Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford Multigrade IV RC 8x10 Glossy

[Melissa Royal]

Hello everyone,

I'm happy to say that I've started college and have been in my Film Photography class
for nearly a month now. I have been buying film and paper locally, but I am looking for
a cheaper option. I am pretty accustomed to using Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford
Multigrade IV RC 8x10 Glossy.

I would be willing to try a different film if there is one as good or better for a cheap price.
However, I don't want to change the paper, because I have finally got down how long to
put it in each chemical. I don't want to try and figure out different times with a different
kind of paper.

Here's the prices I find locally:
Kodak Tri-X 400: $7 a 36 exp roll (35mm)
Ilford Multigrade IV RC: $70 for a pack of 100.

I have been doing some searching online and have found better prices ($4 per roll, $60 per pack of 100).
However, being a poor college student, I am looking for even cheaper prices. Is anyone aware of where I
can buy them cheaply? I'll need about 20 rolls of film and I'm not sure how many pieces of paper I will need.

All help is greatly appreciated. So is a recommendation of a similar film that is cheaper.

Thanks so much!
-Rachael

 

[Josh66]

Have a look at Freestyle:
Freestyle Photographic Supplies - Traditional Black & White Film, Paper, Chemicals, Holgas and ULF

Arista Premium 400 is the same thing as Tri-X (it is rebranded Kodak Film - it's the real thing), just cheaper.

Arista Premium 100 = Plus-X
Arista Premium 400 = Tri-X
Legacy Pro 100 = Fuji Acros 100

They also have Arista (as well as name brand) paper.

All of the Arista stuff is rebranded product from other manufacturers. Often, you can tell who it is by where it's made... USA = Kodak, Japan = Fuji, etc...

edit
It looks like the paper may be a little more expensive at Freestyle compared to your local price - but the film is much cheaper. $4 a roll compared to your $7 locally.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Take a look at Ilford Films. I don't shoot much B&W, and I don't think they're less expensive than the Kodak stuff, but my two favorite B&W emultions are Delta 100 and 400. Especially 100. When printed in the darkroom, the images have more of a "silvery" look to them than Kodak Tmax or TriX.

 

[Josh66]

If you really want to save as much money as possible, you should consider bulk loading your film. Most B&W films are available in 100' rolls. Color is getting hard to find in bulk though...

100' rolls of film are from $30 to $60 (depending on which film you get...) - $50 a roll is a pretty typical price though. You will get 19-20 36 exposure rolls out of 100'. It just depends on how much film you waste between rolls, and some rolls do seem a little longer than others... I can usually get an extra roll out of Fuji bulk rolls, for example.

You will 'break even' on your first roll, since you would have to buy a bulk loader and empty cartridges too - but every roll after that will be like getting free film.

 

[Melissa Royal]

Have a look at Freestyle:
Freestyle Photographic Supplies - Traditional Black & White Film, Paper, Chemicals, Holgas and ULF

Arista Premium 400 is the same thing as Tri-X (it is rebranded Kodak Film - it's the real thing), just cheaper.

Arista Premium 100 = Plus-X
Arista Premium 400 = Tri-X
Legacy Pro 100 = Fuji Acros 100

They also have Arista (as well as name brand) paper.

All of the Arista stuff is rebranded product from other manufacturers. Often, you can tell who it is by where it's made... USA = Kodak, Japan = Fuji, etc...

edit
It looks like the paper may be a little more expensive at Freestyle compared to your local price - but the film is much cheaper. $4 a roll compared to your $7 locally.

Looks good! And cheap. I think I may go with that.
Which Arista would be equal to the Ilford Multigrade RC IV (b/c I don't know much about paper...it's just what is available locally)?

Take a look at Ilford Films. I don't shoot much B&W, and I don't think they're less expensive than the Kodak stuff, but my two favorite B&W emultions are Delta 100 and 400. Especially 100. When printed in the darkroom, the images have more of a "silvery" look to them than Kodak Tmax or TriX.

I'll look into this! Thanks. =)

If you really want to save as much money as possible, you should consider bulk loading your film. Most B&W films are available in 100' rolls. Color is getting hard to find in bulk though...

100' rolls of film are from $30 to $60 (depending on which film you get...) - $50 a roll is a pretty typical price though. You will get 19-20 36 exposure rolls out of 100'. It just depends on how much film you waste between rolls, and some rolls do seem a little longer than others... I can usually get an extra roll out of Fuji bulk rolls, for example.

You will 'break even' on your first roll, since you would have to buy a bulk loader and empty cartridges too - but every roll after that will be like getting free film.

I have no idea how to bulk load. Haha. I don't even really know what that is. =P
Is it relatively simple? Because I see that it would certainty save a lot of money.

 

[Josh66]

I don't know much about the Arista papers... And there may not be an Arista version of any Ilford paper (there is no Arista version of Ilford film). If you see any Arista stuff that says 'Made in England', it's probably Ilford though. As far as the Arista film goes, it's all either Kodak, Fuji, or Foma. And you can tell which is which by where it's made (Kodak = USA, Fuji = Japan, Foma = Czech Republic).

They also have Arista chemicals, lol. Usually the name of it is similar to the name brand developer - for example, Arista 76 is supposed to be the same thing as D-76. Chems are relatively cheap though, so I always get the regular stuff.

Bulk loading is not that hard after you do it once or twice. The first time can be frustrating though...lol. The hardest part is getting the film into the loader. That can be tricky, since the 100' roll of film is about the same size as the compartment for it on the loader - there isn't much room to work.

You have to (in total darkness, obviously) open the film can, find the end, snip the corners (sometimes they come pre-snipped), get the end into the slot on the loader, give the loader a few cranks to get the film started, then finally get the whole roll into the loader and close everything up.

It sounds complicated, but once you do it a couple times it's not bad. You can practice getting the end of the film into the slot on the loader in daylight with a bit of scrap film. Just make sure the practice film is kinda flat - it will be real tricky if it's fresh off of a roll of film and heavily curled. The bulk roll won't really have any curl to it (on the end, anyway), since it's so big.

This is the loader I use:
Arista 35mm Bulk Film Loader - Bobinquick Junior | Freestyle Photographic Supplies

This one is popular too:
Legacy Pro Lloyd 35mm Bulk Film Loader | Freestyle Photographic Supplies

I like the first one though, because it shows you how much film is left in it.

You will also need some of these:
Arista 35mm Metal Reloadable Cartridge - 25 pack | Freestyle Photographic Supplies
You can get them DX coded for ISO 100, 36 exp., or not. I have both, and kinda prefer the non-DX coded ones, since any time I'm using something other than 100 ISO, I have to change it anyway.

They can be reused a few times before you have to throw them out. Just check the felt before using them to make sure it's still clean and everything.

One warning though - they can open if dropped, so tape them up good. You need something to write down what kind of film is in it anyway.

I tape mine like so:

04071129 by J E, on Flickr
(Notice that it's taped on both sides - the one in the back is kinda hard to see.)

I've never had one come open taped like that.


edit
If you haven't been saving the plastic film cans, you might want to get some of those too. Or ask the people at the photo desk at walmart - they probably have a ton of them and just throw them away...