Fuji film

Fuji Polaroid Peel Film Stops Production

Tim Aldiss writes for Spectrum Photographic – professional photographic & giclée printing.

The Instax instant film manufactured by Fuji has been growing in popularity over the last few years. This culminated recently in it being number one in the ‘Camera’ category at Amazon in December, which means it must have been a favourite Christmas gift. The success of this brand, however, has not been mirrored by the FP-100C. This is the last product line made by Fuji of its peel apart instant line of film. The firm announced recently that finally it will not be producing the FP-100C range. This marks the end of Fuji’s flirtation in the peel-apart marketplace and will have knock-on effects in the industry for lovers of this product.

The Product

This is an instant colour peel –apart film that has an ISO rating of 100. The ISO level stands for ‘International Organization for Standardization,’ and this gives a clear indication of the amount of light that is needed to provide a film with adequate exposure. A typical exposure time will have a rating of ISO 100. This film has been optimised to allow for shooting in direct sunlight or with a flash. Because it has the ability to create photos of excellent quality, it is widely sought after by commercial photographers. It is a terrific product when a photographer has a requirement to take long exposures, CTR image recording, a microphotograph or portrait images. The regular size film can be utilised in photographic devices that use instant film with a photo size of 85×108 millimetre.

The Decline

The company issued a statement saying: “Sales volume has declined significantly from year to year.” Fuji plans to send the final shipment over in the spring of this year, and while the FP-100C will cease to exist; the firm is still committed to the development of other sectors of the film business, and as always will regularly be reviewing the market. The company added that even though it did not come to this decision lightly, it was necessary to allow Fuji to keep its sustainability in the ever developing market in the film industry of today. Because of this, the FP-100 will only be available for a limited time until stocks have been depleted.

The Future

As with any product that is taken off the market, there will be a number of people that will be hit, and the impact will certainly be felt. So what is the situation from here? There may be a prospect in the future that another firm will take up the challenge and revive the peel-apart film. The retro nostalgia market is strong and has gone a long way in helping Polaroid make a welcome comeback. Until then, the best advice is to stockpile as much as you can before prices go through the roof. Unfortunately out there in the real world, the law of supply and demand is still going strong. As stocks go down, and demand remains the same, the price inevitably will start to spiral.

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