FujiFilm to discontinue B&W bulk film :(

[peter_n]

This is truly depressing: Fuji will discontinue bulk rolls of Acros, NP400, NP1600 and NPSS in March 2007. See the link below. I have a small stash of bulk NP1600 but I will stock up, no question. I wonder if this presages the end of B&W film from Fuji? :(

Fujifilm to discontinue black & white bulk rolls, Rembrant V papers (http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00HNzn&tag=)

[Nachkebia]

sad news :(

[Ash]

I've never actually used fuji b&w, maybe this is a good time to try it out and stock up, just in case I like it after all!!

[shutterflower]

Neopan is my third favorite film brand overall. The 400 is a nice all round film. I prefer Tmax and HP5, however.

For 100 ISO, the Acros is my certain favorite. Delta 3200 is best for fast work.

buy as much as you can of the Neopan 1600, though, since it is a niche product.

[amateriat]

Well, Fuji makes more money selling the stuff by the cassette, so if it's a choice between by-the-roll-only and Nothing At All, here's hoping this move keeps the little green boxes a-rolling for a while yet. This ain't great news, but it could've been worse.


- Barrett

[dcsang]

As long as they don't discontinue the cassettes I'm ok.

Acros is a solid B&W 100 film and Neopan 1600 is the ONLY 1600 imho.

On a side bar - I noted a huge increase in the cost of Ilford DDX developer :( which I use with Fuji films. The increase, to me, seemed to be 100% !! :(

Dave

[Chaser]

damnit looks like megaperls will be getting about a months wages from me when i stock up before the bulks go away.

[Flyfisher Tom]

That is depressing ... guess I will have to push Neopan or Tmax 400 to 1600 instead :(

[shutterflower]

I heard that HP5 goes well to 1600. Only heard it, though. Don't know it.

[peter_n]

I've read that it doesn't. NP1600 can look good even when developed by a lab, its a really great film. I bought my bulk from Megaperls but the prices recently have been ridiculous because of the exchange rate. I need to keep an eye on the prices to stock up and get it shipped surface. It takes about a month.

[raid]

Megaperls... what is the web address?

Thanks.

Raid

P.S. There is a guy on ebay selling 400 rolls of Fuji Neopan 1600 @ $3/ 36 exp. roll with expiration date 12/2006. Is this a good price?

[peter_n]

Megaperls (http://www.unicircuits.com/shop/index.php)

$3/roll does not stack up against bulk, and you can get it for $3.99 at the NYC discounts. As George says, its a niche film. Need 400 rolls?

[espressogeek]

Im a hopeless romantic I supose. When DVD was released I bought a Laser Disc player. When the third gen mx-5's were on the way I bought a second gen because i thought it was the purest sports car experience one could buy for less than 25k. When I got into cameras last year I shot digital olympus, tossed that for Nikon so I could use a lot of great old glass and got into film. I just like film for B&W but maybe I'm chasing the mystique and not the results.

What I'm trying to say is I'm afraid film is definitly on the way out and it SUX. I'm always in love with yesterday. There is so much stunning film gear out there that I can afford and the digital equivalent of many of it is simply 20 times the cost. :-( Plus film really does have a look that can not be done in digital period. It is its own genre of photography .

:-(

[ray_g]

I bought a second gen because i thought it was the purest sports car experience one could buy for less than 25k.

:-(

I totally agree. There are very, very few things I regret selling, and right there on top is my '01 BRG. :(

[shutterflower]

the fact that film has its own look and it difficult or impossible to produce digitally - that it is its own genre in some respects - is a good thing. It means it might stick around for a while.


But. . . I am inching closer to digital on some fronts. For someone seeking portability, a P&S digicam and a laptop is hugely more compact than a desktop, big flatbed scanned, and a MF RF with three lenses.

Of course, after receiving 2 large prints of my work today - printed by our very own Tetrisattack - I can't imagine ever leaving film behind. BIG 11x14 prints on 16x20 paper. . .tack sharp down below the visibility limit. Only with film. for now.

As for B&W, as for anything really, I just hope we have at least one good vendor for a long while to come.

[Nachkebia]

espressogeek : Thats when it ends!, when you start compairing camera (photography) to cd or dvd players :(

[kvanderlaag]

I've heard tell of people using thirty year old film properly stored.

[RayPA]

ugh! that is bad news, but as praphrased from above: it could be worse. I always buy NP400 in bulk. I didn't realize you could get 1600 in bulk. I'm off to stock up!

:)

[peter_n]

Lets put it this way. I've bought a stack of bulk Agfapan 100 with an expiry date of 2010 and I intend to keep it well beyond that date.

This is no predictor on expiry dates from Fuji in Japan, but FWIW I ordered some rolls of NP1600 from Megaperls 9/2/2005 and they were shipped 9/8/2005. That indicates to me that Dirk Rösler does not keep stock on hand but purchases and ships when he gets an order. The expiry date on the film I received is 1/2007, about 15 months. Not much really.

The price per roll of NP1600 then was ¥3631. Currently it is ¥4368 (US $37.60), an increase of 28%. :eek: As I've said I'm keeping an eye on the exchange rate. The price of NP1600 has been ¥4368 for awhile.

[Chaser]

Lets put it this way. I've bought a stack of bulk Agfapan 100 with an expiry date of 2010 and I intend to keep it well beyond that date.

This is no predictor on expiry dates from Fuji in Japan, but FWIW I ordered some rolls of NP1600 from Megaperls 9/2/2005 and they were shipped 9/8/2005. That indicates to me that Dirk Rösler does not keep stock on hand but purchases and ships when he gets an order. The expiry date on the film I received is 1/2007, about 15 months. Not much really.

The price per roll of NP1600 then was ¥3631. Currently it is ¥4368 (US $37.60), an increase of 28%. :eek: As I've said I'm keeping an eye on the exchange rate. The price of NP1600 has been ¥4368 for awhile.



Wouldn't highspeed film have an inherently shorter lifespan than 100iso?

[Dougg]

Wouldn't highspeed film have an inherently shorter lifespan than 100iso?I believe you're right, and that does agree with my experience. Old Fuji 1600 and Kodak 1000 speed films, even stored in a refrigerator in the basement, has shown increased graininess and color shifts (different color layers shifting different directons). Over the same time, Ilford XP1 and Pan-F bulk loaded in 1983, and Kodak Gold 100 stored in the same place survived 20+ years without apparent change.

Cold storage better preserves the organic film coatings whether fast or slow, but... I'm told that all films are subjected to cosmic rays, which cannot be shielded, which more strongly affect more sensitive films over time.

[Flyfisher Tom]

Peter

Slightly OT, but what do you think of the grain of NP 1600 relative to NP 400? From what I've seen, it is a remarkably fine-grained high speed film.

[raid]

Lets put it this way. I've bought a stack of bulk Agfapan 100 with an expiry date of 2010 and I intend to keep it well beyond that date.

This is no predictor on expiry dates from Fuji in Japan, but FWIW I ordered some rolls of NP1600 from Megaperls 9/2/2005 and they were shipped 9/8/2005. That indicates to me that Dirk Rösler does not keep stock on hand but purchases and ships when he gets an order. The expiry date on the film I received is 1/2007, about 15 months. Not much really.

The price per roll of NP1600 then was ¥3631. Currently it is ¥4368 (US $37.60), an increase of 28%. :eek: As I've said I'm keeping an eye on the exchange rate. The price of NP1600 has been ¥4368 for awhile.


You mean a"100 ft roll" of NP1600 ... I assume.

Raid

[peter_n]

You mean a"100 ft roll" of NP1600 ... I assume.

RaidYes that price is for a 100 ft. bulk roll. Sorry for the descriptive omission.

[peter_n]

Peter

Slightly OT, but what do you think of the grain of NP 1600 relative to NP 400? From what I've seen, it is a remarkably fine-grained high speed film.Tom the results that I got from a lab that used XTOL were variable. Some were almost indistinguishable from NP400 and some (mostly underexposed) were grainy. My understanding is that HC-110 is excellent with NP1600 and I've bought a bottle to try myself. I think if you develop it properly yourself it can be remarkably fine-grained.

recommended HC110 dilution for Neopan 1600 (http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00E1zO&tag=)