Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana

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

whfowle Loc: Tampa first, now Albuquerque

Yes the price is very high. Inflation over the years and decades and the low volume of sales contribute. My source is B&H mostly. I think their turnover is greater than other small-time providers so I will be more likely to get fresh stock.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

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 My spreadsheet is a bit out of date from shooting in 2023, but I show about 250 rolls frozen.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.

Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana

Thanks for responding!

Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana

VERY useful information, Paul. As always, I appreciate your thoughtful response.


Thanks,

Ben

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

Film, and developing, does seem expensive these days. I would like to see how the prices we paid back in the heyday of film (80s and 90s) inflated to today compares to what we are paying now, or todays prices deflated to say, 1990.

Stan

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

A roll of Ilford HP-5 cost $1.79 each in 5-roll bundles in 1975. B&H sells it today for $8.95 per roll. Using my trusty Inflation Calculator on the iPhone, that's now a bargain! The calculator says that $1.79 in 1975 is worth $10.10 today.

We forget that inflation distorts our perception of value over time... Yes film prices are "high," but so are all other prices. Salaries and wages have adjusted as well, although not always in sync or fairly across all demographics.

BebuLamar

Actually back in the mid 90's film price was much lower than the inflation but in the past 10 years film price has increased very fast.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Demand fluctuations can account for the phenomenon. When digital cameras became the rage, and smartphones followed on their heels, demand for film dropped like a rock, causing many photo businesses to tank into oblivion. Film prices fell for a decade, then rose when the market "right-sized" around the niche of artists and hobbyists who support it today.

Film photography is almost a cult phenomenon. I get the appeal... it "feels" organic, as if there is some connection to watching the image "come up" in the developer, or drying glossy prints on old ferrotype plates. I did all that for 40 years. It became drudgery. When digital tools matured enough to become commercially viable, I welcomed them and geared up to take advantage.

The only things that hold most photographers back from getting better results from digital devices are knowledge and experience.

Paul (CHG_Canon) is not wrong when he mentions old hipsters from Brooklyn... One of my favorite photo industry personalities, Hugh Brownstone, lives there. He and his wife use both film and digital. He strikes me as an old hipster who really knows his gear. Find him on YouTube at Three Blind Men and an Elephant.

MrPhotog

I see no one has yet mentioned Freestyle Photo as a source for film.

https://www.freestylephoto.com/category/1-Film#filter-box-jump

They show 584 film products, with 233 listings devoted to 35 mm film. I’ve done infrequent business with them for decades, most recently a few months ago when I got some Arista 35 mm bulk film and 8x10 film. I figured I’d shoot some of the cheaper 35 mm, and practice with development times and chemistries before committing to using a sheet of the more expensive 8x10 stock.

The Used Photo Pro section of Indy’s own Roberts Photo sent me an email announcing they are now handling a much larger variety of film stock. Most are brands I never heard of. I have not seen these yet in their downtown Indy store. Perhaps these are just offered online at this time.

https://usedphotopro.com/film-home-development/shop-all-film

If you want to spend more money on vintage glass, Roberts is a good place to visit, too. Lots of older lenses at very reasonable (dare I say cheap?) prices. Often bins of them at $10 and $15 each. Film camera bodies were at low prices, too, but seem to be going up.

Perhaps they have noted a rise in interest in film from the local arts community.

Also, a few months ago Robert’s organized a photo walk through downtown Indy for film-camera users and had over 20 in the group. I couldn’t detect a Brooklyn accent from any of them, but I can’t rule out the presence of a possible hipster or two.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The handlebar mustaches, pocket watches and spats were all dead giveaways ...

MrPhotog

Nope. Didn’t see any of that.

A few young moms with kids in strollers, 4 or 5 guys with Leicas, 10 or others with slrs, or rangefinders, a couple of folks with twin lens reflexes. A few teens. A diverse group wiithout spats.

Probably the most expensive film being shot was some 127 film in a rare Yashica44 TLR. Last I saw, 127 film is over $16 a roll.

At least one of the Leicas got the most notice from strangers. There was a bicycle bar (a multiperson bicycle moving down the street, being pedaled by the people as they were being served at the moving bar) moving north up Meridian St., the central street in Indy. I was across the street, moving in the opposite direction and someone shouted out from the group, ‘Hey, that’s a Leica’. Guy had good eyes. And was holding a handlebar.

The photographer walking next to me turned and said, “He must have seen the red dot”. I turned my M-4 for him to see. “No red dot here”. We both shrugged our shoulders and kept walking.

Roberts has another film photo walk scheduled in Downtown Indy this Sunday, October 8, 2-4 pm. No limit on number of participants, and free to join up.

https://classes.robertscamera.com/upcoming/?utm_campaign=985119_Not%20to%20Miss%20Events%20this%20Weekend%21&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Roberts%20Camera&dm_i=3R1E,L44F,7MYZ5Q,2DZEP,1

BandeauRouge Loc: usa

those roberts film prices... are more then high way theft... they arent even letting you bring your own lube into the prison shower at those prices..

ALOT of companies are selling film, but are simply using Foma, Agfa, Kodak, and Kentmere film stock. Its been proven that Shanghai GP3 is actually Orwo film... they send barrels of emulsion to a chinese company which then coats into onto a film base made in china.

MrPhotog

35 mm still cameras were created to use the high resolution 35 mm films made for the movie industry. And a lot of movie film is re rolled into cassettes for still camera use. Small ( and large) companies worldwide that have nothing more than a darkroom and a supply of empty cassettes can create their own label and package short lengths of high quality 35 mm movie film. I don’t mind that concept as long as they are upfront about it. Most of that movie film is C-41 developer compatible, and has excellent tonal range. It could be good stuff.

But I own a bulk film loader, so I can also buy long lengths up to 100 feet, and roll that myself. That is the biggest cost saver.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Ilford HP-5 Plus is $117/100' and will make 18 rolls of 36 exposures, plus a clip test roll. That's about $6.50 per roll. My inflation calculator tells me that is equivalent to paying about a dollar a roll for HP4 (its predecessor) in 1973, my senior year of high school. I was probably paying more for it then!

However, five 128GB SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-I SDXC cards for my GH4 cost $105, so I'll pass on future film purchases!