Opinions on old film stock

[Brian Rose]

I've got an opportunity to buy around 8000 feet of film at approx. .20 cents a foot, which I intend to use for a documentary feature. The film is a mix, mostly 50D Vision and 500T Vision 2, some inbetween. It is, according to the seller, 8-18 months old, but has been in cold storage per Kodak's instructions all that time. He has sold a lot of high end equipment and deals in this sort of stuff, so I'm inclined to believe him. This film I am making is a student project, so it is not ABSOLUTELY essential that the final image be pristine, but overall, do you think this sounds like a good deal?

Best,

Brian Rose

[Jon Kukla]

It doesn't sound bad, but it doesn't sound overwhelmingly good either. If I were you, I'd at least call up the sales reps for both Fuji and Kodak who deal with student sales and see what sort of deals they can cut you. Often if it's a student 35mm production, they're willing to help you out with big discounts, free rolls of miscellaneous stuff they have kicking around, etc. Also worth asking about rolls in damaged tins - basically unopened cans which have some slight dents and thus aren't usually sold. Either way, you'll find out if .20 cents a foot is worth it. Good luck!

[Michael Collier]

Media Distrabutors sells stock for around $.17/foot and its newer than that (sometimes you can even get little discounts) so I would lean towards it not being the greatest deal. I think if it were 8000' of one stock, then it would be better.

 

I would check other short end dealers to see if you can get a better deal on stock more fitted for what your doing. Make sure you include shipping in your estimates. Overnight and 2day service that you want will start to get pricey.