Good film that's not too expensive?

[smyth]

I'm a poor student, and I want to go out shooting. I want to buy some decent film, but I don't want to pay too much for it. What are the best bang for your buck films?

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Colour, B+W, format?

Guessing you're suing 35mm, but what are you trying to shoot?

 

[Paul Ron]

Let's assume you mean B&W.... I like the 400asa T-Grain films. They are almost grainless, respond well to development/exposure control, render great quality images.

Well for the best bang for the buck in 35mm is to bulk load your own form 100' rolls. In the long run it's much cheaper and and less waste sicne now you can customize the amt of shots on a roll. Doing a quick project on a short roll saves wasted frames. Your initial lay out is the problem because now you'll need to buy a laoder n reuseable cassettes.... which will last a long long time if you take care of your equipment. I have cassettes I still use left over form the 70s. Oh BTW you can split the cost with other students to reduce the impact.

In 120 MF you can buy your film in what B&H calls a Pro Pack. It's 5 rolls to a pk and comes out to be about a buck n change a roll.

Whatever you do, don't skimp on quality of film to reduce price. Skimp on your bar tab instead, your pictures will be much sharper.


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[terri]

Smyth, click on the Freestyle ad on the upper left of the main forum page. Click on the right "enter here" window and search by film.

You'll find dozens of choices you can narrow down by format and type. It's all very reasonably priced, and B&H and Adorama are great sellers, as well - but the best thing Freestyle has for poor students is the Arista.EDU type of B&W film - you can get a roll of 24 frames for under two bucks.

If you process carefully yourself there is no reason not to expect good quality negatives. Have fun.