Alternatives to the big name color films?

[Ed Eubanks]

As I shoot through more and more film in my 4x5, I find the costs to be astounding. B&W is somewhat reasonable, but the costs of color seem quite high. Earlier today, I was calculating the costs for a single shot, and here's what I came up with: $2.00 per sheet for purchasing film; $2.50 per sheet for processing at my local pro lab; equals $4.50 per sheet hard costs; double or triple that for bracketing; equals $9.00-$12.50 for ONLY ONE SHOT!!!
I've looked at Efke/Arista/other alternatives for B&W, but how about color? B&H runs Fuji NPS for 10 sheets at $17.00; Kodak EPP at 10 sheets for $18.00. Is there a cheaper route?

[Henry Ambrose]

A roll film back perhaps? Short dated film when you can find it? 50 sheet boxes are slightly cheaper per shot than 10 sheet boxes. No contact sheet - scan and make your own digi-contact instead.

I guess this is one reason why many LF photographers shoot only B&W (certainly not the only one) which costs enough anyway. On the other hand if a picture is not worth the cost of production maybe you shouldn't waste the money. If you're being paid for your work this is easy to slide by but I can see how its a real block to shooting a lot of color film otherwise. Thats how it works for me - most anything I do for myself is B&W or some color roll film. When I'm working I never even think about spending whatever it takes for film and processing, its just part of the job and I "overshoot" to absolutely guarantee a result.

If you're gonna dance you'll have to pay the piper.

[John Cook]

Hi Ed,

When I retired from commercial work I encountered the same problem. No one to bill for the materials.

My reasoning to solve the situation went something like this:

The whole point (for me) of LF is to obtain maximum image sharpness. B&W film is much sharper than color. As well as much less costly.

I am no longer shooting for reproduction in magazines. All my stuff now becomes wall-hangers. B&W prints seem to withstand the ravages of pollution and sunlight much better than color.

While some subjects, like food, flowers and fall foliage absolutely cry out for color, a living room with walls lined with snappy color prints starts to resemble a travel agency.

So when I encounter a subject which needs color I get out the Marshall’s Oils. They give me just enough pastels to satisfy, without all the above drawbacks.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Check Freestyle for their past-date cold-stored Fuji specials. I've had good luck with the 8x10" Astia, which I think is currently sold out, but they may have some others in 4x5". If you get a hundred or two hundred sheets from the same batch you can afford to test a few to see if there are any exposure or filtration adjustments for age.

[Guy Tal]

See if you can still get Agfa RSX-II in 4x5 (unfortunately I believe it was discontinued recently). A very decent color film that's much cheaper than either Fuji or Kodak.

Guy

[Eric Pederson]

Given that your developing cost exceeds your film costs, the most obvious way to reduce your costs is to not develop your bracketing exposures. If you feel you need to continue bracketing, just develop the middle exposure and throw away the other film if it comes out correctly; if not, you know which of the other two to develop and still throw one away.

Since film is the cheapest part of photography, I'm always impressed that it is the cost most complained about....

[Nick_3536]

A large part of the cost of processing is labour. If you are able to do that yourself the film is easily more money. Locally 4x5 colour sheets are about $2.60 Canadian per sheet if you buy 50. The smaller boxes are even more. The chemicals are about 1/10th of that. I already have the equipment for B&W processing. I'm setup to control temps for Ra-4 so personally processing C-41 would just mean buying the chemicals.

I'd be thrilled to find a source for more reasonable colour film. Freestyle sells some sort of consumer film in 35mm. I don't have any idea how good it is but I'd consider older style colour films in 4x5.