Posted by David Briner on March 8, 2007 at 1:17 PM
I'm getting ready for a couple trips out west this year and was thinking I need to load up on provia and velvia. Started looking at prices and thought maybe I could save by spooling my own (35mm). It looks like I save less than a dollar per roll. I guess you have to shoot a lot more than I do to save much money. Or am I missing something?
Dave
Personally I think it's a huge hassle to "roll your own". I'd watch for deals on recently-expired film on eBay or from vendors like Hunt's. You can often get it for excellent prices.
No, I don't think you're missing anything. These days, manufacturing cost and margins on these types of goods have gone down enough that the cost of spooling the film yourself is going to be very neutral against buying the roll ready made.
I shoot shotguns on the weekends sometimes. Trap shooting specifically, with clay "pigeons". I recently started loading my own shotshells. The cost of lead shot has gone up over the last year, as has been the case with alot of raw goods. What I found is that I can buy equivalent light target shotshells at the store for less than a penny more than I load them myself. Now there are still shells that I can make cheaper for myself, but light traploads are not it.
And think about this with your film. What happens if one of your film canisters doesn't seal correctly. You could be out a roll of 36. How much does that eat into your savings.
Posted by Kent Staubus on March 8, 2007 at 2:29 PM
I used to buy 100 ft rolls of special emulsions which were not available in cassettes. At one time I loaded B&W film in Leica cassettes and color slide film into disposable cassettes. This was fine when I did my own processing but eventually it wasn't worth the effort.
Hi, Unless you're already doing this and it's not news. I 've always bought film from B&H for half what it is retail in local stores and you don't have to buy a minimum. It's usually about 4.00 to 6.00 a roll. for provia...velvia is more expensive. www.bhphotovideo.com.
Discussion
6 repliesDave
Guy
I shoot shotguns on the weekends sometimes. Trap shooting specifically, with clay "pigeons". I recently started loading my own shotshells. The cost of lead shot has gone up over the last year, as has been the case with alot of raw goods. What I found is that I can buy equivalent light target shotshells at the store for less than a penny more than I load them myself. Now there are still shells that I can make cheaper for myself, but light traploads are not it.
And think about this with your film. What happens if one of your film canisters doesn't seal correctly. You could be out a roll of 36. How much does that eat into your savings.
Kent in SD
Cynthia Spence
www.geolightphoto.com