In 2012, Kodak shuttered its giant film production plant in Guadalajara in Mexico after that had been churning out film for 50 years. Partly, this is a problem which stems from decision a decade ago. They are still struggling to meet demand, even as logistics and industry return to something like pre-Covid normality. Kodak is the first name most people think of when it comes to buying film. Their problems, as the biggest and best-known film producer, dwarf my own. Others seem to be walking away from film altogether.Īs somebody running (an admittedly black-and-white only) film brand in 2022, I’m acutely aware of the enormous challenges Eastman Kodak is facing. Some of these photographers will stick with black-and-white, where there are still affordable options. The current cost-of-living crisis won’t have helped, but the steady drip-drip-drip of rising prices over the course of the pandemic has been building to this point. That same shop, for much of the pandemic, had a sign saying which colour films were in stock in front of the counter because the staff were so heartily sick of saying the same thing dozens of times a day.įor the first time in years, I am seeing diehard film photographers turn their backs on colour film. I went nine months without seeing a single roll of it in London recently. It’s rarely below £12 a roll now, and that’s when you can find it.
35MM COLOR FILM PRO
Kodak Ektar 100 is hard to find under £13 and the once humble ColorPlus is now priced like a pro film. A five-pack of Kodak Portra 400 is now a few pennies under £100 from one leading UK retailer. In 2022, when you can even find these films for sale, the prices are almost unrecognisable. Adox Color Mission is a welcome new addition to the colour film ranks in 2022 (Pic: Adox) In 2017, just as the analogue resurgence was starting to gather pace, this shop was selling Kodak Portra 400 35mm for £8 a roll, Kodak Ektar 100 for £7.50 a roll and a roll of 36-frame Kodak ColorPlus 200 for £4. Take this example: Kosmo Foto contacted one leading London film retailer to see how much prices have risen. Colour films have been in sporadic supply around the world, and the prices have only been going in one direction: up. On top of that, the Covid-19 pandemic created even more problems. Resurging interest in film photography in the last five years or so has fuelled demand, and Kodak Alaris has been struggling to keep up with it. Kodak Gold 200 120’s surprise unveiling earlier this year has been one of the most positive recent developments.īut this has come amid a wider problem for those shooting colour films: spiralling cost. In recent years, they’ve bucked the decade-and-a-half-long trend of film discontinuations by bringing films back from the dead – Ektachrome E100 in 2017 – and even bringing out films in formats that didn’t exist before. Since it survived bankruptcy in 2012, Eastman Kodak’s film has been marketed by Kodak Alaris, which has exclusive rights to sell Kodak stills film across the world. Even some of their best-loved film – like the wedding photographers’ favourite, Pro 400H – have not survived the culling. What has been apparent over the last few years is that film is a low priority for the Japanese imaging and chemicals company. Whether Fujifilm is still in the colour film game is a source of endless speculation, and not something to delve too far into in this article. While 2022 has given us some good news – the release of Adox’s new Color Mission and ORWO’s promised NC 500 film – the lion’s share of colour film is still made by the two surviving giants of colour film photography, Fujifilm and Eastman Kodak.
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