For those that are interested and who have been following the ongoing saga of Large Format Velvia 50 and Velvia in general, I did find a bit of information on the UK-LF site recently on the subject.
Tim Parkin one of the contributors to the UK -LF site and also one of the main publishers of the On Landscape: The online magazine for landscape photographers, website has posted a link with updates from Fuji as recently as last week.
Basically stated, my take from the information is that after the petition on LF Velvia 50 being sent to the president of FujiFilm Japan things have possibly changed. I was in communication with Stef Dunn down in Australia several times on the subject and most recently up to about a month back now. Stef was the key person behind the petition as well as follow up letters to Fuji's president on the subject.
In reading this most recent update it looks like the only V-50 in LF to be dropped is the 5x7 size. The 4x5 & 8x10 sheets will remain in production apparently. Although, I've yet to see any of it on the popular sites such as B&H and Badger, etc. Time will tell I guess.
In looking at the translated page from Fuji's site; Announcement, it appears that Provia 100, Velvia 100 and Velvia 50 will be available in 4x5 and 8x10 cut sheets.
Also, according to the Fuji release, the prices will rise approximately 25%, depending on the product, and shipping is expected beginning in April of this year. Whether or not these products will arrive in the US anytime soon is an open question that depends upon whether or not the products will be imported. In reading Tim's article, he indicated he wasn't sure.
Now, if they'd only bring back my beloved Astia along with the other films, I'd be really happy!
We can only hope for the best at this point in time. I doubt they will go so far as to add the Astia back, although, like yourself there were many folks worldwide that loved the product and found it met many photographic needs very well.
With the news of any price increase at all is a pain in my book. They were already getting about the same price for the cut sheets that we'd all been paying for the QL's when they were discontinued. I think we all would agree there was a lot more manufacturing and materials associated with the QL's for the pricing, but the cut sheets are just sheets as it were.
With the 5x7 size being dropped entirely maybe the folks with 5x7 cameras could always cut the 8x10's down by an inch and then cut it in half for two sheets, but what a pain that could be. Or, maybe the idea would be to build a special cutter that would cut 8x10's down to 5x7 and 4x5 sizes. Heck, those might sell like hot cakes, or should I say Quickload Holders........
Posted by Eva McDermott on March 26, 2013 at 7:38 PM
Good news because i am very new to LF world and Velvia 50 is my best slide color film i did use so far in MF film, so i don't want to leave/quit LF before i start it yet because of discontinuity of Velvia 50 in that format, i only have 4x5 so far and not yet with 8x10.
Discussion
4 repliesTim Parkin one of the contributors to the UK -LF site and also one of the main publishers of the On Landscape: The online magazine for landscape photographers, website has posted a link with updates from Fuji as recently as last week.
Basically stated, my take from the information is that after the petition on LF Velvia 50 being sent to the president of FujiFilm Japan things have possibly changed. I was in communication with Stef Dunn down in Australia several times on the subject and most recently up to about a month back now. Stef was the key person behind the petition as well as follow up letters to Fuji's president on the subject.
In reading this most recent update it looks like the only V-50 in LF to be dropped is the 5x7 size. The 4x5 & 8x10 sheets will remain in production apparently. Although, I've yet to see any of it on the popular sites such as B&H and Badger, etc. Time will tell I guess.
Here is the link to Tim's information on the subject.
Fuji LF V-50 Update
In looking at the translated page from Fuji's site; Announcement, it appears that Provia 100, Velvia 100 and Velvia 50 will be available in 4x5 and 8x10 cut sheets.
Also, according to the Fuji release, the prices will rise approximately 25%, depending on the product, and shipping is expected beginning in April of this year. Whether or not these products will arrive in the US anytime soon is an open question that depends upon whether or not the products will be imported. In reading Tim's article, he indicated he wasn't sure.
Now, if they'd only bring back my beloved Astia along with the other films, I'd be really happy!
--P
We can only hope for the best at this point in time. I doubt they will go so far as to add the Astia back, although, like yourself there were many folks worldwide that loved the product and found it met many photographic needs very well.
With the news of any price increase at all is a pain in my book. They were already getting about the same price for the cut sheets that we'd all been paying for the QL's when they were discontinued. I think we all would agree there was a lot more manufacturing and materials associated with the QL's for the pricing, but the cut sheets are just sheets as it were.
With the 5x7 size being dropped entirely maybe the folks with 5x7 cameras could always cut the 8x10's down by an inch and then cut it in half for two sheets, but what a pain that could be. Or, maybe the idea would be to build a special cutter that would cut 8x10's down to 5x7 and 4x5 sizes. Heck, those might sell like hot cakes, or should I say Quickload Holders........