Colour Film Prices Are at Their Lowest Since 2022!
As Long as You Have the Right Kind of Money
7 min read by Dmitri.Published on .
Film is a vital consumable for the analogue photography ecosystem. Whenever it becomes more expensive or less available, the community feels the impact. Lucky for us, the past twelve months brought us favourable pricing after years of steady increases.
Whether shooting film is expensive in 2025 will depend on your geographical location and your budget for photography. In this article, I will break down the latest findings from the annual retailer survey, discuss how costs may differ depending on where you live, and explore some of the best film stocks to buy today.
In this article: Film Price Trends. Colour film prices are at their lowest since 2022. Which films got cheaper? Which films got more expensive? Film prices by region. Film availability. Will shooting film become expensive in 2025? Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!
Film Price Trends.
All insights in this article, including the graph above, are sourced from Film Price Trends — a free web app that synthesizes seven years of retailer film price data.
Film Price Trends graphs prices for 30+ popular film stocks in six currencies collected from retailers on three continents since 2018.
You can use Film Price Trends to budget your spending by observing annual pricing trends for your favourite film or the industry as a whole. The app will also help you find reliable stocks and make smart investments that can save you money in the long run or examine the health of the market that circulates more than 80,000,000 rolls of film (~$1.2B in annual spending).
You may also like to subscribe to the free Film Price Reports newsletter to get articles like this in your inbox as soon as I complete my next retailer film pricing survey.
Colour film prices are at their lowest since 2022.
Film photography has been quickly gaining popularity in the past ten years. It’s nowhere near the levels when the only way to take a picture was to use film, yet whatever film production facilities we still have are in high demand. This, along with other market forces, such as inflation and supply chain challenges, has pushed the average 35mm film price from $10 in 2019 to $15.69 in 2024 — that’s a 57% increase!
But the rise in film’s popularity has also attracted a large number of small businesses that found and resold obscure film stocks, respooled Kodak Motion Picture film (though not without setbacks), and even sensitized their own. Kodak has recently upgraded their facilities, presumably to handle higher volumes and two new Chinese manufacturers (Light Lens Lab and Lucky) have pledged to bring new film to the market. These new suppliers and improvements to how film is made have contributed to lower prices at the counter during the past twelve months.
Since Q1 2024, the average price of a 35mm film roll has gone down from $15.69 to $14.91 — a 5% drop. Prices are looking even better for colour films: they averaged $19.49 in 2024 but now are $17.40 — an 11% decrease!
Of course, the price of your favourite film stock may not follow that trend. After all, the costs fluctuate, and the prices aren’t the same for every brand. Your local shop may sell based on their supply and the various costs of import, taxes, stocking, etc. The country you’re buying your film from may also play a significant role in the price you’re getting — more on that below.
Which films got cheaper?
Kodak Tri-X continues to sell for significantly less than it did in 2024.
It appears that Kodak has done something to their Tri-X production line or the way they price it, as it got nearly five bucks cheaper in the past year — and it won’t be affected by the recent price increases the company announced late last year.
Kodak T-Max P3200 has also got cheaper by about two bucks since its high of $17 in 2024.
All Kodak Portra films got slightly cheaper in the past six months, and so did all the slide films that are currently in production: Velvia, Provia, and Ektachrome. Fujichrome Velvia went down by the most significant amount of ouf this group — it’s now three bucks less compared to its high of $30 in 2024.
✪ Note: The average film price graph has been slightly affected by the new cheap film stocks that I started tracking today: Kodak Gold and Fujifilm 400. However, the change isn’t significant (1-2%) as the effect is counterbalanced by 28 other emulsions.
Which films got more expensive?
Ilford black-and-white films (except Delta 3200) have been on a slight upward trajectory throughout the overall price decreases in the past 12 months. These emulsions are still relatively affordable and available, but they are no cheaper than they were last year, perhaps a little more expensive.
Kodak’s ColorPlus, a consumer-level emulsion similar to Kodak Gold, has been getting a little pricier — but that follows a massive dip in 2023; it remains one of the cheapest colour films on the market. I just started tracking the new Fujifilm 400 emulsion which appears to be even cheaper — but I’d wait until mid-2025 to decide what’s the cheapest film to shoot. Besides, Lucky Film promises to price their colour emulsions lower than anyone.
The new colour film Harman Phoenix got a little more expensive, and so did Lomography’s unique colour emulsions. Other than that, it appears that shooting film should feel more affordable this year than the last — but that, of course, also depends on where you’re shopping.
Film prices by region.
Delivering film across the ocean isn’t cheap. This means freight costs, taxes, and other fees that the stores have to pay to get the product onto their shelves. You may expect Kodak films to sell for less in the US, as that’s where they’re made, and Ilford films to be cheaper in the UK. However, there are also other factors in force, such as currency exchange rates.