Serious tricolor work involves, first of all, finding a suitable subject outside a studio still life setting which holds steady; second, having a triple set of exposures all with the same linearity with strong separation filters in place, and with as closely matching reciprocity and even development characteristics as possible. By far the best film in these respects is TMax 100. Then supplementary masking is likely to be involved. All in all, once you've burned through I don't know how many boxes of film just to get all the necessary steps calibrated, there is nothing inexpensive about it. Cheaper film options would just make it worse - more expensive, because it's not going to be anywhere near as cooperative or likely as batch to batch consistent. A second choice would be FP4. But why would anyone even choose to do this with 8x10 film if they're just going to scan it, snap align it, and digitally print it afterwards? Pipe dreams.
Of course, if one just wants to fool around with a set of tricolor filters, and is satisfied with funky "artsy" results, there are all kinds of ways to skin the cat. But once I had accurately calibrated my own methodology, I allowed at least $90 apiece for any 8x10 tricolor image prior to actual printing, and that was back when I paid a fourth as much for 8x10 TMax as the present asking rate! And I have the luxury of very precise pin registration carriers and easels. But what I don't have is the luxury of is waiting forever till the right subject turns up. If I lived in the desert it might be different. But here on the coast, it's windy almost all the time. Maybe in another location, in another lifetime ...
But it's safe to assume Stuart won't go that route.
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