Read on Twitter
Thread - I was asked the other day about the economics of bulk rolled film vs factory rolled film. So using average prices across multiple stocks & equipment from @BHPhotoVideo & @Ultrafineonline I ran the numbers. Here's a thread for anyone who wants to get into bulk - 1
2 - loading but was curious about the cost. First, as a caveat it's "not" required but you probably only want to load or use bulk film if 1) you develop your own film, and 2) you are a regular shooter. If you shoot a few rolls a year, then it's really not worth it.
3 - First there is equipment you need. At minimum you need a daylight bulk film loader, reusable film cartridges & a black changing bag. If you want to reuse factory loaded film canisters then you may want to get a film extractor. The cost for these items will be about $123
4 - but more than likely you already have the changing bag and you don't need the extractor. This takes your approximate equipment cost to $68. I will amortize the initial equipment investment over the cost of the bulk film. Now the next is the 100' bulk roll of film.
5 - One important note color film is NOT readily available in 100' rolls, however most commonly used B&W film is. Film stocks from Kodak, Fomapan, Ilford, Ultrafine Warehouse, Rollei are available. For this analysis I checked the price on 11 film stocks I've used most recently.
6 - The highest priced film stock is currently @ILFORDPhoto Delta 400 at $99.99 from @BHPhotoVideo and the lowest is Fomapan 400 at $41.21 also from B&H. For this analysis I averaged the prices for the 11 stocks & it is $72.25 per 100' roll.
7 - You can get 20 36 exposure rolls out of a 100' roll or 28 24 exposure rolls. For this analysis I used 36 exposure rolls for pricing. For the comparison I also used the current store price for a 36 ex roll of each bulk films used in the analysis. Without adding
8 - the equipment amortization into the analysis the AVERAGE price per 36 ex of factory rolled film is US$ 6.14 and the average price per 36 ex of the same bulk film stock is US$ 3.64. However, if you factor in the equipment amortization of the minimum equipment needed
9 - the cost for the FIRST bulk roll of 36 ex film is US$ 7.01. Therefore if you occasional shoot and take some time to run through 20 rolls then financially it's not worth it. HOWEVER, if you plan to use more than 1 roll of 100' bulk film stock then it's financially a good deal.
10 - Once you get to your second bulk roll the average cost per roll drops to US$ 5.33, 3rd roll US$ 4.76 and the 4th 100' roll the average 36 ex roll drops to US$ 4.39. This analysis holds fairly consistent even if you stick to only one stock and it's a pricier film. I use
11 - bulk rolled film, but in a normal year (2020 wasn't normal) I shoot maybe 8-12 rolls a month (more if I do a city visit). I use bulk film as an "everyday" film but still buy factory loads for color and more important shoots. I buy factory loaded film from @robertscamera
12 - but my everyday film is bulk loaded & generally lower priced film. I'm currently working through a bulk roll of Fomapan 400. This along with Arista EDU and Ultrafine eXtreme 400 are my go to's. So bottomline, if you plan to shoot a lot of B&W consider bulk loading!
