Film and Darkroom Supplies

If you're lucky, you have a good, local photo supplier who has almost everything you want and will special order the rest at reasonable prices.

For the rest of us, finding an obscure film or a reasonable price on chemistry can be a real hassle.

This is far from a comprehensive mail order guide. It's a list of companies that I have personally bought from repeatedly with good results. If you're a retailer and don't find yourself on this list, please don't take offense, I'm sure there are many good vendors in the world whose names I have never heard. Feel free to send me your catalog, but don't ask me to list you if I haven't actually bought things from you.

Disclaimer: just because I've had good dealings with these shops doesn't mean yours won't be the worst screwed up deal in the history of the company.

• Glazer's Camera Supply in Seattle is primarily a walk-in store, but they will do phone sales, too. They have an excellent selection of film and chemistry, and will happily special order things they don't keep in stock. They usually still have Konica 750 in stock as late as January, long after the one batch of the year has sold out other places.

• Freestyle Photographic Supplies in Los Angeles is an old name in mail order film and chemistry. They have good deals on bulk and outdated film, and a good selection of in-date film at reasonable prices. Their Arista&TM house brand includes low-priced, high-quality films and papers from big-name manufacturers, and they also stock the big brands.

  Recently their selection of photographic supplies has declined a bit as they increase their digital and inkjet stock.

• B & H Photo in New York is better known for selling cameras and lenses, but they do have an extensive slection of film and darkroom equipment, and will special order films that they don't usually stock.

This page written by Josh Putnam. Please feel free to email questions, comments, corrections, suggestions, etc.

© Joshua Putnam