Rab-Eye wrote:
Hi all,
My interest in vintage lenses has made me itch to shoot some film again. I cannot believe how much film costs now! What recommendations do you have for places to buy either color or B&W negative film, and are you sticking to the old name brands or going with some cheaper alternatives?
Thanks,
Ben
Welcome Ben to this little corner of UHH. At this point, I've bought 'fresh' film from Amazon, KEH, B&H, and some physical stores in Chicago and Indy. Finding the cheapest shipping might be the best option, when shopping on price. I also buy in bulk, like 10 to 20 rolls at a time, keeping only a few rolls I plan to shoot in the next 6-months in the refrigerator and freezing the rest.
Most of my film, though, is expired, purchased in bulk, and kept frozen too. I really low-ball anyone offering their old stock, seeking to pay an average $1 - $3 per roll in a single payment, whenever some comes up for offer on UHH. I only buy from others who claim the film has been kept frozen and who can state the expire dates, per roll, of everything they offer for sale. A week unfrozen for transfer doesn't impact the film, where it just goes onto my inventory spreadsheet and into my own freezer. My spreadsheet is a bit out of date from shooting in 2023, but I show about 250 rolls frozen. Probably a life-time's worth at the cost and rate I shoot film.
I haven't shot everything available today, but pretty much anything still being made is good. The better emulsions, and hence the more expensive, are noticeably better, but cheaper is good too, better than the old drugstore offerings. There's a post in this section about Kodak Pro Image vs Kodak Gold (see page 2 of 5). You can buy 6 of Gold for the price of 5 of Pro Image. The results, after scanning and editing, are virtually the same.
Once you get over the sticker shock of buying film, make sure you're seated when looking at prices for developing and scanning. You'll probably understand my humor, repeated periodically on UHH, about the idle rich, fools, and hipsters being those shooting film in these modern times. I haven't seen any posts about offering old film for sale on UHH for a while. You might post a 'want to buy' offer and see what shakes out of other's freezers. Shoot me a PM if you want an assessment of any offers that develop.
I've made a few posts in this section that look at certain films, including the use of expired. Films like Portra 400 and Ektar 100 are really great for 35mm color, and some of the more expensive ideas. If just getting restarted, you might start with something cheaper for practice? Or, just pick the best and shoot a roll or few and let the interest burn out? To me, what's really important is to override the box speed, maximize the exposure to minimize the grain, and edit the high-resolution JPEG scans.