I think I see where the confusion about what I said is... what I mean about "$200 affair" is that if you spend $108 on a box of ten, spend roughly $72 to mail it out to Duggal (can't get the cash discount via mail order, yes, you'd save a $20 using Daniel's source), throw in postage, and tax on those items, you are inching up to having $200 worth of your goods/services sitting in the postal system's care while you wait to get it back safely.
hey John.Originally Posted by John NYC
I buy my e-6 and c-41 from a local photo warehouse who buys out stock/overrun from other retailers. they have an ebay presence(won't say which one), but since I'm within driving distance, they give me a nice discount if I pay with cash.
about a month ago, I fell into a deal(due a mix-up on their part), where I was able to get a large amount of fresh 160nc for super cheap. I have to call every so often to see if they have new stock of the emulsions I like(e100g and 160nc), but since I've done business with them the last 6 months, we get on quite well.
now obviously not everyone can get these sort of deals, but I'm just saying, that if you keep a sharp lookout for film that you can use, you can generally find it cheap.
Return postage for most film orders I send to Samy's is covered by them(1st class mail, but generally, it fits nicely into a F.R. Priority envelope/box, so its $5-11 for shipping.
I don't print much of my own work, mostly because I'm not at the level of having a complete body of work worth showing IMO to the public.
so, yeah... Living in a metropolis like LA or NYC can have its upsides. But as I stated, I keep a sharp lookout for film and paper/ink deals, craigslist, kijiji, ebay, etc....
E-6 I've been shooting some slightly expired EPN Readyloads(4x5) I got earlier this year, as well as some slightly expired(but frozen) boxes of Astia I got from a guy I assisted from, he's a pro car shooter, now digital only. Used to buy cases of film at a time, so he could get all the same emulsion #.
-Dan
Gotcha.hey John.
I buy my e-6 and c-41 from a local photo warehouse who buys out stock/overrun from other retailers. they have an ebay presence(won't say which one
about a month ago, I fell into a deal(due a mix-up on their part), where I was able to get a large amount of fresh 160nc for super cheap. I have to call every so often to see if they have new stock of the emulsions I like(e100g and 160nc), but since I've done business with them the last 6 months, we get on quite well.
now obviously not everyone can get these sort of deals, but I'm just saying, that if you keep a sharp lookout for film that you can use, you can generally find it cheap.
Return postage for most film orders I send to Samy's is covered by them(1st class mail, but generally, it fits nicely into a F.R. Priority envelope/box, so its $5-11 for shipping.
I don't print much of my own work, mostly because I'm not at the level of having a complete body of work worth showing IMO to the public.
so, yeah... Living in a metropolis like LA or NYC can have its upsides. But as I stated, I keep a sharp lookout for film and paper/ink deals, craigslist, kijiji, ebay, etc....
E-6 I've been shooting some slightly expired EPN Readyloads(4x5) I got earlier this year, as well as some slightly expired(but frozen) boxes of Astia(in 8x10 and 4x5) I got from a guy I assisted from, he's a pro car shooter, now digital only. Used to buy cases of film at a time, so he could get all the same emulsion #.
-Dan
For me, I do 8x10 because I want the ultimate quality it provides. So, I'm always going to buy fresh film from a well-known direct retailer, and not risk that one of my shots is bad because of faulty film.
We're only 22 cents away per sheet on price for dev when you factor in your postage.
I've not printed anything really big yet, though that is the ultimate goal so I have looked into prices at several places. To get very large gallery quality prints and mounting, it just is not cheap, to say the least.
Daniel - yes, I'm using Lightwaves for 8X10 E-6 and C-41, though I have additional
options for 4X5. No problems so far. I'm not paranoid about the price, because I use
8x10 color film very conservatively, especially now that all my out-of-date "fun"
sheets have run out. There is a courier available in the East Bay, so I don't have to
drive over there or bother mailing the film. Well worth the convenience.
Here on the east coast, there isn't much.
8x10 colour film in Europe is pretty much exactly twice the price of film in the US;
Kodak b/w is a similar multiple.
The last time I had a sheet of 8x10 C41 processed, I dropped it into a lab in London's west end (nobody does it here) and it cost £8.50 a sheet. That's $13.00.
It may be available slightly cheaper elsewhere, but I didn't go there-
I started processing my own before I reached the end of the box-
Usually, the only colour 8x10 I use is the stuff I'm lucky enough to be the highest bidder on. Not always the freshest, but better than nothing at all-
As for b/w, I use Foma, I try not to shoot when reciprocity might be a problem, and I've been lucky enough not to have suffered any of the disasters that automatically befall all those who stray from the orthodoxy of the yellow box.
As long as there's demand for film, it'll be around-
though maybe not in Europe.
If I'm forced to import it because the market is non-existent here, I'll be importing from the States.
Are you really saying that 8x10 Kodak E100G is $216 USD equivalent there? Egads!!!
http://www.macodirect.de/kodak-ektar...et-p-1987.html
That's €154.64, which according to today's online converter is $195.89, so the dollar has improved since last week, when I first made the conversion.
However, I'd have to add €18.45 for postage- $23.38.
so about $220 for a box.
Silverprint in London don't carry Ektar, but their Portra is slightly more expensive-
$206.57 at today's rates. Add postage and it's $233.52 for a box-
If I were to have it all processed at one in the UK, (but I do that myself...) that's $130, plus postage making it about $390 a box.
At a tenth of a second per exposure, that's nearly $400 a second I'm spending on Large Format.
I'm not sure Bill Gates makes that much money...
Wow, I'm going to stop complaining!
Well, looking at my recent test snapshots from my Ricoh GR Digital III and comparing them with the final 8x10 scans of b&w, color slide and color negative versions from a shoot last weekend, I do have to say it is worth it to me... for now at least. In fact, I'm getting to where I don't really want to shoot anything else. I've got five (some partially used) boxes of film in my fridge. It's getting to be Fort Knox in there!
Here in Oz, 8x10 slide film is a special order and costs about $180- $200 AUD for 10 sheets. Figure in processing @$20 AUD per sheet, scanning @$37 per sheet and an 8x10 print @ $38 each, and you soon find that shooting 8x10 slide is uneconomical for those who haven't won the lotto. I would love to try 8x10 slide (I currently shoot 8x10 Efke 25) but by the time I get 10 prints done from 10 slides it's over $1150 AUD. Not too many people here in Oz can afford that.
You guys in America have things really good, don't complain too much yet.
Mike
Michael, I have been lucky enough to pick up a few hundred sheets of Velvia 50 in 8x10 and that cost me about $10 per sheet. Processing I do myself so the price for that is about $2-3 per sheet. but even still it is a minimum of $13 per shot. Efke 25 isnt bad ordered from Freestyle for my black and white, just hope Andrew can do something about 8x10 slide film as well as the Efke 25.
as far as scanning is concerned, I havent found anyone up here who can do a decent scan as yet, and processing of 8x10 is nearly impossible to find, hence the need to do it yourself or send it to Melbourne or Sydney.
It is a lot easier in the US
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