Film from the States

raathistle

raathistle

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It's come to that time again when I'm running out of my film stash, and looking at prices I seem to have slept through decades of inflation, or at least that's what my old receipts tell me. Not wanting to have to sell organs to continue shooting I had a loom at getting some film from B&H and it looks even more favourable now than it did last time I looked. It actually appears to be cheaper to buy Ilford products in the US, have them shipped to the UK and pay all the duty legitamately, than it is to order them from here.

Is anyone interested in getting some film at the same time, as it's the shipping cost for a single order that keeps putting me off?
 
Slightly OT but would it be possible for the filmies here to do some sort of bulk buy and make the UK stuff a bit cheaper?
 
Well just looked myself - 10 rolls of XP2 with uk vat and p&P added comes to $163, or just over £100 at todays rate, hardly an attractive price!
 
Sounds interesting, I'll keep an eye on the thread.
 
menthel said:
Slightly OT but would it be possible for the filmies here to do some sort of bulk buy and make the UK stuff a bit cheaper?
Click to expand...

I think that's what we tried last time, and essentially no-one would play ball. I believe the margins at the retailer end are not very large at all, and to get a discount from the importers it was looking at being many thousands of £s of the same film stock

I would love to buy exclusively from UK suppliers like Silverprint or AG, but when it's only 2/3rds the price to have it delivered to me from the states and everything is above board the I have to start thinking about importing

For example, I did a rough calculation, and if 5 LFers get toghether and buy a 100 sheet box of Delta, a 20 sheet box of Velvia and a 20 sheet box of Provia, delivered that works out at ~£170 from B&H. Buying the same from AG (first one I chose, not wishing to single anyone out as expensive) works out at £290!

Those numbers speak for themselves as far as I'm concerned
 
raathistle said:
I think that's what we tried last time, and essentially no-one would play ball. I believe the margins at the retailer end are not very large at all, and to get a discount from the importers it was looking at being many thousands of £s of the same film stock

I would love to buy exclusively from UK suppliers like Silverprint or AG, but when it's only 2/3rds the price to have it delivered to me from the states and everything is above board the I have to start thinking about importing

For example, I did a rough calculation, and if 5 LFers get toghether and buy a 100 sheet box of Delta, a 20 sheet box of Velvia and a 20 sheet box of Provia, delivered that works out at ~£170 from B&H. Buying the same from AG (first one I chose, not wishing to single anyone out as expensive) works out at £290!

Those numbers speak for themselves as far as I'm concerned
Click to expand...

Sounds like the saving is on LF stuff. Alan has a little calculation for XP2 but perhaps I can do a little more digging to see what can be done re: 35mm and 120.
 
It does appear the savings are more on LF than the smaller formats, I hadn't looked as I've still got loads of tri-x and velvia rolls. Maybe mostly a LF group buy then?
 
menthel said:
Slightly OT but would it be possible for the filmies here to do some sort of bulk buy and make the UK stuff a bit cheaper?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that unless we were going to be taking a pallet of identical film, nobody was interested for 35mm or 120 :(
 
raathistle said:
It does appear the savings are more on LF than the smaller formats, I hadn't looked as I've still got loads of tri-x and velvia rolls. Maybe mostly a LF group buy then?
Click to expand...

You might be right! ;)

TheBigYin said:
I'm pretty sure that unless we were going to be taking a pallet of identical film, nobody was interested for 35mm or 120 :(
Click to expand...

I vaguely remember it didn't get off the ground. I guess people like to use lots of different types of film.
 
Hi all, I recall being involved in trying to get some sort of bulk ordering off the ground, but looking back through emails from Harman and Fujifilm, it appeared that they either would not supply 'small' quantities (100 rolls of 120) or that they'd only supply to a VAT registered business that was not in a domestic location and had an annual turnover of 20K per year...
 
ekimeno said:
Hi all, I recall being involved in trying to get some sort of bulk ordering off the ground, but looking back through emails from Harman and Fujifilm, it appeared that they either would not supply 'small' quantities (100 rolls of 120) or that they'd only supply to a VAT registered business that was not in a domestic location and had an annual turnover of 20K per year...
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Thanks. Looks like that is out of the window then! ;)
 
I seem to recall bulk rolls of Kodak stuff (tri-x in particular) looked significantly cheaper over there, about $60 (under £40) a roll.
 
raathistle said:
It actually appears to be cheaper to buy Ilford products in the US, have them shipped to the UK and pay all the duty legitamately, than it is to order them from here.
Click to expand...


It is, and has been for some years regardless of the format.
Forget the riots/breakdown of moral values and apathetical youth, its a godamn national disgrace that the Americans pay less for bladdy film manufactured in Britain....than we do.
Seriously, uninvited arsewitted dognobbery visits us again, and stays way past midnight..:(
 
K. I "might" be interested as I have run out Acros in 5x4. My normal B&W film is cheap enough here anyways, so that would be about it for me, other than some colour neg film, as that is where I think i am going next. Bored of Velvia lol.

One question.........

How will film stand up to the level of X-Rays it's bound to suffer going through air-freight?

I have previously ordered some Acros from the states and a few of the sheets have displayed some positively (negatively?) strange effects although I haven't been bothered to nail down if that was down to processing errors or X-Ray fogging.
 
Course its true, broadly speaking, like for like your average roll of ilford film is 25% cheaper in the US.
For instance, Calumet.co.uk sells a roll of HP5 120 for £3.19, Calumet.com has it for £2.55.
I think probably ilford manufacture in the US, so shipping is not a factor, its not like its made here and shipped there, but then I don't suppose we import it either..:shrug:
 
raathistle said:
I think that's what we tried last time, and essentially no-one would play ball. I believe the margins at the retailer end are not very large at all, and to get a discount from the importers it was looking at being many thousands of £s of the same film stock

I would love to buy exclusively from UK suppliers like Silverprint or AG, but when it's only 2/3rds the price to have it delivered to me from the states and everything is above board the I have to start thinking about importing

For example, I did a rough calculation, and if 5 LFers get toghether and buy a 100 sheet box of Delta, a 20 sheet box of Velvia and a 20 sheet box of Provia, delivered that works out at ~£170 from B&H. Buying the same from AG (first one I chose, not wishing to single anyone out as expensive) works out at £290!

Those numbers speak for themselves as far as I'm concerned
Click to expand...

Have you added VAT and import duty? Still a saving but not quite as much.
 
Gandhi said:
K. I "might" be interested as I have run out Acros in 5x4. My normal B&W film is cheap enough here anyways, so that would be about it for me, other than some colour neg film, as that is where I think i am going next. Bored of Velvia lol.

One question.........

How will film stand up to the level of X-Rays it's bound to suffer going through air-freight?

I have previously ordered some Acros from the states and a few of the sheets have displayed some positively (negatively?) strange effects although I haven't been bothered to nail down if that was down to processing errors or X-Ray fogging.
Click to expand...

Being as most (all?) film you can buy in the uk is manufactured abroad I would suggest everything has already had a fair dose of rays. There seems to be lots of stories on the net but no-one has ever seen it themselves so I suspect it's something of an urban legend.

I have to say I'm moving away from velvia as well, the new portra I've tried in smaller formats has been amazing. I'd also like to try and get hold of some astia if they still have any

What b&w are you using atm Spence, still the adox? I've had too many problems with the emulsion failing in the middle if sheets for me to continue using it :(
 
joxby said:
Course its true, broadly speaking, like for like your average roll of ilford film is 25% cheaper in the US.
For instance, Calumet.co.uk sells a roll of HP5 120 for £3.19, Calumet.com has it for £2.55.
I think probably ilford manufacture in the US, so shipping is not a factor, its not like its made here and shipped there, but then I don't suppose we import it either..:shrug:
Click to expand...

Well, if it's manufactured in the States, then it would be cheaper there - larger buying force likely, therefore lower prices unless I've missed something?

I know the same is true for other things made in the states such as high-end audio/studio equipment.
 
I looked into doing a smaller scale bulk buy of tri-x or equiv recently and no-one in the UK could give me a price that beat 7dayshop.

I think I was looking at buying around 300 rolls or so.
 
raathistle said:
What b&w are you using atm Spence, still the adox? I've had too many problems with the emulsion failing in the middle if sheets for me to continue using it :(
Click to expand...

Yep. Still on the Adox. I've not had any problems with it other than a bit of uneven dev sometimes when stand developing and the occasional bit of frilling around the edges if I've used water to wash with and haven't watched the temps. When you say failing, how so? Separating from the base?

Woodsy said:
o_O!!!!
Click to expand...

Yeah, finished my bargain stash of 100 sheets I got from Fuji 2 years ago @ £5 p/box (I shoot a lot of colour hahahaha) so now looking for something less difficult. I will carry on shooting velvia, but only in certain circumstances.
 
I've had a few sheets where the emulsion has lifted in parts, mostly in the middle of the frame which is annoying. It's almost like a bubble which has popped, and I've gotten fed up with it

My last velvia was in date and cost me about £1.20 a sheet so I was shocked when I saw how expensive it has got
 
ekimeno said:
Well, if it's manufactured in the States, then it would be cheaper there - larger buying force likely, therefore lower prices unless I've missed something?

I know the same is true for other things made in the states such as high-end audio/studio equipment.
Click to expand...

I took a look, the US imports everything Ilford from either Switzerland or the UK, the buying power of the US has to have some effect but still...:(
sorry about the ot chaps:)
 
One American guy is buying "memories" 35mm colour film for $1=61p, it's made in Japan and might be Fuji (with their slightly higher standard of living it must seem soooo cheap to them)....but the time someone got it to the Uk it would probably be dearer than Kodak colorplus from the pound shop.
 
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Thanks for the info joxby - I was searching for a US manufacturer or plant that makes Ilford film, but came up naught. It's staggering how much cheaper it is across the pond. Wondering what import duties will be on film, though that just seems bizarre - they import from us and we import from them!

Who wins? The UK and US govt... and Ilford. I guess Ilford never claimed to be for the people... just for profit, not that I blame them in this society.
 
joxby said:
Course its true, broadly speaking, like for like your average roll of ilford film is 25% cheaper in the US.
For instance, Calumet.co.uk sells a roll of HP5 120 for £3.19, Calumet.com has it for £2.55.
I think probably ilford manufacture in the US, so shipping is not a factor, its not like its made here and shipped there, but then I don't suppose we import it either..:shrug:
Click to expand...

US prices are always quoted without sales taxes.

Add 20% VAT to £2.55 and you get a price of £3.06 - which makes it 4.25% more in the UK.
 
Sales tax is between 5 and 10% in most states, that aside Calumet particularly, only collect sales tax on items shipped to Illinois anyway.
I'm not going to spend any more time researching interwebs film prices in the US because I know we are getting bumshafted and its too depressing.

:|
 
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