Are new Portra film generally available?

The Portra film description and pictures on bhphoto and other online places are

the same old descriptions and photos they have had for years. Does anyone know

if they are selling the most recent emulsions?

My Local Store will not sell them unless they get rid of the old stock and they have more than 25 people wanting them .. we have 20 now....

I am not a Wedding photographer.

Larry

Both Adorama and B&H have the new versions, though not in all flavours in all formats. I have seen some of the old stuff on the shelves at both places, but the majority of their stock appears to be the new stuff.

All the Portra 800 they have is the new stuff, because that started shipping from Kodak a year ago.

Best, Helen

Thanks. Sometimes I think Kodak should have just dumped the older stuff and provided the new emulsions when they were first announced. But I guess the bean-counters want to squeeze every last penny out of the old stock.

(O.K. That's enough Kodak bashing for tonight.)

It is the same situation here in Europe. I think it is ridiculous to force people to buy the "old" stuff, when the new one should be available for almost half a year. From the samples I have seen in the net, the new Portras are a major improvement over the old ones. Why sending out free samples, when they cannot make the film available?

Could you imagine a company holding back a new digital camera (or even a new memory card) for six months, because there are some old models still sitting on the dealers shelves? No way. But they think they can do this to the old-fashioned, slow-thinking (in their eyes) idiots, who still soot film.

This is a hundred miles away from serious marketing.

Regards

Georg

Benny,

Kodak can't decide to just "dump the older stuff". It's up to the retailers to place orders for the new stuff wit the distributors.

Retailers never elect to just dump the old stuff.

Al,

I realize that. My reference to "dump" was shorthand for what Kodak could (and should) have done. For example, they could reduce the retail price by 50%, and refund the difference to the dealers. That would help move the old stuff off the shelves to make room for the new. Or, offer rebates directly to the consumer for buying the old stuff. That is the type of thing Detroit does when they bring out new model cars. They discount the previous models. Its standard marketing, at least in the U.S. And I don't understand why Kodak didn't do this.

Benny,

I agree with you 100%. The new Portras have a lot of new technology built in (2-photon technology, IIRC), and are a major step forward. Maybe they are the last big technology step in C41 films we will experience. But the marketing is unbelievable. Why give away free rolls of film? Anybody interested in this film would have bought one to try it out anyway. They could have made special introduction offers like "4+1 for free" instead, or something like that.

Surely, it is not just Kodak. The dealers seem to prefer to sell no film at all, instead of selling the old one cheaper, at the new ones in addition. It really looks like just nobody cares about SELLING film anymore.

While the engineers are still providing great products, the marketing people seem to undermine this, just to get rid of the traditional analog business.

Regards

Georg

I recently tried free samples of the new Portra 160VC. The film is very nice. It looks similar to UC400, but slightly less saturated. The grain is much tighter. Surprisingly, it looks smaller and sharper/more defined than the grain of a slower film - UC100. I have not noticed UC400's color noise in the dark/shadow ares. The film is very sharp. There was too much cyan in the light blue areas (sky), but possibly it was related to processing/printing. Although A&I has never had this problem before.

Overall it is an excellent film, worth using it when it becomes available.

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=406376252&size=o