Hi,
The trouble with all these financial comparisons is that it all depends on where you start from and what you want to end up with.
When I was in my collecting or accumulating mode I used a lot of film for testing and searched for cheap but reasonable film, ie the supermarket stuff. I'd get it just out of date and so on. Then I'd ask for the film to be developed and scanned only. So I could pay a pound for the film or less and two for the develop and scan. Not only that but I bought one or two fairly serious cameras for less than the cassette of film.
Cheaper still, I have seen and bought one or two elderly digital cameras. My best being a dSLR that was in a case I was after and so I got the dSLR and two cards for free, and it took AA's. Sold one of the cards on ebay and had a free camera etc and some coffee money...
OTOH, some of my serious digital or film work cost me more than a cup of coffee per print. And depreciation on the digital camera is best not thought about.
So, really the cost of photography as a hobby can be next to nothing to a fortune, film or digital. It all depends on what we are aiming for and how we go about it.
Regards, David