Following is a response from the folks at J and C Photo to an inquiry about the availability of film and paper. This comes from a large format list I subscribe to. Thought some of you might be interested.
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: To: Date: Subject: in 4x5 and other items I was interested in ordering and got the following response. I think it's of general interest since by the nature of the group we tend to use film and more then one person (myself included) has wondered about the future of film. As the response makes clear business at J&C is booming and both B&W film and paper sales are increasing rapidly. Frank The "problem" is simply one of a huge up turn in demand in a short period of time. With all the changes in the industry the last year we've picked up a lot of business. Getting film produced takes time and the factories in Europe don't make to order anymore. They pool orders together until it is cost effective for them to turn on the machines. Where a year or two ago I could pick up the phone and place an order which would ship within a couple of weeks now I have to wait for production. Nobody is storing master rolls anymore like they used to. So every time we start from scratch. During this past year we've introduced 2 new papers and 2 new films that keep selling out. Most things sell out as fast as we can get them in. We are placing larger orders every time but so far the sales volume has exceeded the order volume for most things. The Adox Vario papers have caught on very well and people are starting to see that the Expo paper has a really nice look to it developed in Amidol. It allows users of enlargers to get the contact paper look. When I estimate a date for you I'm going by what the factory tells me it's going to be. It turns out that it's always wrong so now I've started adding extra time when I respond. I get 30 or more requests a day asking when something will be available. All I can do is guess. Last year at this time we were shipping out 30-40 packages a day. This year it's at least 50 a day with some days exceeding 100. If we had more stock it would be even higher. The bright side is that the film and paper is selling like hotcakes and that is a good sign for the future of film and paper. Hopefully, things will settle down over the next year and it can get back to normal. Efke 25 is completely out in 4x5 and 8x10. Efke is making a run of PL25 and the R25 this month. It is already being made as I write this. So we should have it back in January. Right after they finish with the PL25 they are going to do a run of the PL100. We are very short on PL100 8x10 but that should also be OK by January. I hope this helps. -- Scott Loveless http://www.twosixteen.com -- "You have to hold the button down" -Arnold Newman
