Cheapest place to order film..In Canada.

[Mike Kennedy]

Would it be Henry's or Visteck? Others?

[Bobby Ironsights]

I'm not sure how much film you are ordering, and exactly what formats you shoot.....but the cheapest place for me to order film in Canada, is California, USA.

Freestyle photographic.

I ordered 180 bucks in film and paper, that was 600 sheets of graded 5x7, two 100 foot rolls of 35mm, and a dozen rolls of 120 and some trays and bags and a few other things...

34 dollars shipping.

It's not always wise to order thoughtlessly though.

I ordered a bunch of stuff that came to about 130 bucks a while back, and paid something like 80 bucks in shipping.

When it arrived I figured out why. I had orderd 25 sheets of 16x20 kentmere paper. It came alone in a box that was about 30 by 30 inches, and 8 or more inches deep. One box of 16x20 paper, probably doubled the shipping.

If I had it do over again, and I do, every time I order I now make certain to order things that are similar in size and in sufficient quantity to mnimize the cost of shipping per sheet of paper.

Also; with some films I check the cost of items from adorama, or B&H first. Strangely, sometimes things are cheaper from adorama if you buy through Amazon.com.

The only things I've found that are more economical to order in Canada are chemicals from my local, or bulk chemicals from JDphotochem out of quebec, and patterson developing tanks from Henrys in Winnepeg.

If you find any more good deals....let me know. In the meantime I'll support freestyle mostly, and local companies when they go back to supporting me, instead of gouging me and refusing to supply me with the stuff I need.

[ricksplace]

I have had very good results from Don's Photo in Winnipeg. They have a 1-800 number, and try their website www.donsphoto.com .
Having said that, I usually buy from Freestyle and have the stuff shipped to US address, then drive there to pick it up. I guess it's one of the benefits of living 50km from the Can-USA border.
If you buy from the US, be careful how they ship. Some of the shipping companies charge ridiculous brokerage fees. There are a few threads on this site about this.

Last time I bought some film from Don's, Ilford fp4 in unboxed 120 was priced competitively with USA prices.

Rick.

[Eric Rose]

Try www.thecamerastore.com in Calgary.

[Mike Kennedy]

Great links guys.
Thanks

[CRhymer]

Would it be Henry's or Visteck? Others?

Hello Mike,

It depends on the film and the day. Henry's sometimes has free shipping or no GST. Vistek once had Tri-X 120 on special which was a good deal by the brick - usually it is not the cheapest place. Don's often has the best deal on-line. I have also had good luck with The Camera Store - flat rate $10.00 shipping. I made one order with Photoco (Pointe Claire). Never received the goods, they never charged to my card, and never got a response to my emails - so I gave up. Others have had good luck. So, in short, I don't believe there is an answer to your question. You have to check each time - if you want to get the best final price to your door.

Now for what you didn't ask - I think Freestyle is great and shipping by USPS is not that expensive. About 25% of the time Canada Border Services Agency (customs) does not bother with the 5% GST (for you the higher HST -IIRC) and $5.00 handling fee - $8.00 for Global Priority. Freestyle has a minimum of $25.00 which is rather small considering the other costs of shipping a small order. B&H has competitive prices and shipping, even by UPS (don't use ground). There are no brokerage fees on expedited, but they will charge duty - sometimes real sometimes imaginary. I recently received some Ilfochrome paper from B&H and UPS charged duty (it is made in the EU). However, the total bill was no more than the cost by post office if the customs handling fee is included. I have never been charged duty on items coming by mail from the US. Even endmills, collets, X-Y tables etc. which were made in China and clearly indicated as such on the export documents. Freestyle includes detailed country of origin documents as well.

Cheers,
Clarence

[mabman]

Depends what exactly you're looking for - Don's is local to me, and I've found they have average prices (but poor service, locally at least - but that's another topic). There's another local store, Photo Central, who has similar pricing - but usually better selection in B&W, and great service - can't order via their website, though.

My preference is to shop locally, but based solely on price, I'd also have to say Freestyle is likely the cheapest, especially with the CDN$ hovering around par. As an added advantage, they regularly have "unique" films/papers like FOMA (and its rebranded "Arista.EDU Ultra" - quite possibly the most inexpensive B&W film on the market right now), ADOX/Efke, Berrger, Slavich, etc.

Henry's and Vistek aren't usually the cheapest, but may be worth monitoring for short- or out-dated film deals.

[CRhymer]

Hello mabman,

As an ex-Winnipegger, I have to agree with your comments about Don's and Photo Central. In fact, I pretty much ignored Don's on-line because of my experience in-store. They have been good on-line though. Photo Central is great, and one can always buy their partner a diamond downstairs as a distraction, while purchasing photo supplies - but that is another thread.

Cheers,
Clarence

[Jordan]

Film prices in Canada are high relative to the USA, unfortunately. The cheapest prices I have seen are through Photoco, already mentioned above -- I have bought some film from them, but you have to make an effort (they don't seem to respond to e-mails or web orders -- but they do answer the phone). Ordering from Freestyle may make sense. There should be no duties on film (possibly on paper) coming from the USA, but you will pay PST and GST. They ship via the post office, so the brokerage charge, if any, will be small (a few $). (Where you have to watch out for the $40+ brokerage charges is with UPS and FedEx ground services.)

[mabman]

Incidentally, I've had excellent service from Freestyle generally - their customer service manager, Marv, has personally answered a couple of product questions as well as what I thought was an issue with an order (which as it turns out I just misread the product description - but I got a free small part in the mail a few days later anyway).