As my reserve of refrigerated 35mm E6 dwindles and I look at purchasing some more, I find myself stopping to take stock of just how expensive shooting 35mm slides has become.
Not so long ago, I could buy 35mm/36exp rolls in packs of ten for little over £5 a roll. As we all know to our cost, Fuji have increased their prices dramatically in recent times and the cheap, yet perfectly good, option to buy Fuji masquerading as Agfaphoto Precisa has now gone. Thus, I now find myself looking at 35mm/36exp rolls in the range of £13 - £17.00 each and there seems to be no price advantage buying in larger quantities.
Each time I send off films for developing and mounting, the price seems to have risen since the time before, as does the cost of return postage. The lab I use offers ‘free’ postage to them, but of course that is taken care of in their pricing structure.
If I buy an E6 film at current rates, I’m looking at £13 for the film (cheapest E100 I can find) plus £9.50 dev and mount plus £3.95 for return postage – total £26.45. (Over £30 for Fuji's more expensive offerings @ £17)
Though in the past I have defended the cost of E6 use in these forums, it’s now scary. I equate £26.45 to the best part of half a 100ft roll of FP4 or half a tank of petrol and I’m seriously asking myself how long I can or should go on shelling out this kind of money and whether it’s the time to leave colour work to the dreaded d*****l and spend the money saved on b/w materials instead. I currently have free use of a digital projector but could buy one of my own for the cost of a dozen transparency films plus D & P.
Selling out? Maybe.
“Use it or lose it!” Sure, but there are limits to how much I’m prepared to spend.
I’ve been holding my breath and hoping that E100 will fall in price, but of course that was more in hope than anticipation, so unless I win the Lottery (unlikely, as I don’t do it!) I think that when I’ve used up the last of my current E6 stock I shan’t be replacing it, except possibly a film at a time for occasional use in stereo transparency work.
It’s with great dismay that I find myself thinking along these lines, especially as I received two cracking boxes of slides in the post yesterday but as Bob Dylan told us “The times, they are a-changing”.
Steve
Not so long ago, I could buy 35mm/36exp rolls in packs of ten for little over £5 a roll. As we all know to our cost, Fuji have increased their prices dramatically in recent times and the cheap, yet perfectly good, option to buy Fuji masquerading as Agfaphoto Precisa has now gone. Thus, I now find myself looking at 35mm/36exp rolls in the range of £13 - £17.00 each and there seems to be no price advantage buying in larger quantities.
Each time I send off films for developing and mounting, the price seems to have risen since the time before, as does the cost of return postage. The lab I use offers ‘free’ postage to them, but of course that is taken care of in their pricing structure.
If I buy an E6 film at current rates, I’m looking at £13 for the film (cheapest E100 I can find) plus £9.50 dev and mount plus £3.95 for return postage – total £26.45. (Over £30 for Fuji's more expensive offerings @ £17)
Though in the past I have defended the cost of E6 use in these forums, it’s now scary. I equate £26.45 to the best part of half a 100ft roll of FP4 or half a tank of petrol and I’m seriously asking myself how long I can or should go on shelling out this kind of money and whether it’s the time to leave colour work to the dreaded d*****l and spend the money saved on b/w materials instead. I currently have free use of a digital projector but could buy one of my own for the cost of a dozen transparency films plus D & P.
Selling out? Maybe.
“Use it or lose it!” Sure, but there are limits to how much I’m prepared to spend.
I’ve been holding my breath and hoping that E100 will fall in price, but of course that was more in hope than anticipation, so unless I win the Lottery (unlikely, as I don’t do it!) I think that when I’ve used up the last of my current E6 stock I shan’t be replacing it, except possibly a film at a time for occasional use in stereo transparency work.
It’s with great dismay that I find myself thinking along these lines, especially as I received two cracking boxes of slides in the post yesterday but as Bob Dylan told us “The times, they are a-changing”.
Steve