Shooting Film On The Cheap!

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Stu W

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I have my new-within the last year-technique for keeping my costs down.
1-I keep my eyes open for out of date or soon to be film. I usually don't pay more than $1 a roll and I have a big tupperware in the fridge to store it. I bought a bunch of c-41 b&w a couple of years ago and still have some left.
2-The local 1 hour lab I found is excellent. They charge $2 a roll to process, cut and sleeve the negs, and print out an index sheet.
3-My on sale half price negative scanner. If anything looks really good it's back to the 1 hour guy for an enlargement.

I admit it's not as cheap as digital but it ain't bad. Stu

B&H and Focus used to be great film sources, but I guess the times they are a changing.
 
I try to be price conscious with film, and very seldom do I end up paying more than US$2.00 per roll for the common 200 and 400 films that I most often shoot.

Film is cheap! It's the processing that costs. Although I do have a scanner, I'll usually get lab scans on CD just so I don't have to futz around scanning. If I want to make a nice print I'll rescan the one I want.
 
pesphoto said:
Anyone know a good source for cheap b/w 120 film?
Click to expand...

Ultrafine B & W ISO 100 Film 120 Format
$2.19, 10/$20.90, 20/$39.80

Ultrafine B & W ISO 400 Film 120 Format
$2.29, 10/$21.90, 20/$41.80
http://www.ultrafineonline.com/ulbwfiiso125.html


I've never used them, but think I might go for it next (still have a decent supply of 120 black and white) if I don't spring for the extra cash (it's not really that much more, why not) and play with the new T-Max stuff. It's all re-badged stuff from the usual suspects.

Their 125 speed 35mm stuff is alleged to be FP4+ - a wonderful film, and much cheaper than Ilford. Bulk prices are around $27 per 100'.

Again, never used them but they have a good reputation.
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I notice the Arista Ultra EDU is $1.89 per roll at Freestyle which seems to be the cheapest black and white 120 they stock ... does anyone use this and if so what's it like?
 
Good thread. I'm trying to tip the scales back toward shooting more film, so these ideas help. When time's tight, I like Stu's C-41 idea, scanning only what I want to share or print, except I like the negs uncut. A local shop will do the processing for $2.50/roll. My film will average $2-2.50/roll, so my cost per roll is less than $5 for negs in hand, and less if I have the time to develop at home.

Now looking forward to shoot more film in 2008 ...
 
Mike, I ask for them cut and sleeved. He would usually return you the entire film colied in the plastic container. Stu
 
I'm still shooting film I bought for €0.60 at Agfa bankruptcy, vista400, 36 frames. Then I develop it in cheap black and white chemistry, for instance Kodak HC110. Dry it and scan on my DS4 scanner. I'd say each 38 frames roll cost me around €1. Some results you can see in my gallery.
 
Next year I plan to get back into home developing my B&W and hopefully doing contact prints of the films. I don't really need prints of all my rejects, so I'll just scan the good ones for posting and have prints made.

It will be interesting to see how the cost of the chemicals compares to lab processing.
 
Keith and Stu W,

I've used Arista EDU ultra both 35mm and 120. I'm not sure that they are the same film, but I didn't like either. Last time I said that I got my head chewed off and that was on RFF not Photo.Net. But I found them both to have very quick drop off in the shadow area. So Zone III is almost like Zone I, this started for me about Zone 3.5. Besides that the upper Zones were very contrasty. Andrew on this Forum had a similar problems as I did. He bought 1000 rolls for his students in a photo class (disaster, his word). I think this was to show them tone control. He went back to a different speed AEU and I haven't heard how he did with it. I used HC-110h, FishTek on this Forum has done better with some of his different developers. I think the last one he used was Rodinol.
 
Keith said:
I notice the Arista Ultra EDU is $1.89 per roll at Freestyle which seems to be the cheapest black and white 120 they stock ... does anyone use this and if so what's it like?
Click to expand...

I use the 100 speed Arista.EDU Ultra / 120 in my Rollie TLR and like it quite a bit. In D-76 it fits me pretty well. Didn't like the look of it in Diafine though...

Even after long washing it retains the blue tint of the base - not sure how that affects wet printing but it hasn't been a problem on the scanner.

A recent studio shot:
image01yq6.jpg
 
Keith said:
I notice the Arista Ultra EDU is $1.89 per roll at Freestyle which seems to be the cheapest black and white 120 they stock ... does anyone use this and if so what's it like?
Click to expand...
Keith,
funny you should ask as I was about to ask the same thing. My kids gave me a Holga for Christmas along with a roll of Arista edu 120 ASA 400. I think they think I'm way too serious with the photography, and I should have the Holga to lighten up and have more fun:rolleyes:.

Anyway, I shot the roll through the Holga and developed it last night in HC -110 1:100. I don't know if it's fair to assess the film after running it through the Holga. The negatives look "ok" but kind of flat compared to the Tri-x and Delta 3200 rolls hanging next to them. If I'm not stuck at work tonight, I'll try scanning a couple to post.

I also received a couple of rolls of the 35mm in 100 and 400 to try. The box says "made in Czech. Republic - is that where Foma is? or Forte?
 
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I used to troll eBay for cheap out of date B&W film and have decently stocked a mini-freezer with some great buys but lately it seems there's a resurged interest in old film and nothing seems to go cheap anymore! People are even paying more in eBay auctions for bulk rolls of APX100 than you can get them from Ultrafineonline either at their site or from one of their eBay BIN auctions. Now that's batty!
 
gregg said:
The Arista.EDU Ultra films are Foma.
Click to expand...

Thanks gregg, that's what I suspected. You seem to be getting nice results with the 100 speed in D76. I've got a couple more rolls coming from Freestyle - the Holga shutter broke in the middle of the first roll; they are replacing the camera and sending me a couple of new rolls - in the meantime, I repaired the shutter and finished the original roll. I think I'll try thie film in my Autocord this time.
 
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