I enjoy 35mm film, but the costs concern me.

I got some of my first rolls developed this year and I love how they turned out!

I am a hobbyist. I have a Fuji xt4, but carrying a small film camera around is easier at times and I can get it into events likes shows easier.

The costs concern me at times. $10-15 per roll and $20+ to develop. $40 potentially per roll.

Logically that makes me want to minimize myself to just one roll per month. However tbh I'd rather be able to do two per month.

I can't be spending $100 per month on film.

Maybe if I shoot one roll of color and one roll of B&W that would save me money?

How do you all budget for film? I'm also concerned about getting into it and things just getting much more expensive.

Once you've gotten used to "no-cost" digital shooting, film is going to feel very expensive. The prices you list, though, seem a little high. I regularly buy both B&W and color negative for under $10/roll. When I find it on sale, I'll usually stock up and keep in in the fridge. I get my color processed for $7 and do the scanning myself. I process my own B&W. I don't shoot enough color to justify processing my own as the chemistry doesn't keep long enough for me to get the maximum number of rolls through it. I shoot film mostly for the same reason you do -- when I want to carry a small and light camera that's unobtrusive.

Processing shouldn’t be $20. That’s gouging pure and simple

For black and white 35mm, you can still buy 100 foot rolls and load cassettes yourself. Freestyle Sales Arista is about the least expensive available.

BrentonMia said:

I got some of my first rolls developed this year and I love how they turned out!

I am a hobbyist. I have a Fuji xt4, but carrying a small film camera around is easier at times and I can get it into events likes shows easier.

The costs concern me at times. $10-15 per roll and $20+ to develop. $40 potentially per roll.

Click to expand...

That sounds expensive for development. I presume that includes scanning ? If you scan yourself it should reduce the costs significantly (but you have to buy a scanner, or use a camera and macro lens [and lightbox and stand and software])

BrentonMia said:

Logically that makes me want to minimize myself to just one roll per month. However tbh I'd rather be able to do two per month.

I can't be spending $100 per month on film.

Maybe if I shoot one roll of color and one roll of B&W that would save me money?

How do you all budget for film?

Click to expand...

I buy film in bulk when it’s cheap and I don’t worry too much if it goes a year or two out of date

BrentonMia said:

I'm also concerned about getting into it and things just getting much more expensive.

Click to expand...

You just need to be thankful that you didn’t buy a boat

BrentonMia said:

I got some of my first rolls developed this year and I love how they turned out!

I am a hobbyist. I have a Fuji xt4, but carrying a small film camera around is easier at times and I can get it into events likes shows easier.

The costs concern me at times. $10-15 per roll and $20+ to develop. $40 potentially per roll.

Click to expand...

These prices seem to be a bit high - especially processing. Sounds like you are looking at online processing that includes shipping to and from?

I recommend looking at local shops. I frequent 3 local shops in my area and all are around 10-12 USD for processing + 2-3 USD for medium sized scans.

As for films, Portra and Cinestill will be at those prices. But HP5, Ultramax, and Pro Image are all sub $10.

BrentonMia said:

Logically that makes me want to minimize myself to just one roll per month. However tbh I'd rather be able to do two per month.

I can't be spending $100 per month on film.

Maybe if I shoot one roll of color and one roll of B&W that would save me money?

How do you all budget for film? I'm also concerned about getting into it and things just getting much more expensive.

Click to expand...

In the days before digital, when all photography was on film, cost of film and processing was something we all lived with. The number of photographs I took was always limited by what I could afford. It is a fact of life, learn to live with it.

Having said that, there are many, many ways of economising. A few of them have been suggested already.

One that hasn't been mentioned yet (unless I missed it) is to think carefully about each shot before you take it. You can't afford to 'spray and pray' as digital photographers often do.

Excellent advice. Back in the day, even if you did 120 or 4x5, the film costs weren't that much, neither was black and white processing. Do I have stacks of not that great negatives. Guilty as charged. Digital has made it even worse.

Back in the day, amazing how the best image was always on the 36th exposure of a 35mm roll of film!

So, yes, I need to be thoughtful when making an images!

I shoot medium format film on a 80€ yashica mat. I shoot b&w and develop it myself. I camera scan my rolls on a light box. I shoot probably 1 roll a month on average (7€/roll of 12 images).



I also have a 8x10 large format camera. I shoot less than 1 box of foma (50 sheets) b&w /year. This is 165€/box or 3,3 €/image. Development takes 30 min/sheet. No way i can burn through a lot of boxes a year due to free time restrictions.



Given the fact that these cameras keep their value, my film consumption is 100€/year 120 film and 165€/year sheet film, this is far less than the depreciation of my digital gear/year.

color sheet film is a totally other story, but in my opinion color is where digital photography shines.

On the other hand, my old analog cameras, I have learned to use whatever camera that’s is available. I have no need at all to buy the latest and greatest. In that way my analog cameras save me money.

Steven

As others have said, shop around for a better price. Not sure where you're located but The Dark Room and Dwayne's Photo are both just about average price, IME, though the labs with more options/capabilities for developing and scanning will charge more.

Film on sale is your best friend. I know clogging your email inbox sucks, but getting on mailing lists for places like Freestyle Photo and the like will inform you of sales without having to look all the time. Buy half-a-dozen rolls at once and store in the fridge.

This doesn't exactly save a ton of money, but saving exposed rolls until I have like 4 or 5 minimum means I'll save a bit on shipping. At 2 rolls a month sent off for developing vs 6 rolls every quarter vs 12 rolls twice a year, the savings add up.

I feel your pain, though. this hobby gets expensive quickly. Convenience is at a premium!

The near zero marginal cost of digital was one of the revelations when moving from film. (And instant review was the other.)

When film was the only game in town, I was looking for ways to make it cheaper. Bulk loading and developing it yourself were ways to help. I started using slide film, because it didn't need printing. When film scanners became available, that wasn't such a problem anymore.

Back in my more productive film years, I'd shoot about 20 rolls (of 24 exposures). As others mentioned, you were careful about exposing a frame.

I seem to recall someone long ago commenting that you only get one good image per piece of film. 1 per 4X5 sheet, 1 per 120 roll, 1 per 35mm roll. His point was that the quality of the photo was directly related to the cost, time and effort that went into each photo.

Hello!

More expensive? I don't think so! You have to take account of the money inflation

How much did you pay for a TriX film 30 years ago and how much the processing shop charge you to process and print your photos?

In my mind I think it's cheaper now! May DPR investigate on that!

Shoot fewer pictures, but better pictures.

Put more effort before tripping the shutter, less afterwards in post.

Quality, not quantity.

You can scan BW films using your Fuji XT4 with a macro lens and a special adapter.

Rangitoto2025 said:

Hello!

More expensive? I don't think so! You have to take account of the money inflation

How much did you pay for a TriX film 30 years ago and how much the processing shop charge you to process and print your photos?

In my mind I think it's cheaper now! May DPR investigate on that!

Click to expand...

This has been done for a few years now, see https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/67846370

Cheapest I can find Kodak Gold (36 exp) at the moment is £10 - £11

alex_virt said:

You can scan BW films using your Fuji XT4 with a macro lens and a special adapter.

Click to expand...

Alex,

How it is with the colour negatives scanning? Never done so, but I have a feeling that that orange (mask) layer might cause problems. I am not sure whether there are photo editors, which would take this colour shift into account. Definitely not my ACDSee. The dedicated scanners for sure have a S/W coping with this.

--
Regards,
Peter

flektogon said:

alex_virt said:

You can scan BW films using your Fuji XT4 with a macro lens and a special adapter.

Click to expand...

Alex,

How it is with the colour negatives scanning? Never done so, but I have a feeling that that orange (mask) layer might cause problems. I am not sure whether there are photo editors, which would take this colour shift into account. Definitely not my ACDSee. The dedicated scanners for sure have a S/W coping with this.

Click to expand...

Hi Peter,

I tried scanning colour negatives. Simple inversion and click white balance wouldn't work. I tried some free online converters, but none of them produced acceptable results. You need a special software, a Lightroom plugin called Negative Lab Pro.

The only colour film I (seldom) shoot nowadays is Kodak Vision 3. It's a cine film, and I give it to the lab for processing and extra high res (30MP) scanning. It costs $45 CAD per roll all included. Kodak colour photo films are even more expensive

It has been some time since I checked on the costs of lab processing. The last lab I did business with was Dwayne's Photo in Kansas. Here is a link:

Photographic Film Developing Lab | Dwayne's Photo (dwaynesphoto.com)

It was probably ten years ago when I last sent any film. I wasn't using much film, and I went back to processing B&W film myself. Anyway, I had them develop a few rolls of B&W film and I was satisfied. I have no idea what processing costs now days. A couple years ago I started buying B&W film from B&H Photo. I recently found out that the film I had been using, now and then over the last three years, has gone up a dollar since late last year, or early this year. That is the Arista Edu 200 film in 120 size. The "Inflation Reduction Act" didn't help film prices. Like about everything else, film has gone up, but I like B&H. They are reasonable on their shipping price for a small order of film. They charged the minimum for one or two rolls--shipping cost was the same for one or two rolls. Three rolls cost more. Some people will pad the shipping cost. They don't, as far as I know. I switched from another mail order photographic supplier to B&H because the other one charged too much for shipping film.

If I use film, it is B&W, and I can process it myself, and scan the negatives, or use a digital camera to copy a negative. I'd rather scan. Color costs too much. I can't pay a lab to process film. I was in Walmart a couple days ago and looked at film, just to see if they still have any. Fuji 35mm only, at $25 for three rolls. That's over $8 per roll, plus tax. I didn't look at the frame count, probably 24. They have a bunch of instant type "film", but only one type of regular film.

alex_virt said:

flektogon said:

alex_virt said:

You can scan BW films using your Fuji XT4 with a macro lens and a special adapter.

Click to expand...

Alex,

How it is with the colour negatives scanning? Never done so, but I have a feeling that that orange (mask) layer might cause problems. I am not sure whether there are photo editors, which would take this colour shift into account. Definitely not my ACDSee. The dedicated scanners for sure have a S/W coping with this.

Click to expand...

Hi Peter,

I tried scanning colour negatives. Simple inversion and click white balance wouldn't work. I tried some free online converters, but none of them produced acceptable results. You need a special software, a Lightroom plugin called Negative Lab Pro.

Click to expand...

I highly recommend VueScan for any scanning needs.

I also had surprisingly good results using a simple inversion, using a camera to "scan" the negs.

I used a blueish gell on the flash to balance out most of the orange. Then I colour balanced the negative before inversion. And for the software I was using (Apple Photos), I had to invert each RGB channel individually, inverting the master channel didn't work.

But mostly, if I've scanned with a camera, I'd use VueScan to do the inversion.