Well, it’s been a long time coming but it looks like those January 2022 Kodak price hikes for film are definitely on their way.
And it has more than a few film photographers out there bummed, maybe even a little bit po’d.
How much of a price increase are we talking about here?
Kosmofoto reports that it is going to be 20% on average across the board with some products seeing a larger increase than others but all of them experiencing what can only be called a significant rise in cost.
Will it be enough to drive film further into niche territory? Who knows, but the complaints are loud and myriad.
That said, Kosmofoto goes on to report that, like many others in the industry, Kodak is experiencing product shortages and logistical difficulties. Plus, as one of the few major film manufacturers left, they can kind of get away with a little bit in the pricing arena.
Because of this position, some on Reddit speculate that Kodak might be trying to make as much money as possible off of the “analog” trend.
Whatever the case, we’ve reported on multiple instances of product shortage and delays for new and existing stuff from everyone including Sony to Canon and others. Partially due to the supply disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, partly due to other reasons such as a major components factory fire, 2020-2021 is destined to go down in the books as the years the photography industry had to make do as far as product is concerned. How this price increase from Kodak will impact film devotees remains to be seen but let’s just say photography already requires pretty deep pockets yet that doesn’t mean it’s full of spendthrifts.
As always, we’d love to know your opinions on Kodak’s price increase on film in the comments below.
Don’t forget to check out our other photography news on Light Stalking at this link right here.
