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The Soaring Prices of Kodak
A survival guide for the changing times
In early November, Kodak Alaris sent a letter to film supply vendors in the UK announcing an increase of 10–20% on all of their products, effective January 2021. If you’re like me, this news might have hit you in the solar plexus, taking your breath away. It’s understandable, seeing as Kodak raised the price of their inventory by 30% in January of 2020. A pricing hike I’ve only now gotten used to at the end of the year.
After taking a few weeks to wrap my mind around what works out to a 40%-60% increase across the board for Kodak products in about a year, I’m now ready to share some strategies on how I plan to cut corners and save money while continuing to use film in 2021.
Make no mistake about it; I will continue to utilize film in the new year. Like most photographers, I own a digital camera, but the process of making photographs digitally still doesn’t soothe my creative soul the way film does. If this isn’t the case for you, I implore you to walk away from film photography. Nay, run away. The cost of film is rising, pay attention!
Before you ask, yes, I’m aware I could use film from other companies, and I have in the past. I spent the majority of 2020 trying various film stocks from multiple companies. Some were impressive; a lot weren’t. The thing is, Kodak has my favorites…
