Fujifilm has warned that its 120-format slide films will be in short supply in the near future due to “insufficient procurement of raw materials”.
The announcement affects all three of the films remaining its it 120 slide stable:
- Provia 100F
- Velvia 50
- Velvia 100
In a message on the Fujifilm Japan website (machine-translated from Japanese), the company said: “Regarding ‘Reversal film 120 size’, it is difficult to supply sufficient products due to insufficient procurement of raw materials, and the supply and demand is expected to be tight for the time being. We deeply apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers.
“We will continue to take measures to ensure a stable supply of products as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding and forgiveness.”
The announcement comes amid uncertainty over the company’s long-term commitment to film, and a recent price increase which will raise the prices of some of its remaining films by as much as 60%.
It also follows a rebrand of the film producers’ Fujicolor C200 colour negative film in the US, which has sparked speculation the film is rebranded Kodak Gold 200, given the similarity of the film’s datasheet compared to Kodak’s.
Last year, Fujifilm also admitted that it had shuttered its film production during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, though it said it remained “committed to selling film”.
The Japanese film producer, once Kodak’s biggest revival, has discontinued many of its film stocks since the mid-2000s, including virtually all of its black-and-white films.
However, its’ Acros 100 film, originally discontinued in 2018, was brought back from the dead a year later. The new version of the film was produced in partnership with Harman in the UK, the makers of Ilford and Kentmere films.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
