Film Prices Up 9% Since February 2025

In 2024, the average film price fell 5-10%. It was the best time to stock up. I hope that you did, as today’s prices are significantly higher.

I’ve been observing and recording film prices for 30+ popular film stocks across ten well-known analogue photography retailers in the US, EU, UK, and Asia since 2018. All this data is fed into the Film Price Trends app — the most comprehensive record of the film market today.

Today, I’ve added a new datapoint.

In this article: Best deals. Worst deals. Your home currency may affect film prices. Film Price Reports. Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!

Film pricing is a complex task: there are over 200 types from dozens of brands worldwide, each with its distinct distribution and marketing channels. Adding taxes, tariffs, shipping rates, and currency exchange rates makes an even bigger mess, leaving most film photographers to blindly shop for products they recognize with little understanding of what actually makes a financially sensible choice.

Of course, shooting film can be an indulgence, and it is our privilege to enjoy this incredible creative process. Our choices don’t have to make financial sense all the time, but knowing which brands and which stores have the best deals, while also recognizing that most photos shot on black-and-white film can’t be distinguished by grain or contrast, can be a powerful tool to afford you more film.

Yes, the prices of film have gone up, and so have the costs of everything else. But the price fluctuations aren’t spread uniformly: some films, like Fujichrome Velvia 50 and Fujichrome Provia 100F, now sell for five dollars more than they did just five months ago, whereas others, like Tri-X, remain at 2024 levels.

In this article, I’ll share the latest insights on the best-priced films, name a few emulsions to avoid, and provide a few insights about the costs of shooting film in 2025 and beyond.

Best deals.

Occasionally, a company will offer steep discounts for their films. CineStill did this last month, but the sale only lasted a few hours, as the entire supply was sold out very quickly.

However, some films simply became cheaper and stayed that way across all stores. Kodak Tri-X is one such film.

Tri-X is an eighty-five-year-old recipe, one of the best-recognized films, used by very famous photographers throughout the centuries. I doubt it was ever considered a cheap good; no one offered deals on it as far as I can remember (even if bought in bulk, it would still cost the same).

But something happened at Kodak in 2023/2024, during the peak of its price, which caused it to drop from the average of $14.56 to $10.82 over the next few months. Even after a slight increase by 50¢ per box this year, this is the fourth-cheapest film on the list, after Kodak ColorPlus, Kosmo Foto Mono, and Fomapan Classic 100.

Kodak Tri-X features strong contrast and a clear base, which means it can be developed as slides, and it’s very easy to scan. If you use a tool like film Q that will automatically invert all your negatives with a single press of a button, and there will be no adjustments to do after that.

The average price of Kodak Portra 160 went up by just 11 cents this year, which is another highly regarded emulsion. Note that Kodak does not ship this film in singles, so the calculations are made based on splitting packs (several stores split the packs for you and charge a fair deal).

Lastly, Lomography’s special films, Lomochrome Purple and Lomochrome Metropolis, went up around twenty cents, which is a lot less than most other films.

Worst deals.

Fujifilm stocks have become significantly more expensive this year.

One of the company’s cheapest films, Fujifilm 400 (most likely made by Kodak), went up by more than a dollar in just six months, while its premium slide films went up by $5/roll since February 2025.

All Ilford films cost more now than they did six months ago. This includes Harman Phoenix. Thankfully, the pricing changes here aren’t as extreme as those of Fujifilm.

Both Kodak and Harman have announced significant investments in their film production lines recently; however, Kodak has also specifically improved the efficiency, which may’ve contributed to better prices on some of their films.

✪ Note: Black-and-white Ilford films and Harman Phoenix 200 are made by the same company.

Your home currency may affect film prices.

Film Price Trends displays its data in six currencies. It couples film prices to historical exchange rates. But as those exchange rates fluctuate, so does the power of any given currency to buy an x amount of film.

For example, the US dollar is weaker today than it was back in February 2025 when the previous price measurements were taken. For a Canadian, this means I could buy a little more film from the US for the same amount of CAD than I did in February — if the film prices remained flat. But the film prices have changed, so my advantageous currency has made the film price increase appear slightly less severe.

This is why the average film price has gone up from $14.83 to $16.17 for US customers — a 9% increase — but for Canadians, it’s just a 3.5% bump.

Film Price Trends collects price samples from five US-based stores, one UK, one German, and one from Hong Kong, chosen for their selection and prominence. There could be many factors affecting your local price that are not reflected in this sample.

Film Price Reports.

Film Price Reports is a twice-yearly email newsletter where I share the latest data on film prices and a few insights based on it (i.e., which films got cheaper, which are more expensive, and a general feel for the market).

GOLD subscribers get additional insights, but the newsletter is free. Subscribe here.