Deals on film...

Since there seems to be a good interest in film photography here, I thought that it should be fitting to have a "Deals on film" thread here to give people heads-up on good deals. I'll start.

Freestyle Photo currently has a special on Arista II 400, 24-exposure rolls. This is rebranded Agfa APX 400.

20 rolls for $25
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_prod.php?cat_id=&pid=1000003124

That works out to $1.25/roll. I'd order more but I already got plenty of film.

Also the Arista Premium 100 and 400 seem to be back in stock after immediately selling out the first time around. These are rumoured to be rebranded Kodak Plus-X 100 and Tri-X 400. $2 per 36-exposure roll.

Is this where you'd normally buy film?

I've been looking at B&H lately (I'm getting a meter and some film) just because I've ordered there before and they're obviously legit.

I normally get film from Freestyle Photo. They're one of the top suppliers of photographic materials and equipment in the world. Freestyle's reputation is superb. They have an advisory board made up by some of the most well respected photographers, print makers, photography writers and photography teachers in the United States.

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/board.php

Recently expired Neopan 1600 (Aug 08 ). $3.49 per 36-exposure roll at B&H.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/537552-USA/Fujifilm__Neopan_1600_135_36_Professional_Black.html

Recently expired Kodachrome 64 (still good) from a reputable vendor jxw0118 (aka ComfortInStyle) on e-Bay. 24 36-exposure rolls for $100 or 12 rolls for $60.
http://stores.ebay.com/ComfortInStyle

I had a lot of fun with the NeoPan, but it's hard to use during the day because I like shooting closer to wide open but indoors it was great.

I've always heard that the box speed of Neopan 1600 'should' actually be 640 or 800 ISO. I have yet to try this film though I do have a roll given to me by a friend. Rated at 1600, it does seem very contrasty and there seems to be quite a bit lost in the shadows in the photographs that I've seen. I'd probably rate it at 800 ISO.

Edit: Tri-X at 800 or 1600 in XTOL seems quite nice. There's grain, of course, but its lovely. Also, stepping up to medium format will certainly help with either Tri-X or Neopan 1600. With my rangefinders, I'd never really had to go higher than 400 ISO. Back in the days of HCB, Kertesz, and Capa, 64 ASA was considered high-speed. I'd probably reserve a film like Neopan 1600 for MF .

This seller has some good deals on expired film. They should be ok if they were indeed cold-stored.
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZamaan13

Ultrafine Online (eBay) has some good deals on both fresh and expired films. 300 rolls (35mm, 20-exp) of fresh APX400 for $345. If it was APX100, I'd probably go for it.

http://photography.search.ebay.com/_Film_W0QQcatrefZC12QQsacatZ4201QQsassZultrafineonline

Very good prices for Tri-X 400 and T-Max 400 in 35mm format.

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/yorky16

I'll have to add him as a favorite seller for later.

New Legacy Pro films from Freestyle are coming Jan 20th.

The word out on the streets is that Legacy Pro 100 is rebranded Fuji Acros 100 and that Legacy Pro 400 is rebranded Fuji Neopan 400. $2.79 per 36-exp roll. Not as much a bargain as the other rebranded films from Freestyle but still offers significant savings over the Fuji branded versions of the same film. Fuji Acros 100 is usually over $6 per roll, for example.

So now there is:

Arista EDU Ultra 100 = Foma Fomapan 100
Arista EDU Ultra 200 = Foma Fomapan 200
Arista EDU Ultra 400 = Foma Fomapan 400
Arista II 100 = Agfa APX 100
Arista II 400 = Agfa APX 400
Arista Premium 100 = Kodak Plus-X 100
Arista Premium 400 = Kodak Tri-X 400
Legacy Pro 100 = Fuji Acros 100
Legacy Pro 400 = Fuji Neopan 400

Yah I noticed that, should be interesting. I just bought 5 rolls of TRI-X and 2 rolls of Kodachrome today. That should keep me busy for a week or so

I was shooting a roll of TMAX 100 this morning because that was the only B&W I had on me, finished it and now I'm halfway through a roll of Velvia. After that's done I think I'll do a roll of TRI-X and see how it matches up vs HP5, which is my go-to B&W film, along with PANF 50.

I think I would have stopped shooting film long ago if I hadn't started developing B&W myself. It just makes it so much more affordable.

Considering the prices for B&W processing, one would be insane not to develop the film themselves. Buying 100-ft rolls and rolling your own cassettes would cut the costs further. I never tried that though.

I guess I used to be insane.

Cheap Fujipress film (aka Fuji Superia) on e-Bay:

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/loonyrich45

A little late... Here are Tom Abrahamsson's test shots taken with Freestyle's Legacy Pro 400.

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=legacy%20pro&w=36506481%40N00

They pretty much confirm that Freestyle's Legacy Pro 400 is indeed Fuji Neopan 400 Presto but at a huge discount.

Tom is a photojournalist, industrial designer, Leica legend and super-nice guy. Originally from Sweden but now lives in Vancouver.

I may have to make a big purchase with them before my trip. I was thinking of buying an expired 100' bulk roll of FP4 from work but the idea of standing in the dark listening to clicks doesn't really appeal to me. I've never used NeoPan 400 but I've used NeoPan 1600 and liked it.

I never used Neopan 400 Presto. I have tried the old Neopan 400 way back when and wasn't really impressed. Supposedly, the new 400 Presto gives very fine grain with Rodinal and is very good for scanning. It has gained a lot of fans. I've read somewhere, however, that its grainy with D76 (perhaps from Tom A.).

I don't think I'm looking to "learn" a new film anyway, especially for a long trip.

Tri-X is really hard to screw up. If I shot anything critical, that what I would always use unless fine-grain or high-resolution is required.

FREE EXPIRED FILM

http://www.flickr.com/groups/kodakexpiredfilm/

Scroll down. The Kodak Expired Film group on flickr is giving away free expired Kodak film if you send them an email answering some simple questions.

Got my free film today, 11 rolls in all including 10 expired and one new Ektar 100. Should be fun to play with these.

I wish that I had got in on that but with the price of processing in this town, I think it will be best for me to stick with B&W only. Will be experimenting with developing Superia with Rodinal... hopefully soon.

I don't normally shoot it, but Rome's was selling off 3-packs of Fuji Superia Exta 200 for $1 each. They recently expired /07/09. I picked up 10 of them, not sure if they'll stock more.

$10 for 30 rolls of film is pretty good, even if recently expired.

Thats a good deal. I didn't already have tons of Superia 100 and 400, I'd go for it.