7 x 5 colour negative film only $11,217.00!

[Tony Lovell]

I thought I'd best get film ordered for my Iceland trip...4 weeks to go.

I ordered the B&W from Silverprint then rang B&H in New York for 7 x 5 colour neg, (where I'd bought it before) the chap said yes no problem sir...the mimimum order is now 60 boxes, that will be $11,217.00, do you wish to proceed!!.....so thats the end of my 7 x 5 colour photography as no one else makes it....unless anyone can tell me otherwise?

Tony Lovell

[vanman]

Megaperls, Japan stock 5x7 Provia. I've never bought stuff from them myself. Japanese companies heve a reputation for being expensive once they bother to produce a website in English. Good luck!
vanman.

[George Hart]

5x7 colour neg film does not seem to be available from any retail outlet at the moment. See this thread http://www.largeformatphotography.info/ ... hlight=5x7.

[vanman]

George that was in May, the film is on Megaperls website today.
vanman.

[George Hart]

George that was in May, the film is on Megaperls website today.
vanman.

But Provia is tranny film, not colour negative film, which is what Tony is after.

[Tom Perkins]

Tony wants colour neg though...

edit: whoops beat me to it .

[vanman]

If he's desparate for colour it's gotta be an option.
vanman.

[Emmanuel Bigler]

so thats the end of my 7 x 5 colour photography

Certainly not if you accept to use slides/transparencies which like Provia are available in 7x5" (or 13x18, for the European market I'm not sure which actual size, 13x18cm or 7x5" is supplied by Fuji-Japan to the rare european dealers who stock provia in 13x18)

The fact that you can actually order 7x5" color negs with a minimum order of less than 9999 euros is in a sense good news, it means that a group of enthusiasts can, in priniciple, launch a subscription and share the 60 boxes among the happy-few.

Of course colour negs are supposed to be able to handle large contrast more easily than colour slides.
On this issue of handling contrast certainly the best is to experiment the tri-color process as several people are doing now for example in France
The principle applies to photography of static subjects, you take in a sequence 3 images through 3 R-V-B filters on 3 different B&W negatives and combine the 3 images after scanning them into a single image. Cumbersome ? yes in LF, not so cumbersome in medium format (off topic !)
The ability of some classical B&W films (e.g. Tri-X) to handle a very broad range of subject brightness is unique and offers, combined wit the tri-color process, more possiibilities than colour slides. But the subjects have to be static
Too bad, I know of many people who swear only by the Decisive Moment in 7x5" !

See Henri Gaud's blog "Trichromie"
http://trichromie.free.fr/trichromie/
The text is in French but the images speak for themselves


Examples of images obtained in LF from this process will be on display at the next LF conference in Montreux, Switzerland in September.
http://rencontresphotographiquesmontreux.blogspot.com

[Tony Lovell]

Thanks for all the input guys
I picked up the following from the Large format link....

"What B&H is probably doing is taking advantage of Kodak's "minimum order" policy where Kodak will cut any filmmanufactured to any size requested with a minimum order (to them) of $10,000 from an established dealer. They are then taking a nice markup."

All we need is 10 people shooting 7x5 colour neg who are prepared to spend £500.00 each for 6 boxes of film, that's 6 x 50 sheets in a box. I'm one but i doubt I can put together another 9?...I guess one of our UK dealers would be happy to order it but would want the money up front and I guess like B&H they would want to make a proffit out of it....

I'm thinking about cutting down and loading some 10 x 8!

Regards
Tony

[Emmanuel Bigler]

I'm thinking about cutting down and loading some 10 x 8!

To the best of my knowledge, this is what Tuan Luong, an indefective supporter of the 7x5" format at the US LF group does routinely.

Everything is detailed here. Good luck !
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/5x7.html

The only caveat I would see is that it is not very practical to obtain a true 13x18cm film by splitting a 10x8" ;) but as far as true 7x5" is concerned, the procedure should work smoothly ;)