What Film to bring for two week Japan travel

I always buy my film after arrival at my destination.
That's (at least) one less trip through the airport security scanner.

You should have no trouble finding various film types to your liking in Japan.
A visit to one of their famous sellers would be fun for a film photographer.

Chris
 
ChrisPlatt said:
I always buy my film after arrival at my destination. That's (at least) one less trip through the airport security scanner.

You should have no trouble finding various film types to your liking in Japan. A visit to one of their famous sellers would be fun for a film photographer.
Click to expand...
If I ever get to Japan, I'm not going to spend my time looking for/at cameras and film.
 
Ted Striker said:
Kodak has horrible distribution of film these days compared to back in the day.
Click to expand...

Definitely wrong in such a generalisation. I travel a lot to different countries, and those places who sell film always have Kodak films as well.
In Germany you can buy Kodak film at almost "every corner of the street", because all drugstore chain shops have Kodak film. So more than 4,000 places in the country to get the stuff. The photo stores which offer film mostly have the complete programme.

Cheers, Jan
 
HHPhoto said:
No.
I have friends in Japan who are film shooters and they don't have any problems at all to get the films they want.
Japan has a very acitive film shooter community. Have a look for example at John Sypal who is permanently documenting that:
https://www.instagram.com/tokyocamerastyle/
And there are also film photography specialist stores like
http://silversalt.jp/

Cheers, Jan
Click to expand...

Nonsense. I have been to Japan 10 times in the past 5 years. Finding Kodak film is NEVER a given. You can pretend otherwise.

My experience is real and yours has no significance at all to me.
 
HHPhoto said:
Definitely wrong in such a generalisation. I travel a lot to different countries, and those places who sell film always have Kodak films as well.
In Germany you can buy Kodak film at almost "every corner of the street", because all drugstore chain shops have Kodak film. So more than 4,000 places in the country to get the stuff. The photo stores which offer film mostly have the complete programme.

Cheers, Jan
Click to expand...

Good for you. I find plenty of places that do not carry Kodak. I never go to Germany, and with great luck, that won't change.

In Asia, it is extremely hard to find Kodak film these days. Of course, I've only been to 35 cities in China, and 20 or so cities in greater Asia.
 
Jan and Ted, you guys are hilarious. But you've got me wondering... I'm going to head into Shinjuku, Tokyo this afternoon and see how much Kodak film I can find 🙄
 
What Film to bring for two week Japan travel

Aside of this circus happening above in the post, tokyocamerastyle posted some film related info in IG stories about kodak prices.

What the * happened when Japan is one of the big film markets? In 2014 I remember their film prices were on par with Europe and US but now they are so far higher!

32aad9af27c31e7b370473fb270b2c1c.png

bcbe4091c98d7d456925d575efd0dfca.png



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
aleqx said:
As for the experience, I really have to say that I enjoyed it a lot. The Canonet QL17 is small enough to have it around your neck for a whole day without it being too heavy. Being a bit limited with my frames I just shot what I found really interesting, which reduced both the unecessary pictures, as well as the time lost while trying to get the "perfect" picture. Also the time spent recharging batteries, making backups etc. was reduced. I have to admit that I used my phone here and there, for when I wanted to take a snap, but didn`t want to waste a frame - for example for a funny poster or a nice meal pic.
Click to expand...

Mirrors my recent trip to Barcelona. Just shot with a Voigtlander Vito II during the day and my phone (which I also used for metering for the Vito) at night and had a blast.

For those interested, Barcelona seems to have a good stock of Kodak/Ilford/Fuji/Lomo around various shops
 
Skiff,
I live in Rome.
I have returned to film (provia) and I have been wondering whether they (Ars Imago) can be trusted for processing. I know the headquarter are in Switzerland but I don't know if they process film by themselves, whether in Italy or in Switzerland, or they outsource here in Italy (in which case forget it)
I plan to send film to the Jobo lab, but if I knew Ars Imago were as good, it could be an alternative.
 
jonmanjiro said:
Jan and Ted, you guys are hilarious. But you've got me wondering... I'm going to head into Shinjuku, Tokyo this afternoon and see how much Kodak film I can find 🙄
Click to expand...

Ok Skiffy Jan and Ratty Ted, here's what I found today. Film prices are nowhere as cheap as they used to be in Japan (Fujifilm, yooo bring back Superia X-TRA 400 already!!!) but Kodak film can indeed be found easily enough.
As you'd expect the Yodobashi Camera film corner in west Shinjuku had a full range of Kodak films.
46934649114_a8cfefbec5_b.jpg


47605900252_d8f94f4bb3_b.jpg

47605899852_f32593e6a4_b.jpg

46743020365_839fb8974d_b.jpg


The film corner at Lemonsha just around the corner from Ydobashi Camera looked positively sad in comparison, but there were still a few rolls of Kodak to be had.
47658657221_2596ac17c1_b.jpg


And lastly, the film case at Miyama Shokai on the other side of the station had a marginally better selection of Kodak than Lemonsha.
47658657071_8ae00aba64_b.jpg
 
Good god, those prices are ridiculous. I've been to Japan a LOT but never saw costs like that. I'll bring my own film next time for sure.
 
From my experience Yodobashi Camera`s store close to Shinjuku Station West exit is pretty much the last store with a decent selection of films in stock in Japan.



In Nagoya where I live for one year now I don`t even think about the idea of buying film in a store anymore. It would be a complete waste of time trying to find anything else than Fuji color films or Tmax400. If one is lucky, some Delta or Kentmere or Rollei films are available. Nagoya is 4th largest city of Japan after Yokohama and Osaka.


Therefore, I would recommend anybody thinking about a trip to Japan (not to be confused with a visit of Tokyo) to bring enough films and not to rely on what might be available here. Especially if more exotic films are in consideration.
 
What Film to bring for two week Japan travel

Comparing jonmanjiro pictures today with mine at BIC Camera Shinkjuku last year it seems that prices have increased about 20-25 percent on Kodak products.

Note that in my pic that just because the film is on the shelf does not mean it is in store. Some are empty boxes for display. Film is kept in cooler behind counter.

https://flic.kr/p/23swG4w



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

ChrisPlatt
ISO 400 BW negative film recommendation?
2 3
Replies
46
Views
2K
Andrew Sowerby
Andrew Sowerby
FotohuisR
FomaOrtho in 135-36 and 120 roll film
Replies
5
Views
349
FotohuisR
FotohuisR
R
MassiveDev, Rodinal, HP5+ Confusion
Replies
8
Views
598
raduray
R
Valkir1987
Lucky SHD 50 Bulk film
Replies
8
Views
972
HexagonKonica
HexagonKonica
V
Japan travel advice needed
2 3
Replies
59
Views
4K
valdas
V
Back
Top Bottom