Cheapest way purchasing and develpoing film?

duncanp

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i really am beggining to not be able to afford film atm, getting £30 a month if i do all my chores at least £10 goes into film, and thats if i want to use one roll a month... the other £20 gets easily spent buying food while out and £12 now goes into magazines that i get. do any of you have any suggestions of what cheap but good film to use and the cheapest way to get it developed. so far my favourite film to use had been some ilford Proffesional ISO 400, cant remember exactly what, that came free with AP. but even with 25% of the developing it still came to something like £9.60. with no dedicated photo stored or develeopers i only have the choice of a few drugs stores, which are raising their prices as they have less of a market and now certain film companies are beggingin to pull out. kodak for example have closed their biggest film developing site. hmm....

sorry that turned into a rant near the end
 
Assuming you wish to take lots of pictures and print up the really good ones: it will take an initial investment to get started, but you can bulk-load B&W and develop the rolls yourself. Then, select the negatives for printing and have them printed up by a photo service. This will work out to the lowest cost/print.
 
Torus34 said:
Assuming you wish to take lots of pictures and print up the really good ones: it will take an initial investment to get started, but you can bulk-load B&W and develop the rolls yourself. Then, select the negatives for printing and have them printed up by a photo service. This will work out to the lowest cost/print.

Ok, what kind of price and equipment would be required?
 
You'll need a bulk film loader, a 100' roll of film, a few re-loadable cassettes, a film developing tank, a thermometer and some chemicals. The most expensive single item is the film. 100' will provide about 21 rolls of 24 exp.

You can check prices on-line at any large photo store in your country. Might be a good set of gifts for your birthday.
 
You can pick them up for pennies used.

I'd go ask around some professional photographers. They might have left their darkrooms abandoned and will be glad to just give it out.
 
Do you have an Aldi store near you?

They usually have Kodak 400 and 200 iso film near their checkouts for £1.99 for 2 X 36 exp rolls.

To save developing costs just develop the film yourself & take your selected negatives to the lab to get printed. (Or scan them into your PC )
 
I recently started bulk-loading my own film. Here's what I got from B&H:

Changing bag: $21
Bulk loader: $20
Reusable Metal Cassetes: $12.50
100' Ilford Delta 400: $43
Painter's tape: $3

Total: $99.50 (USD)

20 rolls of Delta 400 is $85 from B&H

So the initial investment is a little more than 20 rolls of the same film, but after that the film is about half price (everything I've read says you should get around 20 36-exposure rolls from a 100' roll). Not a bad deal at all. Just be sure to keep it in the fridge.
 
niccig said:
I recently started bulk-loading my own film. Here's what I got from B&H:

Changing bag: $21
Bulk loader: $20
Reusable Metal Cassetes: $12.50
100' Ilford Delta 400: $43
Painter's tape: $3

Total: $99.50 (USD)

20 rolls of Delta 400 is $85 from B&H

So the initial investment is a little more than 20 rolls of the same film, but after that the film is about half price (everything I've read says you should get around 20 36-exposure rolls from a 100' roll). Not a bad deal at all. Just be sure to keep it in the fridge.

hmm i dont get this... whjats the 100' the rest i understand
 
PlasticSpanner said:
Do you have an Aldi store near you?

They usually have Kodak 400 and 200 iso film near their checkouts for £1.99 for 2 X 36 exp rolls.

To save developing costs just develop the film yourself & take your selected negatives to the lab to get printed. (Or scan them into your PC )

nearest is 12 miles =/
 
Photographers use different films for different conditions. If you're looking for maximum detail and minimum graininess, use a low ISO film such as Ilford Pan F. If you're shooting moving objects or working in dim lighting, use an ISO 400 film. There will be more graininess, but you can use higher shutter speeds. The low ISO film might require that you steady the camera by placing it on a support or tripod because of the slow shutter
speeds needed for some shots.

A 'middle-of-the-road' choice would be an ISO 125 film. It's one f stop faster than the ISO 50 and two f stops slower than the ISO 400 films.
 

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