BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: Camera Film

Wedding & Portrait films

These are offered in Portra NC & the price difference is substantial. This film would be used for weddings & portraits.
IMPORTED Film made outside the USA and imported for us. This may also be referred to as "GREY".
USAW Film manufactured in the USA for Worldwide distribution.
USA Film manufactured in the USA for domestic distribution.

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July 01, 2003

If you talk to Kodak about the Imported and USAW film, they will ply you with the "FUD Factor" . . . a strategy created by IBM, and still used by IBM to dissuade customers from buying someone else's computers. What does "FUD" mean? Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.

Kodak will attempt to strike fear into your heart by telling you there is complete uncertainty surrounding how the film was handled as it was done *outside* their official distribution channels, leaving you with doubt about whether or not it's still good stuff.

I buy the "grey" stuff from B&H, and if that's not available, the "USAW" stuff. I've NEVER had any problem with it. Just looked at two of the Portra 160NC boxes in my refrigerator. Both were "grey" orders. The box of 220 states it was made in the U.S. and packaged in England. The 35mm 5-roll "stick" states it was both made and packaged in England.

The USAW and USA is pretty much as B&H states. AFIK the difference is the USAW is made in the U.S., packaged for export, and was wholesaled to B&H outside Kodak's domestic distribution channels, but unlike the Imported made in the U.S., sent out and brought back, it never left the U.S.

I originally gave all this some thought about a number of years ago. If I order film from B&H and it gets shipped to me in Indiana via UPS, it gets subjected to unrefrigerated conditions for several days. Depending on weather and season, what it is subjected to varies. However, it's not that long, I refrigerate it as soon as it arrives, and again, I've never experienced any problem with "bad" film. Someone who is concerned with extremely critical color accuracy and/or consistency across many rolls might think differently. However, in my experience with wedding work, which has moderately high color accuracy/consisetncy requirements (but not extreme) the lab used to print the negatives has overwhelming influence over outcome compared to things such as film lot numbers. It's for that reason I'm not concerned with it. If there is a problem sometime in the future that is attributable to the film, I will become concerned with it. In the meantime, I'm going to continue to save $$$ with the Imported and USAW pricing.

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July 02, 2003

Angie

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July 22, 2003