It's Official--Ektachrome is back

It's also a function of who is selling.

 

The 13 CDN$ place is a locally owned big city camera dealer with a busy lab servicing pros, students and enthusiasts. They were one of the "last man standing" places for film, and in the last five years went from dismissive ("you still shooting that film stuff you dinosaur?") to embracing it, expanding their film lines, adding promotions like stamp cards to collect free processing, starting an analog film newsletter and membership list that gets discounts on Kodak product, etc, etc.

 

The 23 CDN$ place is a more typical "high street chain" as the Brits would say. More akin to a store like Ritz Camera used to be in the USA. They have a stock of film, and a bit of chemistry, but they aren't promoting it, and as a specialty item they will always charge full list price (and maybe a bit extra.)

Downtown Camera is right-sized for the tiny residual film market in TO. Never considered it a “pro” lab—Toronto Image Works(TIW)is, though. I don’t recall Downtown exactly crapping on film customers back then; indeed, they actually watched demand rather than assume film was over and built inventory and services accordingly. Sadly, there’s nothing left in Toronto to match TIW’s defunct Refrema E-6 line—mail order to a Montreal lab and a guy with a JOBO in his basement are as good as it gets now. Kvetching about the GST is like complaining about the weather—both favorite Canadian pastimes, eh?

Downtown Camera is right-sized for the tiny residual film market in TO. Never considered it a “pro” lab—Toronto Image Works(TIW)is, though. I don’t recall Downtown exactly crapping on film customers back then; indeed, they actually watched demand rather than assume film was over and built inventory and services accordingly. Sadly, there’s nothing left in Toronto to match TIW’s defunct Refrema E-6 line—mail order to a Montreal lab and a guy with a JOBO in his basement are as good as it gets now. Kvetching about the GST is like complaining about the weather—both favorite Canadian pastimes, eh?

Ha! Totally agree.

I was careful to say that DC services pros (they offer a pro discount and you will see wedding and portrait guys come through.)

But they aren't anything like a real "pro lab." To me that was defined by Silvano Color Labs -- truly industrial scale, with end-to-end commercial services right up to the final client albums. TIW always seemed more like a fine art lab, although that distinction could be because of it's genesis (Ed Burtynsky.)

Ha! Totally agree.

 

I was careful to say that DC services pros (they offer a pro discount and you will see wedding and portrait guys come through.)

 

But they aren't anything like a real "pro lab." To me that was defined by Silvano Color Labs -- truly industrial scale, with end-to-end commercial services right up to the final client albums. TIW always seemed more like a fine art lab, although that distinction could be because of it's genesis (Ed Burtynsky.)

It was painful watching Silvano die by inches as film faded and the wedding/studio business changed.

Still, this recently-opened shop totally escaped me and might offer some hope. Compare their lab charges to DC's:

Annex Photo

The Find is still behind.

They said that Kodak “severely underestimated the demand”......

Nice to see Kodak win one.

I see that it is back in stock at Adorama - let's see if it stays in stock.

I just got a notification an hour ago from Adorama saying my Ektachrome is still on backorder, and that they'll ship when it arrives.

My local shop did manage to get some rolls in stock, and had 5 remaining at that location when I was in there today(I got the impression that they allocated one brick to this one, their main store, one to the store in Lexington, KY, and a few rolls each to the other locations in this area).

Since I still have 8 on hand, I resisted the temptation to buy all 5 and instead just bought two to pad my stash a bit deeper until it hopefully becomes more widely available in the spring. I only managed to shoot two rolls this fall, and ended up using Velvia for most of my fall foliage as I have in years past(larger format availability was a big factor in that, and although I didn't actually shoot any color 4x5 this fall, I certainly did shoot a lot of 120). The Ektachrome will get another trial when things are all in bloom in the spring, although I'll probably shoot some when I'm in Wilmington, NC the week after next. I'll see how it does with people-Astia is the only Fuji reversal product I've found that was reasonable kind to my pasty white family, while both Kodachrome and Ektachrome always did well. As a long term goal, I'd love to see a return of both Elite Chrome, which I found a great all around general purpose film(I have a lot on hand, but it's showing its age), and EPP, which I think gave the best skin tones of any E6 product I've ever used.

BTW, I love having a local camera store, but with film a seemingly growing but still somewhat niche product, I miss the selection at places like B&H. I need to take some prints as gifts on my trip to NC, and was afraid I'd missed the order window at B&H esp. since I want to get them done toward the start of the week. I had to "settle" for Ilford glossy FB in 8x10, since that was the only FB paper they had-I don't tend to keep FB paper on hand, but prefer the Ilford warm tone(the stuff in the red box) and semi-matte, even though "glossy" FB paper isn't "glossy" like RC. Also, I wouldn't have minded getting some 11x14, but again 8x10 was my only option in FB. Still, though, it's nice to be able to pop into a local shop and get it, even if I have to compromise on the selection a bit(their prices are inline with B&H, and of course B&H no longer has the sales tax advantage).

Unfortunately, that trip also happened to coincide with them getting another D4 out on the shelf in near perfect cosmetic condition for a price that I'm afraid to post here...that one is going to get some serious consideration even though it's hard to make a case for it.

Let's see if Kodak can keep up with demand or if the demand peters out.

And maybe 120?

B&H has it in stock as of right now at 12.99 per roll......[/QU

OTE]

 

I ordered 5 rolls this morning.

The Find sent me an email.

Two rolls I ordered 8 weeks ago are soon to be shipped.

Again, good to see the demand....

Let's see if Kodak can keep up with demand or if the demand peters out.

 

And maybe 120?

I would love to see it available in 120, hopefully it's not too long coming as Medium Format seems to be making a resurgence these days.

Great , Thanks for shearing this . Store the chain in an airtight container JustChainsaw that is filled with oil so that the entire chain is submerged. Apply a light coating of oil to the bar and wrap it in paper. Clean the exterior and interior of the saw. Remove the spark plug and apply a rust inhibitor into the combustion chamber. Replace spark plug and pull the starter rope slowly several times to distribute the inhibitor over the cylinder.

???

He thought he was in the Philosophy Forum........

Is it now so short on topics that winterizing chain saws is regularly discussed?

BTW, I'm now down in Wilmington, NC visiting with some family, and we were discussing a long tradition of slide shows in the family. I shot a roll of Ektachrome today(plus some Provia and Velvia, subject dependent), and on the next visit am planning on bringing a slide projector and putting on a nice, old fashioned slide show for everyone to enjoy together :)

Is it now so short on topics that winterizing chain saws is regularly discussed?

 

BTW, I'm now down in Wilmington, NC visiting with some family, and we were discussing a long tradition of slide shows in the family. I shot a roll of Ektachrome today(plus some Provia and Velvia, subject dependent), and on the next visit am planning on bringing a slide projector and putting on a nice, old fashioned slide show for everyone to enjoy together :)

That is an excellent idea!

I ordered some 120, a Hewes film spool, and some adapters so Dad could shoot his mother’s old Kodak Target 616.

Think he is going to get a kick out of that.....