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No bargains in 120 ISO 100 film!

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Paul Verizzo

Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2008
Messages
1,648
Location
Round Rock, TX
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35mm
Perhaps "bargains" isn't the best word for what I'm addressing, but I didn't want the title to become unwieldy. Maybe something like "Very little actual price differences in all 120 sized ISO 100 film options." (And I'm probably guilty of recalling when there was film coming in from ORWO with the collapse of East Germany, and Chinese film, and out of date film, and.....)

Anyway, I have an old Agfa Isola rangefinder-ish camera for non-Rollei fun. Almost a box camera, only two shutter speeds plus B and two f/stops, which limits it to ISO 100 film speeds. I want to feed it again, and what I found out is that once shipping is included, there are no particular film deals to be had, and all options I know of fall into the $4-$4.80 range. Depressingly narrow, ha ha.

I presumed a purchase of ten rolls for simplicity. Shipping is to me in Florida.

Cheapest is the Ultrafine Extreme.................but on Amazon! A pack of ten plus shipping gets it to your door for $4/roll. If I buy directly from Ultrafine, they have absurd shipping charges, costing me $4.80 per roll for offbrand film.

Next up is Arista.edu which we all know is Foma. That’s $4.20/roll with $7 shipping. Decent enough film if you don’t mind blue-green developer..............

Ilford FP4+ from Adorama or B&H is $4.39 a roll. Adorama shipping is $3.75, B&H, $$2.99. So bottom line is essentially $4.80 for not-offbrand, very respected film.

But wait! Both of those companies will ship for free if the order totals $49 or more, so add two more rolls and the free shipping brings the cost down to $4.41/roll. I think for getting this quality of film, that’s the pricing/quality sweet spot.

You can also get Delta 100 for an additional 11 cents per roll, FYI. Another observation is that generally, Freestyle has notably higher prices that B&H and Adorama for film other than their Arista line.
 
Paul Verizzo said:
Another observation is that generally, Freestyle has notably higher prices that B&H and Adorama for film other than their Arista line.
Click to expand...
Yes very true and have noted this when I have ordered in the past... but continue to purchased from them, because of their customer client willingness to spend time and effort in getting my inquires resolved.. although of late.. it seems to be a younger crew on board, and don't seem to be as knowledgeable, about anything to do with color. Which I have been getting back into, because of spring. :laugh:
 
Don't waste your time with Ultrafine 120. I bought a brick last year. Terrible stuff. It has the red window numbers burned in the film all the way through the roll. I tossed it. I saw a anoth member here have the same issue.
 
Can you get Shanghai film via ebay? That should be cheapest (theoretically). Otherwise, looking at that list I would go for FP4 due to it being such a great film.
 
you'd think with the amount of people always talking about the price of film that most of them would be using dozens of rolls a week to be worried about the price of it. But I don't think that's true, most of them are are only using the occasional roll of film.
I think there ought to be a forum rule that you are not allowed to talk about the price of film unless you are using at least 20 rolls a week.

FILM IS CHEAP

when you factor in your time and all the other costs including travel and equipment and processing and paper, why do people always whine about the price of film which is the most insignificant part of their photography costs.
 
fresh Shanghai GP3 is one of my favourites to use.
 
ToddB said:
Don't waste your time with Ultrafine 120. I bought a brick last year. Terrible stuff. It has the red window numbers burned in the film all the way through the roll. I tossed it. I saw a anoth member here have the same issue.
Click to expand...

Was it the Extreme variant? A lot of comments here about how it is decent stuff and very, very different from the earlier version. Still lots of debate on what it is, since Extreme 35mm seems to have a Kentworth/Ilford heritage, but no 120 from Kentworth. So unless Ultrafine is buying a hell of a lot of film to justify a custom run, I guess the jury is still out.
 
Athiril said:
fresh Shanghai GP3 is one of my favourites to use.
Click to expand...

Key word here is FRESH. At expiration this film goes bad fast. That said I like it and used it very successfully but only used because I got it for 75 cents USD a roll in Beijing. I'd never pay $3.50 or so for it when Ilford can be had for less than $1 more per roll.
 
Paul Verizzo said:
Did actually read my post? Or, just jump to comments?
Click to expand...

I did read through it, but apparently not fully. In my morning haze I was focused on the part of $4+ a roll from the major makers at the major retailers. In the future I will be sure to finish my morning coffee before attempting to help.:errm:
 
Xia_Ke said:
I did read through it, but apparently not fully. In my morning haze I was focused on the part of $4+ a roll from the major makers at the major retailers. In the future I will be sure to finish my morning coffee before attempting to help.:errm:
Click to expand...

I have suffered that adversity many times.

Point being, I included shipping for total costs.
 
Arista EDU Ultra 100, and Shanghai GP3 Pan 100. Both dirt cheap, both wonderful films. I will not use Ultrafine even if someone gives me some.
 
Decent enough film if you don’t mind blue-green developer..............
Click to expand...

It might be true for Arista (and older Foma) films, but since 2013 they have improved the base in all 120 films and now there is no longer the blue tinge.
 
The blue film base has been gone for quite a while. The color in the developer is only the AH dyes washing out.
 
A few years ago, acros was inexpensive in "pro packs" for 120.

To me it seems like photo paper and my time are the main expenses of film photography. But I'm a slow shooter.

A few years ago I bought a Fuji X100 digital camera. Since then I have bought a nice FM2n, a great 120 folder, a couple lenses, film and paper. In several years I have not spent as much as the X100 cost. It's odd when people say that film photography is so much more expensive.... I guess that would be true if you use tons of film and have it processed by a lab.
Paper can add up fast if you print a lot....
 
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