A recent post on UHH entered into a discussion of color film cost. https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-748476-1.html

Oddly, people still try to compare film and digital. They are two entirely different media that accomplish close to the same thing. I can do things in each that are difficult or impossible to accomplish in the other. I thoroughly enjoy the entire process of taking and processing film photographs.

There were comments made to the effect that film was dead, which is erroneous. There are quite a few people shooting film in various formats and posting them on Facebook.

Another was the cost of film. So, I'll address this cost and primarily black and white film, as that is what I use.
Film expense:
1 roll of 100ft Ilford HP5 - $80.00
1 liter of developer Ilford DD-X - $20.00
1 gallon of Kodak fixer - $13.00

100 feet of film yields 18 rolls of 36 exposures Cost per exposure is $0.12
1 liter of developer - 50 rolls or 900 exposures Cost per exposure $0.02
1 gallon of fixer - 50 rolls or 900 exposures Cost per exposure $0.01

Each exposure costs $0.15.

120 and 4x5 formats are going to be higher. If memory serves, each 120 negative costs $0.75, and a 4x5 negative costs approximately $1.50.

Now, these numbers are from about a year ago. Some of the items may have gone up in price. However, the actual cost is still not all that much. So, people who are declaring film to be too expensive to use are making statements based on other than fact.

For me, nothing compares to the excitement of seeing images on film as it is pulled from the wash and set up to dry.
--Bob

A recent post on UHH entered into a discussion of color film cost. https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-748476-1.html

Oddly, people still try to compare film and digital. They are two entirely different media that accomplish close to the same thing. I can do things in each that are difficult or impossible to accomplish in the other. I thoroughly enjoy the entire process of taking and processing film photographs.

There were comments made to the effect that film was dead, which is erroneous. There are quite a few people shooting film in various formats and posting them on Facebook.

Another was the cost of film. So, I'll address this cost and primarily black and white film, as that is what I use.
Film expense:
1 roll of 100ft Ilford HP5 - $80.00
1 liter of developer Ilford DD-X - $20.00
1 gallon of Kodak fixer - $13.00

100 feet of film yields 18 rolls of 36 exposures Cost per exposure is $0.12
1 liter of developer - 50 rolls or 900 exposures Cost per exposure $0.02
1 gallon of fixer - 50 rolls or 900 exposures Cost per exposure $0.01

Each exposure costs $0.15.

120 and 4x5 formats are going to be higher. If memory serves, each 120 negative costs $0.75, and a 4x5 negative costs approximately $1.50.

Now, these numbers are from about a year ago. Some of the items may have gone up in price. However, the actual cost is still not all that much. So, people who are declaring film to be too expensive to use are making statements based on other than fact.

For me, nothing compares to the excitement of seeing images on film as it is pulled from the wash and set up to dry.
--Bob

Let's look at what Joe and Jane-Average UHH community member is likely to experience shooting film.

Film cost - Kodak Ektar 100 35mm @ 36 exposure - $17
Developing cost - $9.50
Enhanced scanning - $15
Upload for transfer - $1
2-way USPS shipping - film to / negatives return - $22

Total - $62.50 / $1.74 per frame of 36 exposure

Yes, there are several items to drive down the cost per frame, such as buying cheaper film stock, buy film in bulk, and / or buying and hording expired film that is my approach. Also, the shipping is the same cost whether you send 1 roll or 10, my typical threshold for getting anything processed. You can shop around for who / where you have the developing done, maybe even scanning yourself.

When I plugged-in a lower cost of film and prorated the shipping over the 8 rolls I got back this week, the cost per frame lowered to $0.91, about the $1 / frame I've experienced for the past several years of shooting film and having others develop and scan the results.

I've said it before, and some almost said it again in the earlier replies: The only people shooting film in 2022 are fossils, the idle rich and hipsters from Brooklyn.

Years ago, after the advent of digital photography, I had a talk with a former film photographer who had gone digital. His comparison of digital with film photography: digital gives more control. Since then, I've read the comments of others who've switched to digital: They do not miss the mess of film photography. Now, in this thread (and elsewhere), I read of the difficulty of providing a dark room for developing film.

Never having had a dark room, I did not experience the visual and emotional moment of watching an image emerge on a sheet of paper. This reaction appears to support the continuation of film photography for some individuals.

I can say, however, that as a strongly visual person, I react with feeling when I first see my photographs appear on the monitor of my computer. In addition, I've learned enough of the adjustments in Photoshop to bring out the potential of my digitized photographs. I enjoy this activity.

My hat is off to the photographers who gladly struggled with film photography. They put this visual artform on the map of human expression. In our time, the torch has passed to digital means of photography.

*******
Another consideration about the analog (wet) form of photography: pollution !
Long before I switched to digital I had regrets pouring exhausted chemicals down the drain...into a river, a lake, etc. I used to say to friends, the fish don't need to be surrounded by these chemicals (film & printing). Another thought I had was to send exhausted chemicals back to Kodak for reprocessing.
Also; I used to print Cibrachrome prints from my slides, that's really toxic.

With digital you can make changes /improvements in such small areas you could never make in a darkroom. I had color and b/w printing rooms as well color and b/w film processing rooms. I felt and still feel that digital has been a gift of the gods.