Tim Parkin - Landscape Photographer

In the world of colour large format photography, there is a general undercurrent of fear about the discontinuation of certain film stocks, particularly fuji velvia which has already been discontinued in one form; so when Robert White told a colleague that Fuji UK were making there last import of Fuji Velvia Quickload in December it sent a few people into a little bit of a panic. The sensitivity could be related to the fact that in the last couple of months we have seen Fuji’s discontinuation of Acros quickload film and also Fuji UK’s decision to stop importing Fuji Astia in sheet or quickload format.

Hoping to get a definitive resolution (and to stop a run on Fuji ‘stock’), I phoned Fuji’s Product Development Manager (Russ Gunn) who kindly cleared up a few things for us (Thanks Russ!). Here is a quick summary of our conversation

• Fuji UK has no plans to stop importing Fuji Quickload in any formats currently in production but this is something they are reviewing based on sales but current sales have been fairly strong.

• If Fuji Japan were to discontinuesome film stocks (and there was no suggestion at all that it would), Fuji UK would make sure that they import a good 6 months supply to satisfy any demand.

• Fuji Astia Quickload does appear to be discontinued and quite possibly Fuji Astia sheet film (although there wasn’t a specific mention of sheet film).

• Fuji Acros Quickload has already been discontinued but a supply is available from Japan (available from Robert White here)

• If Fuji UK were not importing a film stock, a minimum order of 500 boxes would be required in order to get more into the country.

My personal suggestion would be to stop worrying about Velvia & Provia quickload being discontinued – it sounds like sufficient advance notice would be given.

If you are interested in Fuji astia for large format work or Fuji Acros Quickload – buy some now .. I have already bought four boxes of Acros quickload (which should keep me happy for a couple of years) and plan to make an order from BH Photo Video in the states for some Fuji Astia quickload and sheet film

Quickload film from BH Photo Video can be had for £60 a box including postage, import duty and vat as long as 10 or more are ordered. The price to import a single box is £107 and for two boxes £82 each. Sheet film can be imported for under a pound a sheet (min order 200 sheets).

I have also spoken to Fuji’s marketing director and both he and Russ have said that sales of 4×5 film in the currently stocked formats are selling very well (especially over the summer). There is a general feeling that when Fuji discontinued the old velvia 50, people panic bought a large amount of stock. Because of this, I am guessing that Fuji’s projected sales were over inflated and hence on restocking once the new Fuji velvia was introduced, they ordered more than was needed. In fact significantly more than was needed as all of the panic buyers had velvia coming out of their ears (I know one particular photographer who bought enough film to make a big dent in a chest freezer!). I shouldn’t moan too much about this as I managed to buy 300 sheets of velvia at less than 40p a sheet because of it (this was short dated March 2009 sheet film).

So in summary, the world of colour 4×5 photography is still looking strong with the only fall out being the Fuji acros quickload and Fuji astia. The discontinuation of Fuji acros can be understood as most dedicated black and white photographers are happy to use double dark slides. Astia is understandable (if regrettable if full discontinuation is true) as the main market was fashion photography which has seen an almost wholesale conversion over to digital capture.

If anybody has any other information I would really like to hear about it..

UPDATE: I spoke to Russ Gunn again as someone raised the point that this ‘making stock available’ didn’t happen with Acros Quickload. Russ kindly replied..

Acros 5×4 Quickload is a different story all together. It was only ever
brought in at the request of one or two UK dealers. It is only produced in
Japan on a yearly basis, so stocks are always limited. The decision to
discontinue this line was made in Japan, not the UK. Therefore we could no
longer purchase even a small amount. This coupled with the fact sales were
around 10 boxes per month in the UK alone, we decided demand was pretty
much none existent.

With regards to all other Quickload films we will announce discontinuations
in the normal way, through our press channels. Our decisions to discontinue
lines are not taken lightly and are only ever based on sales volume and
losses. We will not suffer losses on products any longer, as it effects the
margin generated on the healthy products as well.

UPDATE: It looks like Fuji are shutting down production of Quickload film, although to their credit, hey have given four months notice of stopping and suggest that film will be available for the next 12 months.