AG Photographic had me going late this morning when they emailed details of a great new price on Fomapan 100 that sounded very tempting. Ten rolls of 36-exposure 35mm for £25 or 10 rolls of 120 for £26? That would make it the second cheapest film on sale in the UK behind Firstcall 400S. Then, as if to prove there's no such thing as an (almost) free lunch, the stinger: the offer only applies if you've already spent £50. Oh, well.
Still, it's a good offer if you're about to splash out on some photographic paper or something that takes you to the £50 threshold. You'll not beat a roll of black and white film for £2.50 - OK, you will but only by a penny with the Firstcall material and that's not available in 120. The offer lasts until midnight on Sunday.
And, what's more, it is a great film!
ReplyDeleteWhy dont you bulk load film? That comes out to about $1.50 a roll of Ilford, $2 for Tmax
ReplyDeleteBulk loading has died a death in the UK. There's hardly any saving to be made rolling your own.
ReplyDeleteHello Bruce,
ReplyDeleteI apologise for what I am about to write.
UK film sellers and possibly Ilford are a weird bunch. Usually, German films are cheapest in Germany (see Adox, Rollei price in Maco, Fotoimpex, et al.), American ones are cheaper in NA and same applies for Fuji’s films in Japanese. Proportionately, Fuji’s are lot cheaper in Japan than anywhere else. In UK, it's the completely opposite! For example - price of a 30.50 meter bulk roll of Ilford HP5 Plus at
(1) BHP(USA) $59.95 (= 35.24 GBP)
(2) Adorama (USA) $54.90 (= 32.27 GBP)
(3) Maco Direct 64.00 Euro (= 61.16 GBP)
(4) Fotoimpex (DE) 68 Euro (=54.35)
(5) Silverprint (UK) 60.20 GBP
(6) First-Call (UK) 70.99 GBP
What is the rationale of such a huge price variation?
No need to apologise at all. It bugs the life out of me as well. I used to think it was because the US were able to buy in bulk and negotiate lower prices from Ilford but then that would apply to Germany and Japan as well.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to get a straight answer (from Ilford in particular) regarding the pricing of their bulk rolls... but I guess they just charge what they can get away with.
ReplyDelete