peefeeniz
Never Again
Been watching for Kodak Portra 400 35mm film to become available again. Nowhere in stock, outrageous 3-4x prices for it on eBay and Amazon.
Anyone have a clue when Kodak will ship out a fresh batch? Or is there a secret stash somewhere? Are you hoarding!?!?
Not that I've followed it that closely because every time I've purchased it before I've found it in stock but has it ever been this long between batches? I think B&H ran out in February.
Anyone have a clue when Kodak will ship out a fresh batch? Or is there a secret stash somewhere? Are you hoarding!?!?
Not that I've followed it that closely because every time I've purchased it before I've found it in stock but has it ever been this long between batches? I think B&H ran out in February.
bluesun267
Well-known
I wish I had some practical knowledge about this. But in 40 years of shooting film, the past couple years has really been unprecedented on so many levels
I suspect that bureaucratic inertia is partially responsible for keeping Kodak behind in production in light of unexpected demand, supply chain issues etc.
Sometime in the past decade I read they were down to 300 employees. A skeleton crew. I suspect they have been very reluctant to hire for fear of getting caught if demand went down again. And they've now realized they have no choice but to hire more but it has been a slow process to recruit and train new people.
Remember they once had 100,000 employees worldwide at their height in 1989 or so.
I would guess Portra 400 is probably just a victim of circumstances. I wouldn't think it would be any less of a priority than Ektachrome, which they seem to be keeping in stock at the various outlets. BUT: the biggest part of their film manufacturing business depends on keeping large quantities of motion picture film at the ready for shipping at a 1 or 2 days' notice. Suppose you have an extra 2-3 feature film productions deciding to shoot film, and suddenly things like Portra get put on the back burner, because they stand to lose millions if any one of those productions runs into a snag getting the film stock exactly when they want it. I know Hollywood pretty well, and if a director, DP or producer has managed to convince the monied interests to shoot film, and they can't get it with minimal effort, they are just dying for an excuse to call it off.
Still photographers can wait, or shoot Portra 160, Gold 200, etc.
I'm just speculating on all this.
I suspect that bureaucratic inertia is partially responsible for keeping Kodak behind in production in light of unexpected demand, supply chain issues etc.
Sometime in the past decade I read they were down to 300 employees. A skeleton crew. I suspect they have been very reluctant to hire for fear of getting caught if demand went down again. And they've now realized they have no choice but to hire more but it has been a slow process to recruit and train new people.
Remember they once had 100,000 employees worldwide at their height in 1989 or so.
I would guess Portra 400 is probably just a victim of circumstances. I wouldn't think it would be any less of a priority than Ektachrome, which they seem to be keeping in stock at the various outlets. BUT: the biggest part of their film manufacturing business depends on keeping large quantities of motion picture film at the ready for shipping at a 1 or 2 days' notice. Suppose you have an extra 2-3 feature film productions deciding to shoot film, and suddenly things like Portra get put on the back burner, because they stand to lose millions if any one of those productions runs into a snag getting the film stock exactly when they want it. I know Hollywood pretty well, and if a director, DP or producer has managed to convince the monied interests to shoot film, and they can't get it with minimal effort, they are just dying for an excuse to call it off.
Still photographers can wait, or shoot Portra 160, Gold 200, etc.
I'm just speculating on all this.