Re: [Leica] Buying film locally

["Anthony Atkielski" <anthony@atkielski.com>]

From: Doug Richardson <doug@meditor.demon.co.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 1999 23:32
Subject: [Leica] Buying film locally


> Outside of capital cities, the range of film sold by
> camera stores can shrink dramatically to a handful of
> popular brands - virtually all colour negative..

Sure, but that's true anywhere, not just in Europe.  So why would people feel so
obligated to stock up specifically for trips to Europe?

It's interesting that I don't recall ever hearing Europeans talk about stocking
up on film before going to the U.S.

> In Brugge last month I could find only one shop (after
> a long search) which sold Kodachrome. In Crete two years
> ago, I found that no-one in the second-largest city sold
> Kodachrome.

Now you know why I like the big city.  At least one lab here not only sells
Kodachrome but offers 24-hour service for development (even though the film has
to go overnight to Lausanne, where apparently the only lab in all of Europe for
Kodachrome exists).

> Let's spare the blushes of the film company concerned,
> which has long since vanished into the pages of history.
> When I bought my first Leica, you could get colour film
> from Kodak, Ilford, Agfa, Gaevret, Perutz, Ferrania,
> Ansco... and probably others I can't remember.

I've heard advice from some that it's best not to trust anything that doesn't
come from Kodak or Fuji (or Kodak and Ilford, for black and white).  The logic
being that R&D is so expensive for film that only these three companies can
really afford to do it right and keep up with technology.

I've also heard really bad things about a film company in Seattle that sells
surplus movie film as ordinary photo film, but I have no direct experience with
them so I don't really know.

  -- Anthony