Over the weekend, posts on Eastern social media (SNS, as they discuss with it) indicated that Fujifilm can be finishing strengthen for black and white movie construction products and services, which many took to imply as shedding strengthen for paper and chemical compounds.

One submit on Threads, which was once broadly observed and shared, got here from Photograph Hut Yama-Chan, a strong point photograph print retailer in Kawasaki Town, Kanagawa.

Translated, the submit says the next:

Now we have won understand that Fujifilm Imaging Programs will discontinue black-and-white movie creating and printing products and services. Discontinued merchandise/products and services: All “black-and-white movie creating and black-and-white printing” merchandise. Finish of gross sales date: Gross sales will finish with shipments won by means of us on July 21, 2026.

That is slightly an issue

We can urgently paintings on countermeasueres to steer clear of inflicting inconvenience to our consumers.

Even for local audio system, this submit sounds ominous and lots of took it to imply that Fujifilm would now not be making chemical compounds or paper to be had for black and white movie photographers. In the beginning look, because of the picture Yama-Chan selected to make use of, it even looks as if black and white movie itself can be affected (there aren’t any excellent tactics to visualise this announcement via a picture, so the selection is comprehensible). Because of deficient translation on social media, it will be simple for English-speaking photographers to enroll in the panic.

Fortunately, that isn’t the case.

For the ones unfamiliar, Fujifilm lately (no less than till the tip of July), gives retail outlets the facility to ship print orders to it immediately, the place it will then care for the processing. This permits smaller retail outlets that don’t have tough in-house darkroom printing functions — which sounds just like the case for Photograph Hut Yama-chan — to provide the ones products and services to their consumers.

It’s that carrier this is finishing, no longer the overall availability of the papers and chemical compounds.

Whilst that is very most probably an enormous reduction to movie photographers, the truth stays that the preliminary fears have been reinforced by means of the truth that the corporate hasn’t essentially been essentially the most supportive of its movie department lately. Whilst it stays simply out there in Japan, global distribution of slide movie has mainly slowed to a drip. It has additionally discontinued more than one liked motion pictures over time, together with 400H and Superia in conjunction with the discontinuation of Fujicolor Professional and Velvia 50 sheet movie in 2021. Provia sheet movie is so uncommon it should as neatly be discontinued. Fujifilm killed off the unique Acros method and paper merchandise again in 2018; what stays is Acros II, which is manufactured by means of Harman.

Movie photographers who’re enthusiasts of Fujifilm reside in consistent concern of dropping their favourite shares. Previous this 12 months, Superia Top class was once indexed as discontinued at main digital camera retail outlets throughout Japan, main many to consider it was once the corporate’s newest discontinuation. Fortunately, it’s nonetheless to be had. Given some of these ups and downs, it’s no longer tricky to look how the black and white printing incorrect information so briefly unfold so briefly.

Symbol credit: Fujifilm