Has the price of colour film put you off buying/using it ?

BADGER.BRAD

BADGER.BRAD

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My film photography seems to go in phases, I had recently decided to have a play as I was given a 110 film camera by David Mr Perceptive on here ( I'm waiting for the scans back at the moment) This gripped my interest and I thought I'll get some 135 colour film. When I saw the prices I thought sod that ! Has it made you stop using colour film or altered you usage ?
 
The cost of developing did it for me... B&W is my preference and home dev is my way to keep a lid on the expense, unfortunately, that doesn't include my need to buy more cameras (only some of which actually work).
 
I only use B/W nowadays and I develop it myself. :snaphappy:

I'd only shoot colour film if someone wanted me to do so - they'd have to pay for it. ;)
 
The increased prices in the last couple of years did contribute to reducing the amount of colour film I shoot, but the price increases coincided with a realisation that I preferred black and white anyway. I have about 20 rolls of Kodak Vision cine film left but once they are used I don't plan to buy any more.
 
Must put quite a few newbies off and they would go back to digi, pros who can pass on the cost or "money no problem people" wont care. But too high prices for anything is a killer.
 
I'm only getting into film photography ( I've just started using a 6x7 camera that was given to me and I have a Nikon FM arriving tomorrow).

To be honest I was a bit taken aback by the cost of colour film, I knew it wouldn't be cheap but wasn't expecting it to be as dear as it was. I was kindly given two rolls by a member here ,and I've purchased 5 rolls from a website, and I think that will do me for quite a while. When taking development costs into consideration as well, a colour roll will be around £20 from start to finish.

Having said that, part of the appeal to me of shooting film is the slowing down of my photography. To make me more focussed and consider my shots more. The current costs will only add to this, as I won't want to 'waste' anything so it should acentuate this aspect and slow me down even more!

I will approach shooting a roll of film as an occasional indulgance, a break from the norm, and hopefully some of it's infulence will make it's way into my digital photography too.
 
BADGER.BRAD said:
My film photography seems to go in phases, I had recently decided to have a play as I was given a 110 film camera by David Mr Perceptive on here ( I'm waiting for the scans back at the moment) This gripped my interest and I thought I'll get some 135 colour film. When I saw the prices I thought sod that ! Has it made you stop using colour film or altered you usage ?
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For me strangely the price increase has meant I'm shooting more C41 colour film. I used to buy loads of 5-pack Ektar 100 back in the days when one brick was £25 from 7dayshop.com. Then I went full BW when Ektar bricks basically tripled in price.

But then I got curious and started looking for cheap colour Kodak film. I've discovered Colorplus 200 recently. Where I live it's still available in high street drug stores though stocks come and go. Price has gone up but it's still justifiable.

Anyhow. I have been impressed by this cheap film. I'm getting really pleasant colours that I wasn't getting say with Portra (heresy, I know, but I've never been happy with my Portra results, surely something to do with my workflow). Colorplus though I find excellent. Beautiful reds. I would not go back to DSLRs, as I would not be able to simulate this colour palette using a digital camera.

So yes as long as consumer Kodak film is around and doesn't reach 10£/roll, I'm all in.
 
I started serious photography after going to the Whiby Goth festival ( as a Goth) and chatting to the photographers. I decided originally to dig out my late fathers camera collection ( some of which I had used as a kid) and if film was still available ( I thought it would be hard to find) give it a go with them first and if I liked it move on to Digital. My first digital a Canon 10d given to me was a bit of a let down as it really didn't like my film camera lenses and later I found it to be faulty as it was altering the ISO randomly on each shot. So at this point I stuck with the film cameras. I always had a thought in the back of my mind that it made no sense to shoot Film and then digitize it , I may as well just shoot digital in the first place. But as I really enjoy the process of Film Shooting I tend to come back to it every now and again . This time round I decided it was just too much, I used to buy 10 rolls t a time but in the future I think when I do go to film it will be Black and White Ilford film only ( I like the idea of supporting British workers). I really should get my self a scanner and process/scan them myself but the vagarities of using Linux and Scanners is a bit of a minefield.
 
BADGER.BRAD said:
using Linux and Scanners is a bit of a minefield.
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You could always partition your hard disk to instal win 10 and have dual booting or if no room fit another hard disk have dual booting that way.
 
I am beginning to wonder if the few colour films available today have retained the quality standard of pre digital ones.
Either that or the users are no longer as skilled at getting the best out of them.
Even black and white processing and printing seems to have gone down hill.
However at the price points now, few people can afford to use enough to become very competent.
 
I shoot 95% B/W
Not interested in print film, but I can't give up slide.
Given the limits of slide availability and its cost, I shoot it specifically, its not an everyday walkabout thing these days and hasn't been for a long while.
Unfortunately, slide will likely be the first to disappear, in that event I won't be shooting any colour.
 
I used to use colour slide film, but basically stopped after Kodachrome went. I don't have a projector that can handle larger sizes, and I prefer black and white anyway. In my experience, the digital camera I use can produce better prints than 6x7 colour film, so I have no incentive to use a lot of colour film. In some ways, I'd like to see a colour slide in large format on a light box, but negative film is easier to scan and can record a longer subject brightness range, so a slide would be a bit of a dead end.

I do sometimes use colour film though, and the price won't affect my usage. But then with 25 sheets of 10x8 FP4 costing £175, a 120 or 35mm cassette seems quite inexpensive.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
I am beginning to wonder if the few colour films available today have retained the quality standard of pre digital ones.
Either that or the users are no longer as skilled at getting the best out of them.
Even black and white processing and printing seems to have gone down hill.
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Or perhaps we're just seeing the output of many more people compared to what we used to.

50 years ago we'd have seen a picture from someone if a mate shared a print, or we if we saw it on a magazine, or at an exhibition. Now delivery opportunities have multiplied, and mostly involve sharing on social media.

Which means you see more of everything. I personally see some really bad results even from seasoned film photographers who used to limit themselves to printing back in the day, but are now transitioning to sharing on flickr/instagram. This type of film user often couldn't scan a negative if their life depended on it. On the other hand, I also see some jaw dropping negative scans, absolutely sensational mood and colour/tones. Way better than say some of the sad, oversaturated HDR DSLR photography found on social media sites these days (often a feast of fake vignetting, 2500£ 'perfect bokeh' lenses and de-noising algorithms).

So to summarise I'd say the material is as good or better as in the old days, the people who can do wonders with it are also there, but the signal/noise ratio has decreased.
 
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I use Black and White almost exclusively, developed to negatives and reversal processed to slides by myself.
I did recently look at colour film and was suprised by the prices and limited choice.
I may well try Kodak's slide film at some point because it looks interesting, I will just have to put up with the price if I want to have a go with it.
I suppose, therefore that my answer to the question is no.
 
In planning for a long term film project (which I am now undertaking) about 4 years ago I bought loads of Portra 160 & 400 in 120 and some in 35mm, I also bought a selection of other colour and B*W films fo rother stuff plus a heap of Provia 100F, I think by good fortune I got in just before the prices started to rocket. I have it all in a freezer and just take out what I intend to shoot the day before the shoot and pop it into the fridge overnight then load in the morning. My biggest difficulty now is getting my Provia developed and scanned, the place I used to use has downsized and no longer does E6, despite searching and trying others I have yet to find someone I am happy with. It is expensive testing labs. I currently budget for 1 film a week around £20 for dev and scan but I don't actually shoot a film every week so I carry the budget over to my project fund for when the pace picks up.

Long winded way of saying no the current price isn't affecting my use,,,,,,,,, yet.
 
I had a glance at Analogue Wonderland's colour negative prices yesterday (thinking of autumnal photos), wondering if perhaps I ought to buy some to use this autumn. I nearly fell off my chair when I realised that there was only one (Kodak Gold, £8) under double figures!

I guess I'll carry on with black and white, plus the occasional film from my stock, such as it is!
 
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I have about 4-5 rolls of slides, colour film and B&W each in the freezer from couple of decades past so that will be my stock...will not spend a single penny on new film until those are used. Hopefully it will last me a few decades the rate i use them!
 
I continue to buy colour film when I can find the "consumer" stuff - lots of the well known and used online analogue places list it but it's all usually out of stock. I recently got the last 2 Fuji C41 in a Boots the chemist.

I've just ordered 5 of these at £6.99 Inc vat https://bookshop.thephotographersga...ilm-c200-35mm-film-36-exposures-5-99-incl-vat

The postage is £4.95 but then there is vat on that element.

Anyway it works out at £8.17 per roll (based on the 5 roll order) delivered and I don't know of any 135 C41 currently available cheaper than that.

There was a comment 2-3 days ago in a thread (can't remember which one) about Ffordes having C200 @ £8. I found it on their website at that time but when I went to check it yesterday their listing for it had gone. Edit to inc Ffordes website snapshot:
Screenshot_20221011-080251.png

With this new order I'll have 9 x C41 35mm 36exp so that should last me 18 months or so.

UPDATE - order arrived in under 24 hrs, can't argue with that. Film dated 08/2024 so good again.
 
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I think it has. There are fancy films I would like to try, but the price and availability pretty much rule them out. Mind you, I did buy a roll of Ektar. But then I had just come out of the dentists, and as I'd spent enough already I thought I might as well treat myself.
 
A simple answer to the question is YES.

Yesterday I decided because of the total cost of buying, developing film I could no longer afford to even think of using film so I packed away my two Pentax SLRs and will now just use digital. I should say that I don't have the space to do my own developing nor the skill (or patience). Shame but that's life these days. However I shall continue to look at the F&C forum here and marvel at the images being produced.

Howard
 
I've not been put off shooting it - if anything, I've been shooting more colour film this year since I bought Negative Lab Pro and have been much more satisfied with the results I've been able to get from my scans. That said, the price means I'm quite careful as to when I shoot it. I don't shoot colour on a whim - I want the light and conditions to be such that I'm more likely to get pleasing photographs. I shot three rolls of colour film on a recent trip to the Yorkshire coast and the weather ended up being dull and overcast most of the time we were there, and I really wish I'd taken B&W film instead (especially given one of the rolls was Portra 800, which costs a billion pounds a roll these days).
 
I bulk buy every so often. Prices are just daft for a lot of films. I haven't bought any for ages. Have enough in the fridge to last until I'm 80 at current shooting rates :oops: :$

I do like a good colour film. Used to use superia a lot but it got silly expensive.
 
I've got a few rolls of colour print in 35mm and 120, but I think I've only shot 2 rolls plus a colour disposable this year. I've also got some ood slide film in 5x4, 120 and a single 35mm which I'm intending to process myself at some point, but haven't felt motovated to shoot it yet. I bought the Tetenal E6 kit for doing this before the pandemic, so hopefully it will be fine as it is still sealed. :thinking: I've no plans currently to buy more colour film.
 
We need the Chinese to use their brains to produce excellent colour film at £2 per roll, so more users and our labs would be happy (if they can keep their prices down) with all the increase is business.
....and cows might fly.
 
excalibur2 said:
We need the Chinese to use their brains to produce excellent colour film at £2 per roll, so more users and our labs would be happy (if they can keep their prices down) with all the increase is business.
....and cows might fly.
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There is a colour Chinese film, I think. It's called My Heart. Probably sounds great in Chinese. From what I've seen the results look decent. Worth looking up.
 
Plain Nev said:
There is a colour Chinese film, I think. It's called My Heart. Probably sounds great in Chinese. From what I've seen the results look decent. Worth looking up.
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Didn't there used to be lucky film ? But whatever the Chinese produce it's got to be as good as the best Kodak or Fuji films to impress me.
 
On second thoughts it seems like it's a rebranded film using old film stock and they stiff you on the frame count.
 
I go back and forth with colour film. Everything about it is a pain in the arse, expensive to buy, expensive to process and expensive to print

I also love it as kodak gold was the film of every single holiday I went on as a child

I shoot bnw now as its just so much easier and wet printing is the best part even printing crap pictures. Film photography for me is all about the process it slows you down you think more and you are more mindful

If I need colour I whip out the xt30 or maybe take a color roll or two on my holiday hoping for a few keepers
 
BADGER.BRAD said:
I started serious photography after going to the Whiby Goth festival ( as a Goth) and chatting to the photographers. I decided originally to dig out my late fathers camera collection ( some of which I had used as a kid) and if film was still available ( I thought it would be hard to find) give it a go with them first and if I liked it move on to Digital. My first digital a Canon 10d given to me was a bit of a let down as it really didn't like my film camera lenses and later I found it to be faulty as it was altering the ISO randomly on each shot. So at this point I stuck with the film cameras. I always had a thought in the back of my mind that it made no sense to shoot Film and then digitize it , I may as well just shoot digital in the first place. But as I really enjoy the process of Film Shooting I tend to come back to it every now and again . This time round I decided it was just too much, I used to buy 10 rolls t a time but in the future I think when I do go to film it will be Black and White Ilford film only ( I like the idea of supporting British workers). I really should get my self a scanner and process/scan them myself but the vagarities of using Linux and Scanners is a bit of a minefield.
Click to expand...
www.hamrick.com

VueScan Downloads - Alternate Versions of VueScan Scanner Software

Software and drivers for film scanners, document scanners and flatbed scanners, including HP, Canon, Epson, Nikon and Brother scanner drivers.
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vuescan looks to have good support for Linux
 
I guess if you remember buying film at 99p a roll then £10 a roll is a bit of a shock. That being said what else has gone up ten fold over the last 30 years? Most things are way more expensive now but film is not a mass market product anymore so is bound to rise in price even more as economy of scale is reduced.
If you have never bought film in the past, perhaps because you weren't born then, £10 might seem ok. It's less than 50p a shot after all.
Another way of looking at it is against a digital camera. A Nikon Z6 is a popular camera at around £2k. Film plus d and p is £20 a go so I can shoot 100 rolls, that's a fair bit. The Z6 will hold some of it's value but in truth we all hold onto to things too long and find the resale values low (in our view) when we do sell them plus we buy all the other kit. £80 for a battery, two or three lenses from Nikon cost a fair bit etc. Once we have all that kit can we really say we enjoy photography more with a Z6 than pottering around with some vintage gear that cost next to nothing?
Sure if you are doing this commercially it's a different ball game but as a hobby I supose my question would be why should film photography be cheap? It's not a lesser type of photography after all and we all know photography is expensive.
One last thought when you take a film photo it will be around for 100 years or more in most cases, it has archival property without needing any extra equipment. Now when i think back to the fist images I took on my first camera phone, I'm not sure where they are and if they are saved on a hard drive somewhere I don't know if that drive still works now never mind 50 or 100 years from now. It's a good Anna Atkins didn't shoot on a Z6! Twenty quid a roll, it's a bargain.
 
For a hobby, film is fine. A roll a week even is fine, like going down the pub.

To run a business, film makes no sense. 100 rolls of 36 won't even get me through a wedding (15+ hours) shoot...there is no way to spend £2k on film for a job lol
 
Back long, when Poundland were selling Agfa Vista for £1.00 a cassette, I used to buy one or two cassettes each time I walked past. That must have been seven or eight years ago and I ended up with quite a stash, I still have about a dozen cassettes left so the film feels free. I don't use very often as I much prefer monochrome but it does get used for testing new old cameras so once a month perhaps.
 
I've just realised that I have all but exhausted my stock of 35mm colour film, at the maximum there might be 10 rolls in the freezer. I've still got quite a bit of colour stock in 120 so, given the current prices, I don't know whether I'll replenish the 35mm stock. To be truthful, I prefer black and white anyway. If I need colour I can always take pictures digitally.

My all time favourite film is Tri-X, but even that is pretty pricy. Guess I'll stick to Ilford films in future, like the fabulous HP5 Plus.
 
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