Fuji film price increase?

ChrisR

ChrisR

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Thom Hogan writes that Fuji are increasing their film prices by double digit (percent?) amounts, effective immediately. He suggests if readers like their Fuji films they buy up some current stock and refrigerate. Do we have any corroboration of this?
 
Bellamy Hunt put an article out about the same thing today. Apparently it's on the main Fujifilm website.
 
Quote: "The demand for film products is continuously decreasing"

Is it really?, I'm not so sure tbh......Perhaps the demand for fuji film products is decreasing......who knows, gives a good reason / excuse to substantially increase retail prices to line ( already fat) pockets though doesn't it!
 
This was claimed last year too and I bought some extra rolls but it didn't seem to come to anything.
 
As I mentioned on a another thread, the manager at Leamington LCE told me he was selling more film than ever before... I suspect he might have meant, more film than last year, though!
 
Some irrelevant facts I read:- peak film sales was in 2000, now only 1% of that amount is sold now.
 
They have a terminal disease and now announce that they will shoot themselves in the head, I do no see any smart move there. As consumer my only tool is not to buy, so good luck with that Fuji.
 
ariel7515 said:
They have a terminal disease and now announce that they will shoot themselves in the head, I do no see any smart move there. As consumer my only tool is not to buy, so good luck with that Fuji.
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But, but... if you don't buy, you can't shoot slide film! So that's not an option for some film photographers, really.

You're right though, it is a bit of a death spiral. Though if they can re-invent themselves to work for lower volume (as Ferrania are trying to do, for example), they migt be able to stabilise it. Coping with a very steep decline in demand for a product with high capitalisation production facilities is never going to be easy!
 
I think there just wanting out of the film business all together. There x series is doing well for them and by increasing prices of film they'll have an excuse to bail out when demand drops that bit more
 
I do so hope you're wrong, Andrew!
 
Just checked, there was a DPreview interview with some Fuji execs, and they were asked near the end:

Do you think film in general will have a resurgence?
TT: No, I don’t think so. The infrastructure [is no longer in place]. We have to continue to supply film and maintain our labs for another 10-20 years, maybe but I don’t think we can change the [downward] trend.
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It was a somewhat naive question that could have been better worded, and I'm not sure quite what the "infrastructure" referred to is, but the last sentence is heartening.
 
allicio said:
I think there just wanting out of the film business all together. There x series is doing well for them and by increasing prices of film they'll have an excuse to bail out when demand drops that bit more
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Seriously? The price rise is part of a Fujifilm conspiracy to invent a pretence for dropping their film manufacturing?

They are a business. If it's profitable and makes good business sense, they're going to make film. If it's not, they'll stop. Why would they need such a charade?
 
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skysh4rk said:
...They are a business. If it's profitable and makes good business sense, they're going to make film. If it's not, they'll stop. Why would they need such a charade?
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That is exactly what I think, it is not a friend's club, it is a business, and I will not feed that kind of manipulation by buying their products. Photography is our hobby/job and we would like to continue enjoying it forever, but at some point we have to say something as consumers, and our only ways are: to buy, or not to buy...
 
To be fair to any business, if your product costs so much to produce and your sales are decreasing then it makes sense (financially) to cut your losses. The fact they're increasing prices is a way to make profit on that dwindling market. I don't like it either but unfortunately it's just economics. The loss of slide film will be a shame for me but it just means I'll have to start getting used to negative more. Then again, the interview with Fuji suggests 10-20 years before they cut it completely so probably not something to worry about immediately.
 
Well I worry about places that will exist to dev film cheaply...I'm not sure about myself whether I would use film at any costs especially relying on a pension and savings.
 
Price is the only thing that will stop me using film too. Wonder if this increase will eventually see the end of Vista at Poundland?

I am hoping that Ferrania come through with their plans to give us an alternative to Fuji for E6. Just hope being on a smaller scale & dedicated & not just being a division of a larger conglomerate gives them a workable business model.
 
DNH said:
Price is the only thing that will stop me using film too. Wonder if this increase will eventually see the end of Vista at Poundland?I am hoping that Ferrania come through with their plans to give us an alternative to Fuji for E6. Just hope being on a smaller scale & dedicated & not just being a division of a larger conglomerate gives them a workable business model.
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It was Ferrania I had in mind when I wrote above about the problems of high volume production facilities with decreasing volume, versus facilities designed for lower levels. No doubt they won't be cheap (niche products never are), but as long as they still exist we will have the option to keep going.
 
stevelmx5 said:
To be fair to any business, if your product costs so much to produce and your sales are decreasing then it makes sense (financially) to cut your losses. .
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Absolutely!

but...

@ariel7515 does have a very good point though about continuing to buy or not buy

Unfortuanatley we live in a world of finacial greed, which is manipulated by( probably, the best part of the population ( very sad really but hey).

Companies / businesses always find a so called valid reason to increase prices to the retailer....very occasionally it is a genuine reason, if that being the case, the increase will typically be minimal so as to "help" the company keep going without jeapordising custom.

In this particular case with Fuji, a double figure percentage increase comes across to me as greed.....If the prices do increase by such an amount then I won't be purchasing fuji film.

The unfortuanate thing about all this is that other companies, Kodak, Ilford etc are likely to follow suit in the none too distant future possibly with a similar reason / excuse as Fuji

At this rate our film cameras are going to become nothing but doorstops, mantlepiece ornaments and museum pieces simply as the average amature tog won't be able to afford to use them to their full potential.....a very sad state of affairs but if that helps Fuji and other companies sell their Digi outfits with massive profit margins then all is good isn't it!!!!!!!!
 
Considering that the market for enthusiast digital cameras is also plummeting, we might be over-thinking this. A double digit price rise is considerably better than stopping production. I might not be happy to pay the cost of Provia 100, but at least I can still choose to buy it. Reala 100 and Provia 400X I can't buy (new)... I'd still like to be able to get some, even at twice the price!
 
ChrisR said:
Considering that the market for enthusiast digital cameras is also plummeting, we might be over-thinking this. A double digit price rise is considerably better than stopping production. I might not be happy to pay the cost of Provia 100, but at least I can still choose to buy it. Reala 100 and Provia 400X I can't buy (new)... I'd still like to be able to get some, even at twice the price!
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:agree:
 
When I started shooting film a few years ago I knew then it was a diminishing market but wanted to get in before it died as I never got the chance in younger days. so it will cost more, oh well. I suspect that for me in 10 years I will have had my enjoyment in film and have put that to bed.
 
The B\W guys here would have loved the old days when B\W was king and film developers were like a supermarket pain killer shelf with the choice.
 
And yet, in the old days, I only used PanF and HP3 (except for one 36exp Kodachrome and one KB14) and Unitol as my developer (after starting with Johnson's Universal and trying Microphen and Acutol). I never saw the need to experiment.

What I miss from Fuji are the Acros Quickloads.
 
StephenM said:
And yet, in the old days, I only used PanF and HP3 (except for one 36exp Kodachrome and one KB14) and Unitol as my developer (after starting with Johnson's Universal and trying Microphen and Acutol). I never saw the need to experiment.

What I miss from Fuji are the Acros Quickloads.
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Well I tried quite a few developers but settled for Unitol and mainly FP4..... but before doing my own dev used to take the film to a small camera shop and the results were always very good, I asked him what he used and it was Microdol...no one seems to mention\use it here.
 
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