Even at $6/sheet it is probably more than I'll ever want to spend, but then, no one said LF was cheap.
When it was first announced at that target price on the LFP.info board, I did some math to see if $6 was fair.
The latest news (
http://new55project.blogspot.com) is that they may be able to use Tri-X 320 as their film. From Freestyle, that's $94 for a box of 50, or $1.88/sheet.
To get 4x5 B&W processed near me, it's Gamma San Francisco,
http://www.gammasf.com
$5.50/sheet to process in "standard developers" and $6.50 for an 8.5x11 RC contact sheet, which will fit 4 negatives. I know there are cheaper places out there, but that's what's available near me if I wanted to avoid developing my own film.
Not counting the cost to ship/drive your film to be processed, assuming you contact sheet 4 up on that 8.5x11, that's $9/sheet to get a negative and contact print, and you have to hope that all 4 sheets on that contact print are more or less the same exposure. New55 still requires clearing of the negatives, so I'll need some chemicals and to wash/dry my negatives, but that's still a lot less work than developing and fixing. With New55, your negative and contact sheet are equally exposed, correct or otherwise, which is a huge improvement over T55, where you generally exposed for a good negative and had a washed out print.
Currently, I develop 4x5 Delta 100 at home in Rodinal, which is a lot less than $9/sheet, but I really liked the convenience of Type 55, enough to pay a bit more. If the cost comes down to $10/sheet, I'll likely still buy it. If it ever gets close to the target of $6/sheet, and it's a good product that gets me evenly developed negatives, I'll probably use it exclusively for 4x5 work, which is why I contributed to the kickstarter campaign.
