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No T-Max in stock


john_papandreou

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There is absolutely NO word about Kodak ceasing production of these films. In the past, Kodak has always stated that a particular film is discontinued in their technical documentation. There is no such notice now. I'm guessing that for the moment, demand has exceeded supply. I can only speculate on the market forces that have converged to cause this situation, so I'll remain silent on that point.
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I just checked out B&H on-line. Tri-X 35 mm is out of stock or back-ordered. In 120 TMX, TMY and Tri-X 400 is out of stock or back ordered. 220 Tri-X 320 is in stock. Kodak sheet film is mostly in stock.

 

It is a bit odd that this sudden shortage is across two formats. Also odd that B&H has plenty of Agfa still kicking around and no announcement from Kodak. It would seem sensible there would be warehoused product kicking around for at least a few month after a announcement about discontinuing B&W film. Thinking optimistically, perhaps it is a recall of some sort.

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I just looked at Kodak's Press releases. There is no mention of the company discontinuing ANY of their B&W films. Anecdotally, I've been hearing stories from a number of people, including students, having a renewed interest in traditional B&W photography. I could be simply that demand is up because of the new school year and supply is down because manufacturers have been dropping capacity. DON'T PANIC people. Let's not get another "film is dead" rumor going. These things have a way of feeding on themselves.
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All the local camera shop in my area has a shit load of Kodak films. This has happen many times before. You'll know when Kodak folds and it's not going to fold any time soon. That is why I buy 5 bricks at a time. Even then I think that is to little to have as stock. Now you can play with some HP5+ & Delta 400 until the stcok is back.
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The Local college here added 2 extra Photo classes this semester because demand for conventional B&W photography was up. It seeems that alot of Students got started on the Elctronic Photo classes and now want to learn more.

 

My daughter borrowed one of my 35mm cameras to take the class. and they are using both HP5+ and Tri-X to start with.

 

Larry

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One thing I've noticed is that more stores in my area (Rochester, NY) are carrying more B&W compared to two years ago. Two local colleges have more B&W stuff on their shelves as well as drug store chains. Target seems to be stocking only BW400CN, Walmart primarily has that but also Tri-X in some stores but sells a lot more BW400CN than they used to. A couple of drug stores and grocery stores I've been in recently have Tri-X, T-Max and Plus-X and one kid who was restocking the shelves at the grocery store said he had refilled the B&W racks three times so far this month and said that when he started he was lucky to have to restock once every other month and the manager had talked about dis-continuing it.

 

So the demand is up for B&W, at least in 35mm.

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I have thought for some time that when things got bad enough at Kodak they would stop announcing that certain products were being discontinued and just let their customers figure it out. I'm not saying that this is what is happening now with black & white film but it is likely that something like this will happen in the not too distant future. I read earlier this year that Kodak has one plant which makes film emulsions and that this plant would close soon. That would mean the end of all Kodak film and paper. Then about two weeks ago I read that Kodak was about to discontinue black & white photo chemicals. Where the customer is concerned, things are not moving in a good direction at Kodak.
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"I read earlier this year that Kodak has one plant which makes film emulsions and that this plant would close soon. That would mean the end of all Kodak film and paper. Then about two weeks ago I read that Kodak was about to discontinue black & white photo chemicals."

 

When Kodak discontinued Tech Pan, which was then used by only small groups of hobbyists and for some niche scientific applications, they gave something like one year's advance warning (IIRC). Do you think Kodak would drop its core business with no notice? I also don't think Kodak necessarily has the B&W hobbyist's best interests at heart, but I find the rumours you posted very hard to believe.

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Thanks Everyone for your answers, I will be in New York on Next Tuesday and Hopefully B&H will have T-Max in Stock So I can buy a few pro packs. I like Using TMX and TMY in 120 I tend to get the best overall results.

 

Otherwise I will have to use Delta or HP5, at least we Still have film options for the moment.

 

Johnkpap

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