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2022 Film Stock Price Increases?


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18 minutes ago, Matthew W. Phillips said:

Are they still offering student discounts? My daughter is starting a film program soon and wants to shoot on real film.

I mean last time they increased the prices, they decreased the student pricing percentage. 

We're in a whole new world coming January 3rd, your guess is as good as mine. 

I'm buying a years worth of 16mm next week (hopefully) so I don't have to worry about the price. 

Thais at the Hollywood office is who I'd contact if you need discounted stock, she may be able to do better with non conforming stuff than new stock. 

Since you got a camera, I would absolutely send her an e-mail and see what she can do before the prices go up. 

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On 12/9/2021 at 8:14 PM, Brett Allbritton said:

I suppose I'm repeating the obvious, but this is such a bummer for us little guys. I really love shooting 16mm just for fun, but it's going to be so hard to justify doing that, and I'll certainly have to reconsider my hopes to shoot my next narrative project on film. I've been waiting for the right time to invest in a 16mm sync sound camera for several years, but now I feel like I've missed the boat.

I bought an Aaton XTR XC 4 years ago when I joined this forum - its a model they made with no electronics, apparently the back up camera for when they're on location in remote areas and harsh environments I'm told! It doesn't even have a film counter and i just have the physical marker on the magazine that moves as film passes through to the uptake side haha.....LOVE IT. No video tap, nothing....thats exactly what I wanted as I like to use light metre and look trough the viewfinder......oh and its standard 16mm which is also what I realised i was most happy with as its like shooting my Hasselblad so very very very very comfortable with the framing on standard 16mm.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Love Kodak motion picture film!

 

Artistically and career wise thank you kodak! 

and the bonus is the extra amount of focus you get.

 

I think the price increase pays for itself easily for me.

In the meantime I bought a lot of stock for 2022

 

Happy New Year 2022!

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1 hour ago, Lance Lucero said:

I have heard nothing about this...  You just have to shop round.  I recently bought new film from an outlet that was a few dollars cheaper than Kodak.  Sometimes Kodak is a little cheaper than other outlets.  It just depends.

Nobody here is discussing vendor/distributor pricing. 

We are discussing the factory raising their prices. 

Generally, we won't see a new price list until Feb, but it'll come for sure.

The price of silver has been skyrocketing and they rely heavily on that and other commodities which are rising in price by the month due to inflation. 

I've been told everywhere from 17% to 30% increase in prices during 2022. 

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On 12/3/2021 at 5:04 AM, Gautam Valluri said:

Maybe make the 500T cheaper than the others?

As an independent underground filmmaker with no external funding, I feel like the entry-level celluloid filmmaking is getting more and more out of reach. Here in France we have some artist-run labs and most of the young filmmakers here are scraping the bottom of the ebay barrel for expired VNFs, Ektachromes and EXRs. I feel like if Kodak could have the 500T more within the reach of entry-level celluloid filmmakers, especially in 16mm, it would bring a lot of people back to film.

Also, Super8 needs to be much cheaper and not almost as expensive as 16.

I like underground films!

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On 12/3/2021 at 6:41 AM, Jon O'Brien said:

As a teenager I used to save up for each roll I shot. I would go months without being able to shoot anything. I lived on dreaming up new projects, for when finally I had film in the camera again. And when I did have film to shoot it was only a few minutes of footage. On rare occasions I would have more than just a few minutes of film. Eventually my school offered Film & TV as a subject and I was able to make some longer films. That was wonderful. But most of the time I very slowly saved up, working in the holidays, and waited for the next project. I wasn't interested in video in the least. I wanted to shoot film. I made sacrifices for what I wanted to do. Film has always been expensive. It's never really been easy to shoot film. 

Elites? I don't think they're elites at all -- just people who tenaciously decided to stick with film. Because they love it.

Yes, well put. But sooner or later, you will have to decide whether you want to put your pride in 'shooting film' or doing justice to a project. (aka going digital.)

They have some film fanatics that say they will give up on it if they can't shoot film. I'd tell you not to be one of them. Put your project first and not your ego. If you can't swing film, accept it and use what you can comfortably use. 

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On 1/4/2022 at 2:39 PM, Daniel D. Teoli Jr. said:

Yes, well put. But sooner or later, you will have to decide whether you want to put your pride in 'shooting film' or doing justice to a project. (aka going digital.)

They have some film fanatics that say they will give up on it if they can't shoot film. I'd tell you not to be one of them. Put your project first and not your ego. If you can't swing film, accept it and use what you can comfortably use. 

I really don't think in my case that it's a matter of pride. I genuinely am interested in film. Perhaps I'm a bit of a nerd about this particular subject but there is almost an emotional connection to me and film. I like how it is 24 little photographic pictures on a celluloid strip of film per second, that light physically shines through. To me, that's always been 'magical' and I can't shake that. Would I shoot digital? Yes, I would. I've always said I would ..... if I have to. But it's not a pride thing. Just a deep feeling that film is what I find meaning in. David Lean is seen on one of the 'behind the scenes' films for Ryan's Daughter basically saying the same thing and I was surprised (or rather not really surprised) that he said what he did. Maybe these days he'd really be into digital.

If I could make a buck shooting digital I would. But there are so many other people doing this out there, at least around here, I figure I may as well do what I'm sincerely interested in, and that gives me personal value and meaning. If I can supplement my income shooting film (which I love), then that's great.

I've never knocked digital people for choosing to shoot digital. Digital cinematography is an incredible medium. It just, personally, doesn't really float my boat. It's something I'd do if I needed to do it in order to make a buck. I'm a bit arty I suppose. I've always been particular about what I wanted to do. I look at digital cinema and to me it's functional and it does the job well but that's about all it does. I don't get that extra sense of magic with digital. Perhaps I'm in the minority. Same as when I go to the movies and watch films. I like the magic of the picture, as well as the story. It's like hearing a concerto on a classical instrument. Some like one instrument. Others really prefer another. They find extra meaning. It's personal.

On the price of silver, and all that. Don't worry about it, everyone. Worries about resources come and go. It's like Frank says: worrying about it is futile. Film will survive. Any bets.

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22 minutes ago, Jon O'Brien said:

On the price of silver, and all that. Don't worry about it, everyone. Worries about resources come and go. It's like Frank says: worrying about it is futile. Film will survive. Any bets.

Not to pick on you because I know what you are saying. But I had a funny thought about if we hit the last of the silver stockpile in the world and you had people arguing over whether to use the remainder to make antibiotics or motion picture film. ?

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43 minutes ago, Matthew W. Phillips said:

Not to pick on you because I know what you are saying. But I had a funny thought about if we hit the last of the silver stockpile in the world and you had people arguing over whether to use the remainder to make antibiotics or motion picture film. ?

.......I wonder what would run out first.....the 'resources' to produce 'film' or the resources to make digital cameras and their sensors and all their parafanalia....long live film haha.....good one!

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5 hours ago, Stephen Perera said:

.......I wonder what would run out first.....the 'resources' to produce 'film' or the resources to make digital cameras and their sensors and all their parafanalia....long live film haha.....good one!

I don't think they will ever run out of silver. I think the pollution police would be more of a worry with the processing chemicals. Or it may be the machines to process films, spare parts, etc that is the nail in the coffin for film. Do they even make still or cine' film processors anymore?

Child%20with%20camera%20D.D.Teoli%20Jr.%

Annie Leibovitz as a toddler!

DDTJRAC

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As much as I hate to admit as a film lover, film is out in the indie world. There are a couple of examples here and there that would prove otherwise but those are usually the select few who happen to be related to someone famous or rich or whatever that they can get the funding. 

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film processors can be custom made from scratch even by an enthusiast who has enough time and resources and some basic materials to machine the needed parts from.  A Finnish guy made his own film processor for ECN2 some years ago and got it working pretty well (made the tanks and rollers by himself, arranged the heaters and motors controlled by Arduino circuits, etc) and tried to make it commercial but it was too much work to get it running with very little revenue so he gave up after a while.   But it definitely can be done though it is not an easy job and takes lots of time and money especially on colour for needing much more complicated processor than on b/w.

I was considering making my own 16mm & 35mm black&white negative processor some years ago but I don't have any spare room for it so had give up the idea even when it would have been a nice project and would have allowed me to shoot longer rolls than 30m on my cameras when home developing. If I would have a heated garage or similar place to house such a machine, then could still have use for it and might as well make one.

The biggest issue as I have understood is that the processing chemicals for colour processing are pretty expensive and you have to rely on Kodak to supply them (making OK working replacements would probably be possible but it would NOT be cost effective at all. The chemicals need to be produced in large quantities to make them affordable which means that you need an industrial plant to produce them... like Kodak has...)

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2 minutes ago, aapo lettinen said:

A Finnish guy made his own film processor for ECN2 some years ago and got it working pretty well (made the tanks and rollers by himself, arranged the heaters and motors controlled by Arduino circuits, etc)

this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLM9-F370bU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LkvLcxAzzE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFDnKvxj-L4

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24 minutes ago, aapo lettinen said:

A Finnish guy made his own film processor for ECN2 some years ago and got it working pretty well (made the tanks and rollers by himself, arranged the heaters and motors controlled by Arduino circuits, etc) and tried to make it commercial but it was too much work to get it running with very little revenue so he gave up after a while. 

 And why would anyone buy his toy when you can get a brand new one from arguably the best maker ever? 

It's VERY expensive to run a wet lab, grossly expensive. The machine costs are peanuts compared to all the ancillary costs like permitting, storage tanks, piping, dark room and prep spaces, filtering/ventilation and of course the building you put it in, which needs to be properly prepped to deal with the machines incase something leaks out. Then you have to deal with the chemical side which is very challenging even with premixed chemicals. Nobody makes money off their photochemical processors, it's a loss business that you run because you have so much scanning business, you need the processors to help guide customers to you. Prep, Scanning, Printing, those are where you make your money as a lab, not processing. 

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