Gast
The shop doesn’t have the film in stock at the moment. They didn’t give me much hope either.
I actually thought it was quite good in the R09, especially at that price, of course, and it ‘went’ rather well with my Isolette.
Will the film be back in stock any time soon?
Robert
MirkoBoeddecker
Robert,
We’ve been trying for weeks.
The factory is facing the same problems as the rest of the non-Kodak and Fuji world: there are currently no roll film bases available to buy on the market.
If bases become available again, we’ll get a quote.
Unfortunately, the price of the base has also risen sharply recently.
It may be that the film will then become unattractive in terms of price.
We’ll let you know when the time comes.
Best regards,
Mirko
Gast
Mirko,
I’ve just received a Shanghaipan GP 3 from Taiwan, expiry date 2/2008 – surely that’s the same film? I can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be in production; the person there says it’s available indefinitely.
Jonas
Gast
One more thing
I did a bit of Googling just to confirm this: in China, the film costs around 60 cents a roll in shops, which indirectly suggests that it’s going to become much more expensive here.
I’m starting to get fed up with this, see also the website story; this greenish-shimmering backing material isn’t used by anyone else – it’s Chinese X-ray film backing – and I’m going to write to the factory in Shanghai to ask for some information.
Jonas
Gast
Is there a general mobilisation today, by any chance?
MirkoBoeddecker
Jonas,
The manufacturer of the Classic 100 ECO has told us that the minimum order quantity is half a million roll films, explaining that they cannot purchase the backing material for any smaller quantity.
Other manufacturers are in the same boat, and the manufacturer of the backing material is currently collecting orders.
At the same time, the backing material manufacturer has announced that the price of the backing material will rise sharply due to the drop in demand.
So we have to wait and see:
1) When enough collective orders for base material have been received for production to go ahead (quite a few have already been collected and the current estimate is April – this is new information from yesterday)
2) What the price of new films will be once the more expensive base material has been delivered, as the price is expected to rise.
That is the information I have, and so far I have had no reason to doubt or question these details. It is also unusual. Normally, everyone wants to sell. If a supplier says they cannot deliver for reason XY, I don’t really question it, because I assume it must be true – after all, what motivation would they have NOT to want to sell?
X-ray films are cast onto a different base than roll films. It is thinner (the roll film base) and has a different antihalation.
That’s the whole dilemma! The base can only be used for roll films, which is why the supply situation looks so dire.
If you actually know someone in Taiwan who can source a base in China that’s suitable for roll films and might also be usable for X-ray film (and is therefore always available), that would be brilliant information.
If you can also get hold of some samples and a price, we could do business.
That’s exactly the product we’ve been desperately needing for the last 8 weeks.
It’s a right pain that we haven’t been able to produce R25 and R100 since November, and it’s also a pain that there are no more Classicpan Ecos left.
We could sell them every day....
Regards,
Mirko
Gast
Mirko,
The backing material is quite thin (I checked again – the Ecos are thicker); apparently they’re more inventive when it comes to the Chinese market.
Have a look on the Löffler forum, search for Shanghai and you’ll find someone selling the Shanghai films on eBay, 11 EUR for 10 pieces plus 6 EUR postage; your prices are better without the postage, but I’m not going to post a link anyway.
I just ordered the film because I was curious, but otherwise it’s just like your Eco: shoddy Chinese packaging, crepe tape, adhesive tabs that don’t stick.
I somehow had the feeling earlier that you wanted to drop the film from your range with a flimsy excuse
Jonas
Gast
Mirko, please correct this – I accidentally put the salutation in the 'From' field at the top, or delete my post.
Jonas
cfb_de
Jonas,
If you register, this sort of thing won’t happen to you automatically :-)
Best regards,
Franz
Gast
Mirko, Jonas,
Don’t make such a fuss; my theory is this: even though it might sound paradoxical, Shanghai-Films – or whatever the company is called – still has base film, but they’re not handing it over.
I’d do the same. Just imagine you were an established manufacturer in China – would you hand over your last roll of raw film for a label order? I’d supply my own market for as long as possible.
Because if they fulfil Mirko’s order now, the raw material will be gone and customers in China will be up in arms because they can’t get any more film.
Werner
Gast
Mirko,
Speaking of roll film spools, wouldn’t 35mm spools do the job?
In that case, I’d get in touch with the Ukrainians (“They’ve got it and we want it” – a quote from Billy Wilder’s film *One Two Three*), or why do you prefer to buy the spools in China rather than in Ukraine? The wages aren’t that different and the quality is just as poor, if not worse.
Could it be that a bit of an aversion to Soviet Russia from the good old GDR days is playing a part here?
Werner
MirkoBoeddecker
Werner,
Svema has gone bust and my contact there has been made redundant :-(
The KB film base is too thick – the film would either only have 11 exposures or it wouldn’t fit on the reel....
Mirko
cfb_de
Hi Mirko,
Why don’t you have a look at Svema, just as we did with you regarding roller baryte? :-) After all, you can create markets and products too.
But you’re probably already doing that.
Best regards,
Franz
Gast
Mirko,
Why don't we all chip in and buy the Träermaterialienwerk? What do you think?
Roland
cfb_de
Roland,
You’re giving the first million in cash, not on account.
Best regards,
Franz
Gast
Franz,
In Ukrainian hryvnia or in euros?
Roland
cfb_de
Roland,
Euros. No other currency is accepted for investments of this kind. In hryvnia, the amount would be significantly higher, and you wouldn’t be able to simply exchange it here in Germany and then bring the cash in.
Best regards,
Franz
Gast
Franz,
I reckon they’d sell the factory off if it meant people could keep their jobs, but I’m off to bed now,
so good night
Roland
PhilippReichmuth
No other currency is accepted for investments of this kind either.
Well, a million (which must be about 6.5 million UAH at the moment) isn’t *that* much money... you can still get that in cash.
In hryvnia it would be significantly more, and you wouldn’t be allowed to just exchange that here in Germany and then bring it in as cash.
You can’t just bring a million in euros into the country in cash either.
Philipp
Gast
Hello,
Leaving the UAH course aside for a moment, I find all this very disheartening; we’d actually hoped that we’d be on the safe side with the small manufacturers.
But it’s becoming increasingly clear that this is of no use to us whatsoever, as long as the backing material comes from large corporations.
We might still be able to source the quantities we need now, but what will the situation be like in 5 years’ time, let alone in 20 or 30 years (if I’m still taking photos at 90 – that’s certainly my plan).
It almost feels to me as though the supply of film is the critical issue that could spell the end of our hobby.
I think there’s a real need for action here.
Roland
