Is Kodak UK narrowing buying opportunities for film stocks in the UK?

Jeremy Cavanagh · November 27, 2013

A friend of mine recently contacted me to say he had been rebuffed in trying to place a large individual order of film directly with Kodak UK. Like a number of individuals he has bought direct from Kodak UK for years but now Kodak UK has told him he has to go through a UK reseller and this came with no warning.

Does anyone here know if Kodak UK's policy on selling direct for large individual orders of either 8 or 16 mm within the UK has changed and are they only going to sell via resellers even if the individual order is a large bulk order? If this is what Kodak is doing then is this a useful way to support the market? Buying direct from Kodak means a good deal on pricing through bulk buying, but going through a reseller at the retail to semi professional end of the market means individuals with the get up and go to buy large amounts of film may now have to pay more. Now don't get me wrong its good to support UK resellers and if Kodak UK is seeking to support UK resellers and the retail to semi professional market for film in the UK that is to be commended but if Kodak UK is now making every individual go through a reseller that doesn't actually grow the market for film within the UK. As individuals we all have finite means and if you and I have to pay more then we will end up ordering less stock i.e. at the end of the day Kodak will make less money. The other thing is since the demise of Stanleys here in London resellers here are not geared up for large orders such as what my friend was after unless you go up the chain to the likes of Panavision UK (and lets face it they are very, very unlikely to bother themselves with 8mm if you are a 8 mm shooter). We have some good activist, retail based resellers in the UK (bordering on heroic at times given the situation these past few years) but there is not the means nor the will across the market to grow it across the UK i.e. mostly you see a few rolls sitting by themselves on a shelf and no attempt to market them.

Do people here have any ideas or suggestions as to how individuals could place large or bulk orders for film here in the UK or Europe if Kodak UK has changed its policy e.g. would it be possible to buy direct from Kodak in the US or Kodak elsewhere if the order was large enough?

Pavan Deep · November 27, 2013

I know that there were a few changes made last year and Kodak stop selling small quantities of films to individuals. I used to call up their office in Hemel Hempstead but after April [2012] I think the sales team had gone and I was directed to an office in Europe where I was told that I could only buy direct if I placed a large order regularly, an order more than £1000 each time.

Pav