) from the US then I'd reconsider even that.

I'm not sure where I do draw the line, but I did just recently. I saw some 135 format XP-2 at the camera shop in my local mall recently. AUD$18.50 per roll. No way, no how, not ever were only three of my thoughts.

...Mike

 

[fergus]

...It can be processed "professionally" or not at all at $50+/roll everywhere I've looked recently

$50/roll for development? 😱

Try Photo Colour in Heidelberg (Melbourne) at around $10/roll. They have a web order form, it takes about a week.

 

[mfunnell]

$50/roll for development? 😱

Try Photo Colour in Heidelberg (Melbourne) at around $10/roll. They have a web order form, it takes about a week.

I might try them. Thanks. I'll admit to not having looked online (through lack of urgency) but simply asked at every place I've been, lately, what to do with 120 film. The $50 is the lowest I've been quoted, but with a great many places telling me it can't be processed at all. (As it happens, I know a guy in Burwood who'll process them for me just fine. But Burwood has stopped being convenient for me.)

...Mike

 

[ian_watts]

Those Australian and NZ prices are astonishing. I thought we got routinely ripped off (for most things) in the UK but the current price here for Velvia 50 is approximately £6.50 per roll (ex. tax) which works at around $11. Suddenly seems like a bargain🙂 (though once you factor in £10 for E6 processing at somewhere like Metro in London you are looking at a cost around 50p per click😱).