Plus-X discontinued...WTF?

[mopar_guy]

I found that thread to have useful information. I had intended to stock up on 120 Plus-X in March. Money is a little tight for me right now, but I have purchased 40 rolls. I think that March would have been too late.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Are you saying Kodak's behind this ?

Ian

Absolutely not, and we can't really name names, but consider that manufacturers or dealers of competing products may find it in their interest to kill off PX sooner rather than later and to begin marketing their product as a replacement as quickly as possible, and APUG wants no part of that kind of activity.

[hpulley]

Crazy thing is I can still buy Verichrome Pan on eBay. I just got a 1966 expired VP 126 Kodapak, expired in May 1966 so I figure it must be from one of the first runs. Got some 1959 expired 620 too which must be first run as well as Verichrome Pan came out in 1956 (was ortho before that, just Verchrome, not Pan). So there will be PX in 120 around for a while I presume. 125 ISO film lasts well past its expiry date so the current 2012 May expiry should last for a while if you insist on shooting it like silly me with my love of VP. Of course I shoot FP4+ more because at $3.69 roll it is much cheaper than hunting down VP all the time but once in a while it is fun to shoot the old films again.

I'm still not sure I should shoot these old rolls but on the other hand I don't collect cameras that are that old or older, I shoot them, so I should probably shoot the film too...

[tjaded]

I think one problem Kodak does have in spades is a poor communication between departments/distributors/vendors. I tried to figure out more about Plus-X a little while back. One distributor I work with had a "definitely discontinued" on the Plus-X long roll 35mm (100') and a "yeah, that's gone" for the 120 and the 24 exp version of the 35mm. That being said, when I was trying to bring in Plus-X Super 8 I got word from THREE distributors that it was gone. Then out of the blue, some showed up with good dating. What does it all mean? Who the heck knows. If Kodak is anything like all the business I have worked for that were in decline, there is some serious confusion as things change rapidly from day to day. Makes it really hard for people to know when/if to start hoarding or whatever, but that's the brave new world we seem to be in right now. I just keeping hoping that Kodak can continue to make SOME film for a while.

Sort of a side rant here...a guy was in my shop the other day (my film corner inside a record store--story background!) He looked in my 'fridge and complained of the cost of film..."that's why I switched to digital...blah blah." All I could think was, "How much was that cup of Starbucks your sipping on?" If you think about what you are actually getting when you buy a roll of film it is kind of amazing. Of course, that's why I am sitting here freezing my butt off waiting for someone to come in and buy film and Starbucks has a line of people waiting to buy a cup of joe. Whoops!

[nworth]

This is indeed very sad. Kodak's patent position is still very strong, but it is deteriorating with time. Their products are excellent, but that does little good unless they can market them worldwide. The problems in both areas speak to poor management. Unless they can solve these problems and return to world class R&D and world class sales and marketing, they are dead - both for film and digital.

[pinhole_dreamer]

Or, I could suck it up and get around to trying out FP4!

FP4 is one of my favorite films. I've always had better luck with that than I have any of the Kodak films. I think it's that the FP4 seems to have a higher contrast?

[jglass]

tjaded: good on you man for running that film corner. I was at another film corner in your beautiful city: Just Film. Awesome to have you guys around and hang in there!

Re: Plus-x: I bought several pro packs when this news started to surface and that's it. when that's gone, hello fp4. and maybe efke; foma; adox?

[rphenning]

same on the pro packs ^. Is it still in production, though? what's the word?

[2F/2F]

Absolutely not, and we can't really name names, but consider that manufacturers or dealers of competing products may find it in their interest to kill off PX sooner rather than later and to begin marketing their product as a replacement as quickly as possible, and APUG wants no part of that kind of activity.

Yes...but your information begs the question: Was the information about Plus-X being discontinued true and correct?

[David A. Goldfarb]

Some of the information seems to have been verified by reliable sources, but some of it seems to have been exaggerated by a source who seemed to have had an interest in exaggerating it.