Looking for a budget 360mm for portraits?

[wallpaperviking]

Amazing, thanks so much for the suggestions! I will start the hunt!

[Jody_S]

Is it? When you are shooting at 10 <insert currency of your liking> for each shot then a single box of sheets rapidly approaches the price of a lens.

I'm still shooting from my last batch of x-ray film bought 4-6 years ago. I calculated it came out to CAD $0.45 / sheet incl. delivery. Prices are up a little, my next batch might end up costing $0.75 / sheet.

[Mark Sawyer]

Is it? When you are shooting at 10 <insert currency of your liking> for each shot then a single box of sheets rapidly approaches the price of a lens.

Freestyle has Bergger Pancro ISO 400 8x10, 25 sheets for $124.95, or about $5 a sheet. 8x10 wet plate is around $2 a shot. Emil does wonderful work with paper negatives at perhaps a dollar a shot. And as Jody said, there's x-ray film. And mammography film.

[Randy]

Just bought a box of 8X10 Arista EDU 100 - $209 for a 50 sheet box, delivered - $4.18 a sheet.

[Tin Can]

X-Ray is cheap and resembles old film, good for practice and portraits

buy a case and save

https://www.zzmedical.com/analog-x-r...-ray-film.html

you will shoot more and learn more

I'm still shooting from my last batch of x-ray film bought 4-6 years ago. I calculated it came out to CAD $0.45 / sheet incl. delivery. Prices are up a little, my next batch might end up costing $0.75 / sheet.

[Jody_S]

X-Ray is cheap and resembles old film, good for practice and portraits

buy a case and save

X-ray did for me in 8x10 what a dSLR did for me in smaller formats: made me lose my fear of pressing the shutter button for fear of 'wasting' a shot. I learned a lot from being willing to spend a day experimenting and breaking every rule I was taught, chimping and analyzing histograms on the fly on the back of the camera. With X-ray I still have to bring it home and develop it, but if I burn through 20 sheets trying out a new lens, who cares? Total cost with development is around $10-$11. These days that's the cost of lunch at a fast food place. I spend more on gas driving to and from wherever I'm shooting than I do on film and supplies.

[Scott Davis]

Back to the original question, if you're still looking for a lens, a Commercial Ektar in barrel is still a good option. They're not cheap cheap, but they're a LOT less expensive than a 14" Commercial Ektar in Ilex 5 shutter. And you can't get much more classic a portrait lens - Yousuf Karsh used one for much of his studio portrait work.

[Philippe Grunchec]

X-Ray is cheap and resembles old film, good for practice and portraits

buy a case and save

https://www.zzmedical.com/analog-x-r...-ray-film.html

you will shoot more and learn more

Is it really 8x10" or 18x24cm?

[Tin Can]

Is it really 8x10" or 18x24cm?

ZZ sells 8X10, fits perfectly in 8X10 film holders

[Jim Noel]

I use 8x10" x-ray film of several varieties. If I could still buy mammography film, I would do so because it is single sided.
I grew up in the era when ortho film was the standard, and panchromatic was just coming to the fore. For most subjects, it is my favorite. One major exception is female portraits. It' normal contrast works well for me and nature. Since there are seldom any decent clouds in southern Cal skies, i exclude the skies from my images most of the time. Therefore the fact that ortho film doesn't show the clouds doesn't bother me. Last but not least, I save hundreds of dollars each year on film from4x5 to 5x12 and 8x10. I rarely bought anything else when I had the 7x17.
And to answer Phillippe, it is 8x10 in the US.