How much do some common films cost in New Zealand, how much do those costs vary, and how do they compare to prices in the US? I’ll be regularly checking prices of a selection of films to answer those questions.
I've picked five black and white, and four colour films for this survey. I selected these ones because there's a bit of a range and they’re common and easily available. I’ve picked six well-known New Zealand retailers (I’m not going to identify them) and have excluded traders selling films on internet auction sites, as well as any special offers. These are all their regular listed prices. I’ve also looked at prices from two well-known US retailers and converted their prices to NZ dollars (and added 15% GST) for this survey - but remember you’ll need to consider the extra shipping costs when comparing them to the local sellers.
Black and White Films
From these tables we can see that Ilford films in NZ are pretty much the same price as they are in the US. Considering the extra costs of shipping and our smaller market, I think that's pretty good. Interestingly, at the moment the cost of Delta 100 & 3200 is a little cheaper here. However the table also shows just how expensive Kodak film is - around twice the price I can buy it in the US. Tri-X and TMax films have been my most used films over the years - I’ve shot thousands of rolls of them. Kodak and the NZ distributor are obviously quite content to let photographers like me spend our money on other manufacturer’s films.
Colour Films
Again, the most striking conclusion is that we’re paying a lot more for colour films than American photographers. The other noticeable trend from this survey is that whenever possible you must shop around for your film. There is a huge variation in prices. For example I understand many photographers are switching from Kodak Portra (a very nice film but just getting too expensive) to Kodak Gold 200 because it is almost as good but at a significantly lower price, however you could pay anywhere from $25 to $38 for a roll of 120 from a retailer in New Zealand - that’s a $13 difference; which in my Mamiya RZ is $1.30 extra for every shot.
Yes, I’m sure you can find cheaper film online however I’m a little cautious because I want to know that it has been stored properly.
I’ll do this survey again early in the new year, so stay tuned!
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