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  #1  
Old 29th May 2013, 07:21 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Default Nostalgia and Darkroom Materials Prices - Alas Neither Are What They Used To Be

I have been prompted to make the above statement as a result of finding and reading today the one remaining B&W magazine I have from Dec 2007. Only five and half years ago so quite recent.

Anyway by about page 4 I had come across a full page advert from Silverprint and thought I must have been misreading the prices

A block of 10 x 120 HP5+ films was... £15.56 so £1.56 per film. A box of Ilford 5x7 MG RC was ... £12.68. Interestingly Foma 400 film was £2 more expensive at £17.55

It set me thinking. Assuming annual inflation from then to now to have been say even 4%(generous estimate) I arrived at a nowadays price(mid year 20130 of £19.30 or £1.93 per roll.

What's the cheapest block of 10 nowadays - North of £3.50 at best

What's the cheapest 100 sheet box of 5x7 Ilford MGRC paper, about £20.

That's about a 130% increase in this particular film and about 66% increase in this particular paper. Since those heady days of Xmas 2007 our wages, pensions and salaries have not in the main kept pace with even modest inflation let alone these kind of increases

I have regrets about the passing of the recent "good old days" but most of all I have regrets about mislaying this B&W magazine and not sending it off with all the rest I had, several years ago to another FADUer. Ignorance due to the memory block of nasty reality would have been bliss

It goes without saying that while I quote the Silverprint advert and Ilford materials I should add that the trend it reveals is not peculiar to either but reflects a general and terrible trend.

The past has just come back to haunt me and as a hurt shared is a hurt halved then, sorry folks, I had to share

P.S. The rest of the mag apart from the advert was quite good

Mike
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Old 29th May 2013, 07:32 PM
JamesK JamesK is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike O'Pray View Post
Since those heady days of Xmas 2007 our wages, pensions and salaries have not in the main kept pace with even modest inflation let alone these kind of increases.
Mike
Not to mention tins of food and bars of chocolate getting smaller, or even having to pay £2.70 postage to send a roll of film off.

Sorry, I mean £3 to send a roll of film off; I'm getting nostalgic for a few weeks ago..............
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Old 29th May 2013, 07:43 PM
Adrian Adrian is offline
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I bought a bag of Fruit pastels the other day - half the size of what they used to be - but not much cheaper.

"Film" materials are expensive - film cameras also seem to be going up in value too. But unlike digital photography, it's utterly addictive especially if one has a dark room.
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Old 29th May 2013, 08:13 PM
Paulographic Paulographic is offline
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I remember paying in 1976 about £7.95 or thereabouts for box of 100 10x8 Kodak Bromide WSG single weight. My student grant was about £21 a week.

And Wagon Wheels always look smaller.
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Old 29th May 2013, 08:23 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Yes my impression is the old "old days" weren't that good in terms of analogue prices but when I got really interested from 2003 onwards I was spoilt by a short era when film and other analogue material was probably as cheap as it was ever going to be and the recent period's ( last 6-7 years) sharp rise has hurt badly.

Mike
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Old 29th May 2013, 09:24 PM
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skellum skellum is offline
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Prompted by this thread I just pulled out a copy of AP from 16 May 1979. Brace yourself boys and girls-

MR CAD:
Kodachrome 25, 36 exp £3.28
Kodak HIE 135/20 exp £0.99 (YES!! Try buying outdated Kodak Infra-red on E-Bay tonight)
Ilford PanF bulk- 17 metres, £5.12 30m, £8.64

Want to print those negs??
Ilfospeed Multigrade paper, 10x8 25 sheets £2.90, or go mad with 100 sheets for £9.35

Now, reflect on this one- Minolta XD7 with 45mm f2 lens- £299.99
It's a great camera. I still shoot mine on a regular basis (though one went funny few months back). When I bought mine back in 1981 I had to scrimp and save like a son-of-a-bitch. I walked in the rain to save bus fares, I ate once a day. 300 quid was a lot of money.
In real terms I suspect top-performing cameras are really more affordable than ever, but I still love my Mamiyas and Minoltas.
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Old 29th May 2013, 09:28 PM
big paul big paul is offline
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you think that's bad £2.00 for a bag of chips from the local chippe ,
when I was a kid you could not carry £2.00 worth of chips ,all we could afford when we were kids were broken biscuits, they were the cheapest
thing in the cake shop ,if they had none left they would brake some whole ones for you .This is what happens when the rich get worried they change there money for gold and silver and we pay the price ..
by the way if anybody has invented a time machine I have a large collection of old pre decimal money so if you take me back I will buy you a pint of light and bitter ,and a sniff of the landlady's apron .....



www.essexcockney.com
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Old 29th May 2013, 10:24 PM
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Carl V Carl V is offline
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I do enjoy a trip down memory lane.
Some film prices at Jessops from their 1987 price list:

ILFORD Pan F/FP4/HP5 (120) - £1.14 each; 35mm (36 exp) - £1.89;
17m - £11.29; 30m - £18.84

KODAK Kodachrome 25 (36 exp) - £6.41; Kodachrome 64 Twin Pack (36 exp) - £11.40
KODAK Gold 100 (36 exp) - £2.90; FUJI HR-100 (36 exp) - £2.33
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Old 29th May 2013, 11:15 PM
paulc paulc is offline
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Ilford papers, per dozen sheets: 10x8 2/9
Ilford Special Rapid (red wrapper) film, 2/6 per dozen. Postage , 3d for three doz.

From a vintage copy of the Ilford Manual of Photography, 1895.
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Old 30th May 2013, 08:06 AM
MarcAeonDELETED MarcAeonDELETED is offline
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Default 1990's

I worked at Cequip Photographic in the early 1990s and I recall 8mm video cameras costing about 2 grand new being all the rage. Gents would come in with really nice cine equipment and trade in.

It recall when the Minolta 5000 came out, we all couldn't believe autofocus. I had a Nikon F3HP at the time (I still have it )

Interesting that now, on the second hand market.

The Minolta is worth a fiver. The F3 is worth approx. £120 - £150
The 8mm Video Camera £20 quid
The cine kit (inc everything ) £50.00

We did 99p special's on Kodak Gold 200 and I think FP4 was £1.14. Polaroid was £4.95

I also recall that a brand new OM10 would have its own smell that was unlike any other camera.

Oh and, you could take pictures anywhere without some jobs worth security guard trying to enforce laws that never existed and all photographic models had hair that big you needed a 65mm Grandagon just to fit it all in the frame.
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