Film Advice

[pxchoi]

Hello, I'm trying to dabble in film photography and right away, I'm finding that film isn't exactly cheap. So where ever I can save money, would be great.

I plan on picking up a Canon A-1 and 50mm f1.4.

Any recommendations on film and is there anywhere that I can purchase in bulk?

Thanks

 

[djacobox372]

Www.freestylephoto.biz

Great prices and fast shipping!!!

To keep costs down id recommend their "edu" brands which are often pro brands like ilford and kodak rebranded.

Also the cheapest way to shoot film is to shoot b/w and process and scan the negs yourself, home processing is simple and only cost about 30 cents a roll, and a decent film scanner can be had for $100 or less on ebay.

 

[fazz33]

Another interesting way to get started in film cheap is to buy up people's expired rolls. As long as it's been in the fridge I've never really had too many issues with it. Now I'm not shooting film professionally and I'm more or less playing so I've never really been too picky.

Also if you don't mind "lomo" branded film the lomography store do 3 packs of 35mm for something like 6-8 dollars a pack? Its a generic B/W film but it looks decently good.

I agree that shooting B/W and processing yourself is the cheapest way and it's really quick. You can finish processing a roll in 12 minutes and just let it dry for a few hours. Much better than sending it to a lab for an hour.

If you're looking for something to scan as well I suggest the Epson V500, it's cheap, it's cheerful, it delivers great scans for under 200.

 

[naptime]

i'll echo both statements above.

my daughter and i are just getting started, and we chose film.

got a great deal on a developing tank on ebay.

purchased 10 rolls of film, and all the chemicals to process, and negative holders for 50 bucks shipped from freestylephoto.biz

they have same day shipping, and california to ohio was here by the end of the week.

they were the best price i found for both chemicals and for film. we went with their arista film and chemicals.

color film, oddly, i have found the cheapest at walmart. a 4 pack of fuji 200.

but i have not yet checked walgreens, riteaid, big lots, etc.. i'd like to find cheap color locally, since we wont be processing that on our own.

 

[Aragorncito]

If you like adventure try "caffenol"recipe to experiment to play I did it at school it was amazing and fun even relaxing works well with most B/W films and you'll find tons and tons of info in google.

 

[Fred Berg]

I buy quite a bit locally, the bigger chemist's chains usually have offers on consumer grade Kodak or similar, but also source a lot of my film on ebay (I'm able to buy T-Max for a good price by ordering 5 to 10 rolls at a time). Film is definitely making a come back and the price for developing reflects this I think - it's cheaper now at the lab I use than it was 5 or so years ago.