Recommendations for cheap B&W film & developers

Donald Qualls · Apr 19, 2021

pbromaghin said:
You got all those keepers with 1 roll? Holy crap!

Either he learned film management from my parents (two Christmases on the same roll of 12) or "Jan-Aug 2019" is more than one roll. Still a lot of nice images there.

runswithsizzers · Apr 19, 2021

Donald Qualls said:
Either he learned film management from my parents (two Christmases on the same roll of 12) or "Jan-Aug 2019" is more than one roll. Still a lot of nice images there.

Funny! The photos on that page are, in fact, all from the same roll of Kentmere 100. But during that same time I was also shooting a second film camera, and some digital as well - so I did take more than 36 shots in 8 months. During my first 20 years of film photography I shot slide film - but I was poor, and painfully aware of what it cost me every time I clicked the shutter. Old habits ...

grat · Apr 19, 2021

With digital, I'll blast away at anything that moves, or doesn't. With 35mm, I'm only slightly more selective-- it has to be something looks mildly interesting. With 120, it has to be pretty good before I'll take the shot. With 4x5, it's got to be impressive before I'll even unpack the camera.

If I ever try 8x10, I'll probably only take one shot. For the entire life of the camera.

Donald Qualls · Apr 20, 2021

grat said:
If I ever try 8x10, I'll probably only take one shot. For the entire life of the camera.

That's if you ever even buy film. Go watch Matt Marrash, Large Format Friday on YouTube -- he spends $30 on a sheet of expired Portra 160...

russell_w_b · Apr 20, 2021

I like ID-11 best, although I use Rodinal too. But I've started buying my ID-11 in five-litre sachets rather than one litre sachets and mixing it in a bucket, as it works out about 60% cheaper per litre to do so. I tend to use HP5+ but will buy Kodak TMax 400 if I get vouchers for a gift, say. Fomapan 400 is lovely film at 120 format and I'm starting to use more Kentmere 100 on 35mm.

bluechromis · Apr 20, 2021

juan said:
If you can get triethenolomine Gainer’s PC-TEA should be cheap. Particularly at Sandy King’s recommended 1:100 dilution.

I remember Pat Gainer saying that sodium sulfite was typically the most costly developing bulk chemical. Perhaps this is because many developer recipes call for a lot of it. So that might be an argument for developers like PC-TEA that don't need it.

Donald Qualls · Apr 20, 2021

If you have a formula that can be mixed for immediate use (i.e. doesn't need heated water to dissolve) you can lean more toward lower sulfite anyway, if you don't mind the slight loss of speed from not getting to the cores of the exposed grains. And I haven't found sulfite that expensive -- I bought 10 lb on Amazon for around $3/lb, that's around 65 cents for enough to make a liter of D-23 or D-76.

grat · Apr 20, 2021

Donald Qualls said:
That's if you ever even buy film. Go watch Matt Marrash, Large Format Friday on YouTube -- he spends $30 on a sheet of expired Portra 160...

I have one rule when buying cameras-- I have to take at least one photo using it. I've been a bit of a slacker with my half plate Thornton Pickard, but the rest have been used at least once, usually more than.

As for Matt, his videos are enjoyable, but since 8x10 Portra 160 is only $17 a sheet for fresh, I'm not sure why he'd buy expired.

... now some 8x10 aerochrome..........

Juan Valdenebro · Apr 20, 2021

To OP:
Best films and best developers are very very cheap. It costs just cents to make a wonderful physical original.
Materials are expensive only if we waste them when we don't know what to express with them.
We don't need or want cheaper materials: we need or want to make less and better photographs, IMO.

Donald Qualls · Apr 21, 2021

grat said:
As for Matt, his videos are enjoyable, but since 8x10 Portra 160 is only $17 a sheet for fresh, I'm not sure why he'd buy expired.

Okay, I might have had the wrong stock -- perhaps it was Velvia that cost that much. Or maybe he was pricing in the processing.

mawz · Apr 21, 2021

Ko.Fe. said:
Cheap and fresh film is oxymoron. I remember how much I paid for Kentmere in 2014-2015. Working class people salary hasn't changed since then, but film price went up.

Kentmere 400 is superior to Fomapan "400". But not as good as Ilford HP5+.
Kentmere 100 is awesome film, I guess Fomapan 100 isn't bad either.
Arista is not available where I'm.

Downtown Camera carries Arista locally. They ship as well

https://downtowncamera.com/shop/cat...45ab3e9b?filters=207195:"<span>Arista</span>"

Recommendations for cheap B&W film & developers

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