Let's talk about money and film photography
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| Picture made with my CANON EOS 80D and 24 mm lens |
Before starting film photography, I used to think that it was very expensive. Because I was thinking that film photography means photo prints (read my blog post about it). So I want to share with you what is the real cost of film photography. Of course, I will share my own experience, I live in France, maybe in your country the prices are different. Feel free to share your experience too.
1) FILM CAMERAS :
It depends of the camera. Film photography is kind of fashionable today so prices are soaring. The price of success BUT here some average price :
- Compact cameras like Olympus mju : you can find this kind of cameras at a flea market for 5€, maybe less. But on the internet, it's another price : approximatively around 50-70€. Please, Don't spend more money on it...
- SLR cameras like Canon AE1 : at a flea market, around 30€. On the internet, around 150€ with a 50 mm lens.
I don't know for the medium format... I have already seen a Rolleiflex at 500€.
I'm also dreaming of a Contax camera, but the price is crazy (around 600€).
When analog is more expensive than digital ahah.
2) 35MM FILM STOCKS :
There is two types of 35mm films : new ones and expired ones. So, there are two prices !
An expired film find at a flea market does not cost a lot of money ! You don't know how the film has been saved. I use to pay them 1 to 3€. 1€ is like for a classic film like Kodak Gold or Fujifilm Superia. 3€ is for rare films (not produced anymore for example).
Concerning new 35 mm film, it totally depends of the film : for example Afga Vista Plus is really cheap, like 3 or 4€. But Kodak Portra 400 is more like 7€. It depends of the reseller too ! Please compare if you can before buying.
Concerning new 35 mm film, it totally depends of the film : for example Afga Vista Plus is really cheap, like 3 or 4€. But Kodak Portra 400 is more like 7€. It depends of the reseller too ! Please compare if you can before buying.
I have only one experience about film processing and developing. I actually pay 5€ for 1 film, only developing, no scan or print.
Concerning prints, the shop where I develop my film propose different formats and prices : 0,40€ for 10 x 15, 0,80€ for 13 x 18, 1,30€ for 15 x 20 and 6,80€ for 20 x 30.
Please let me a comment with the price you pay for the different services ! It would be great to compare together.
Thank you for reading this blog post, feel free to comment and share your experience as well.
Cheese !
Hi! I’m living in Barcelona and i pay 12€ to develop and scan (cause I don’t have one, I saw you have one and I want to buy a scan to do it myself)
ReplyDeleteAlso the Kodak portra is like 11€ and the expired ones like 3/4€.
Thanks for your post (:
Xxx
I live Germany and I was developing at DM (drug store) and I was paying 10€ for developing+scan (in CD)+ photos. I realised that it was too much and I didn’t wanted the physical photos. I found a local camera store where they only developed C41 films for 5€. I was developing there and scanning it myself. It was still a lot of money because I was shooting a lot. All these changed when I stated developing myself. I started with black and white and later colour. I highly recommend everyone to develop film at home. It’s such an easy process. You can develop and scan in an hour. It was such a monumental difference compared to a week of wait in a drug store! Additionally, it’s so much fun to develop at home. You’ll experiment with a lot of new recipes. It’s fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Joshua and I actually want to try.... Thanks for your feedback !
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