It’s getting easier to find film in-stock from big retailers again
Film stock is rebounding and is much more widely available these days.
For the past few years, rolls of film have been extremely difficult or even flat-out impossible to find. When film was available, it was typically exorbitantly expensive. And frequently, if stores had some in stock, they would limit how many rolls you could buy at once to just one or two. Color film faired worse than black and white, but film, in general, has been hard to get your hands on, and prices have been rising steeply.
Much of the problem resulted from the same things that plagued just about everything we buy: Supply chain issues due to the pandemic. Production problems impacted all film companies, but certain film stocks have been worse off than others. Just over a year ago, Fujifilm announced price hikes and a shortage of 120 slide film. And most Kodak film has also been tricky to get.
Luckily, the industry seems to be rebounding and catching up with the increased demand as analog popularity continues to grow. We’ve seen the glorious “In Stock” message across different film types on various websites, which is a great sign. And while prices are still higher than they used to be, many film stocks aren’t quite as absurdly priced as they were.
Below are some websites with film in stock and ready for purchase. It’s also worth saying that although buying some rolls from Amazon may be tempting, it’s not something we recommend. There is a good chance the film is expired, and at times you won’t even get the film stock that you think you are buying. Instead, purchasing through a photography-specific website gives you a better chance of finding film that has been properly stored, isn’t expired, and is what you expect.
Moment
Moment sells a wide range of photography gear, but it especially offers a lot of analog-specific items and provides educational content for film as well. Right now, it has 35mm Kodak Portra 400 in a five-pack on sale for $75.99. That comes out to just shy of $15 per roll, which is pricey but not as bad as we were seeing it in the midst of the shortage.
Moment also has Fujifilm VELVIA 50 Color Reversal 120 Film in stock, which has been just about unheard of for quite some time. While Fujifilm hasn’t outright said it, we anticipate the company will stop production of film entirely at some point, so it’s definitely a good idea to snatch some of this up while it’s available if you dig the look of Velvia.
Unique Photo
Unique Photo has been around since the 1940s and is one of our favorite places to buy film. It has everything from classic stocks from Kodak and Fujifilm to more unique films from LomoChrome and Revolog. Most of the popular options are in stock right now. And not only are they just in stock, but you can truly stock up if you want to, and save money while you’re at it. For example, you can buy 1,000 plus rolls of 35mm Kodak Portra 400, which will offer savings of $1.80 per roll. Of course, it also means you have to drop almost $13,000, but just look at what you would save!
If buying 1,000 rolls is just a bit too absurd for you, you can get 200 rolls of 35mm Kodak Ultra Max 400 for $10 per roll, saving you $3.50 over buying just a single roll. Or, for less of an investment, 20 rolls will give you an $11.50 per roll price.
Midwest Photo
Another favorite for ordering analog supplies is Midwest Photo. It offers mostly classic film stocks but does sell a handful of unique, creative options as well. You can currently buy a five-pack of 35mm Kodak Portra 400 for $67.95. Midwest Photo is still limiting the number of packs you can buy at once to 20 every 30 days, so it must not have as full of a warehouse as the two listed above. But 20 five packs is likely more than most people will buy at once anyway.
Freestyle Photo
Another company that has been around for a long time (75 years, to be exact) is Freestyle Photo. This company has a really expansive list of film stocks and film formats available, including sheet film all the way up to 11 by 14 inches. Almost everything is in stock on its website, including 120 Kodak Ektar 100 for $14.69 per roll or a five-pack for $69.99, which will save you a little bit per roll.
