Buying Film Online? Careful!

[cgw]

Caveat emptor, y'all. Limited local access and low prices online might be delivering heat damaged film from online retailers:

Amazon May Be Storing Camera Film Improperly: Report

Film ordered from Amazon is displaying all the signs of significant heat damage.

petapixel.com

 

[terri]

To expand on this: buying film online is perfectly safe as long as you're dealing with reputable sellers: B&H Photo and Freestyle, to name two. Or a local store if there's one in your area.

This article from Petapixal doesn't surprise me - there are some things better purchased elsewhere than random Amazon sellers. What a shame.

 

[kapaah]

The problem with this type of product is that we can only see if its good after using and then, there's nothing we can do to be refunded
Besides that, cannot trust it for work..

 

[wobe]

Thanks for the heads up - I buy all my Portra from Amazon, quite regularly, never had an issue but of course that does not mean there isn't one.

I order Kodak from Amazon Uk so maybe because their storage depot is not in a dessert/humid state it's less of an issue, will keep an eye out for sure though.
My other film used is Fuji which I get direct from their shops in the Philippines, no problem there either despite the hot humid atmosphere so I guess they store properly.

 

[AlanKlein]

I bought film on Amazon once and the expiry date was only three or four months hence. I called the seller, and they told me all their film is like that. So I returned it and bought from B&H Photo which had about 1 1/2 years expiration date. Resellers may be buying old stock for less and reselling it for less than regular photo stores. Maybe they're also buying old stock of film that wasn't handled properly. Of course, it could also be their or Amazon not storing these things properly. I now stick with regular photo suppliers who have a reputation to protect.

I had a similar expiry date situation with AA batteries and stopped buying those from Amazon as well.

 

[webestang64]

Thank God I work in a camera store and get fresh new film at cost.

Of course I shoot new film close to the month it "expires" to take advantage of the curve.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I don't know if I ever bought film on Amazon, but I usually buy it from Adorama, Samy's, Freestyle, etc.

I think shipping in hot weather in general could be some of the problem. But ever since Amazon started their own shipping instead of using UPS I've had problems. They have a hub near the international airport in my area, which you'd think would be an advantage, but nooooo...

Their drivers either have inadequate training or aren't seeing instructions/directions; their overseas call center can't seem to understand or solve problems. I'm shopping more often elsewhere.

 

[cgw]

I prefer to "age" film in my dedicated beer 'fridge where I check its condition daily. Sometimes hourly...But only on weekends.

 

[AlanKlein]

My wife ordered some cosmetics, and the shipper threw the box in front of the garage roll up door and I ran over it on the way out crushing it. Ker-thump! I couldn't figure out who the shipper was, not UPS or FedEx. Strange. My wife said the stuff inside survived. But she called the cosmetics company and they gave her 20% discount.