Lars Michael wrote:
>
> In the US, film & processing estimate at about $10 per roll
> for "pro" slide film. If a D30 plus microdrive sells for
> roughly $3k, the break-even point for the initial costs for
> the camera body is at 300 rolls of film or roughly 11000
> exposures. I'm at almost 5000 exposures after three months.
>
Over here, if I use "normal" slide film, which is not necessarily
any worse than "pro" films, I'm at about $3 per 36 exp roll. That
would shift the break-even point a bit. Plus, the quality is just
not comparable (yet). And what are the extra costs per additional
microdrive? You will definitely need some at your shooting rate.
> And this doesn't even take the time for scanning and dust
> spotting (easily 1 hour per frame) into account. At a
> labor rate of say $20 per hour (my actual hourly rate is
> higher), this gets expensive real fast, and it dwarfes
> the cost for film and processing.
This is true. But I don't scan every frame I take. In fact, I scan
a rather small percentage of my *keepers* only. Also, dust spotting
a low res scan is obviously not as labor intensive as a high res one.
And until now, my scanning is for Web use only. Dust spotting a 600x400
image is still work, but it doesn't take an hour with the right tools.
OTOH, if I'd try to project a 2-3 MP image to a size of 2x3 meters, the
quality difference will show. Plus, I'd need an appropriate projector
first. Not exactly a cheap accessory given the output quality. I don't
know if there are projectors for "high res" images (more than the PC
typical 1280x1024 size) If there are, I expect them to be pretty darn
expensive, given that the prices for projectors for PCs are already very
expensive and only support a *very* limited resolution.
>
> I still shoot slide film, but not as much as I used to.
> And mainly to clear out the film and mailers I still have
> in storage, and for those extreme wide-angle and ultra-high
> definition shots.
As you said, the mileage varies. It always depends on what you do
and where.
Thomas Bantel
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