I watched a video recently that inspired me to write something about the cost of film. I’ve avoided this topic for a while now, if for no other reason than not wanting to write about something that is such a clickbait topic.

What motivated me, you might ask?

Well, even if you didn’t, I’m going to explain anyway. So grab your favorite drink and let’s settle in.

In the video, the presenter, who for the purposes of this blog will be named “Bruh”, starts by moaning about how much film prices have risen and that he’s going to have to shoot way less film in 2023 because its costing him too much and Kodak is raising prices again. Bruh goes on to make broad assumptions about Kodak’s business decisions, while claiming they will single-handedly drive people away from film and back to digital. Then somewhere near the end of the video, he talks about how he went out and purchased a new digital camera and some presets so that he could shoot that instead of film to save money. Wait, what?

OK, this is such a mess that I’m going to have to unpack this and devote 3 posts to it so that this doesn’t become a huge rambling single post. First I’ll break down what Bruh has to say about why he can’t shoot film anymore and what he’s doing about it. In subsequent posts I’ll present some solutions.

#1 Bruh states that shooting film is way too expensive now, and because of that he has to shoot much less of it in 2023.

Bruh likes to shoot Portra 800 for the sweet, sweet grain and tones, usually over-exposing it by 1 to 2 stops. And he likes to shoot it in his Pentax 67 for the killer bokeh and “medium format look”. As of 1/31/2023, Portra 800 costs on average about $75 USD for a pro-pack of 120. The upcoming Kodak price increase is alleged to be somewhere around 17% on average, so let’s say that brings the cost of a pro-pack to approximately $88 USD, or right around $17.50 a roll. Bruh also sends his film off to a lab. Lab developing, scanning, and postage runs him right at about $20 per roll.

So all of that means that after the next price increase, it will cost him $37.50 per roll, or $3.75 per each big 6x7 image shot in his Pentax 67. Ouch Bruh. That is a lot of money.

Do you have to shoot Portra 800 in 120? Can you develop and scan yourself? What are you doing with that big 6x7 negative? Are you printing large prints?

#2 Bruh then goes on to talk about the “evil Kodak” that is doing a dis-service to film shooters by raising their prices in 2023. And that their “poor business decisions are killing film”.

Really Bruh? Let’s look at statements from Kodak back in October 2022:

“Since the beginning of 2021, Kodak has hired more than 350 people in Rochester, New York, to keep up with the demand for film that, according to the company, has exploded over the last few years. Kodak also has 75 open positions it is looking to fill for this reason. Some of the jobs are meant to replace retiring employees, but about 100 are brand new, created to keep up with film production, according to Nagraj Bokinkere, vice president of industrial films and chemicals at Kodak. In the last few years, he said the company has quadrupled its film production.

"A few years ago we ran our film finishing factory 40 hours a week. Now we are 24/7. We have increased our capacity four times to meet the demand and we still haven’t caught up with the demand of film. We know we need to make more film. There is a strong demand; shelves are empty and we need to make more."

Bokinkere said the demand is being driven mostly by photo enthusiasts who are rediscovering film.”

As someone who has worked in the business world for 35 years, the last 23 of that in the consumer products category, I know a thing or two about rising costs, demand fluctuation, production problems, and right-sizing your workforce and business to keep up. It appears that Kodak has to make these tough decisions based on all of the above, and we should be happy that they are investing in the business, and doing what needs to be done to make that happen.

This is a welcome change from where things were only 10 years ago, when film was artificially cheap because it was a dying medium, and film companies were in what I call a “controlled crash”. A public company can’t invest in new employees and equipment while keeping profit margins at an acceptable level for the shareholders without the $$ to pay for it coming from somewhere.

#3 Bruh spends money on a trendy Fuji X100V digital camera and presets so that he can save money by not shooting film while getting the “film look”, which was the only reason he was shooting film in the first place.

So that’s somewhere around $1500 - $2000 he just spent depending on where he bought the camera and whether it was used or new. That doesn’t include whatever he spent on his sweet film presets, memory cards, batteries, etc.

Does everyone shoot film just for the look, or do they do it for reasons more than that? I’ve posted before about why I shoot film. I love shooting old cameras – the tactile feel, the different aspect ratios. The slowing down and making each shot count. The process. Even the smells. I love everything about it, including the developing and scanning parts. I guess the look is in there somewhere for me, but its not the only reason. Something tells me that there are some out there like Bruh, but for many film shooters it’s the experience and the process more than anything.

I will have to admit that as a middle-aged male that’s a DINK with disposable income for my hobbies, I may have a different view than Bruh when it comes to the expense of shooting film. I shot 260 rolls of film in 2022, so while that doesn’t put me anywhere near a pro wedding shooter that may shoot all of his weddings on film and shoot thousands of rolls per year, it does give me some perspective on how to shoot a lot of film and do it in a way that at the very least, doesn’t break the bank or cause my significant other to tell me that I have a problem.

In the next two entries I will go over the following, including examples of what I do specifically:

Picking other films to shoot and/or ways to save money on the film that you do buy
Developing your own film at home; start-up costs and the bare minimum needed
Scanning your film at home; start-up costs and the bare minimum needed
Making the most of what you do shoot
Considering what camera you use to shoot film

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!

Jeremy

Bruh, You're Doing it all Wrong - Part 1

Bruh, You're Doing it all Wrong - Part 2

6 Decades on a Saturday Morning