Many nice thoughts in this thread, also some interesting asides. As an expat Canuck now living in Australia, I've learned some new things about the HBC, which I shopped in when I lived in Montreal, half a century ago.
A few scattered thoughts to add to the others.
Now there's film but also digital. Two entirely different mind-stretchers.
Everything in life and the world moves on. Times waits for nobody. We are now well into the digital age, but then, wonder of wonders, film has survived and (overlooking a few major setbacks over the years) is even moving on, with new emulsions being introduced (while old ones kick the bucket). Ebb and flow, I think it's called. Or the Law of Gravity. Or whatever.
As a half-half (F&D) photographer (leaning more and more to the F side) as I move into my 70s and my life shortens along with my cash reserves, I'm trying to critically think out my moves as go. Making do by using my gear for both is essential to my frugal nature (I'm an 'OAP').
tdr1, albumen paper you can make yourself at home. I'm not sure it's worth the bother or the effort, but my point is, you can if you want to. Home made Tri-X, well, good luck to you
My !life hasn't been the same since Kodak discontinued Panatomic-X and Plus-X Pan. Now Acros may be on the execution list. What next, Tri-X?
In the not-too-distant future we may all end up shooting Ilford or other European brands or Chinese emulsions. But then so what? Film is film. Qs Mao Zedong once famously said, who cares what color a cat is, if it catches mice it's a good cat. For now, my cat's name is HP5...
Young(er) photographers love to mix-and-match gear, films, darkroom chemistry, printing paper, you name it. As we all did. Moving along in life becomes more an exercise in simplifying. Not necessarily minimalism, but making things easier and simpler.
As a Nikon shooter, I use my D lenses (18 to 300) on my D700 (the entire range) and my Nikkormats (the 28 and mostly telephotos). Three of my four Rollei TLRs are bayonet 1 so one set of accessories fits them all. My home darkroom is uberminimalist and functions with a limited range of (once very expensive) equipment and chemistry. Film is bought in bulk when I can find a bargain.
I bought a demo D700 from a reliable dealer in Melbourne in 2012. It's plastic but it was engineered, designed and built like a water buffalo and has produced almost 200,000 images. I use it for color work but side by side with a Nikkormat (EL or FT2). Later this year, if I get a good deal on it and can justify the extremely high price, I MAY replace the D700 with a Nikon DF which (like my Nikkormats) is made from cast iron. 16MP suits my way of shooting. My photo dealer is urging me to consider the D800 instead, which he says is just as good and considerably cheaper. We'll see.
My days are growing longer and whichever Nikon D I buy may well be my last one for this trip around.
I don't object to plastic gear if it's well made, but to me having it serviced is more an issue. My brief relationships with Canon ended when I found my Dwhatever (it was so long ago, I've forgotten the model) didn't consistently give me the results I wanted, also with Sony when they screwed me up over their so-called "service" when basic repairs to our two top-of-the-range Vaios would have cost more than the laptops did, so we dumped them and gave up buying Sony anything.
MattKing, nobody ever regrets using black-and-white. Most of my color negatives (and many of my slides) pre-1990 are fading or have faded out. My B&W negatives are as they were when they came out of the tank. My partner's young nieces and nephews shoot digital or iPhone images, but they adore my B&W work and many of our kin have my prints hanging in their homes. No generation gap there.
I hope this thread will go on, I've found it very mind-stimuating.