> > Man, you are getting your stuff from the wrong place then! > > Even in 'rip-off Britain' Provia+Dev+Mount costs me about half that - > even for a single.
The last time I was back in the UK I found that, much to my surprise, many 35mm roll film costs (and, often, prices for developing services) were rather lower than in the USA. Out here Provia-100F costs $4:50 or so for a single roll (and over twice that if you want the higher speed of 400F). Process and mount from anywhere that I trust can be anything from $10-$13 [quantity 1]. I'm not even sure I could find a much better deal; most of the cheap bulk processors don't even touch slide film (not that I'd let them; I've worked in one of those places - if I wanted my slides scratched I'd do it myself). I can get $7:50 - $8:00 per roll if I look around. But then I've got to add in shipping costs , which gets me back up over $10:00/roll. And in any case I much prefer to deal with in- house processors; not only is there rather less chance of the film getting lost in the mail, it's a lot easier to explain just what you are not happy about when you're talking to a live human being across a counter, and can *show* them the problem. Even at $10/roll, though, you only need to use one roll a week for a *ist-D to pay for itself in three years. And, as others have noted, you end up shooting a lot more with digital anyway because the incremental cost is nil; you don't need to end up with too many shots you would otherwise have passed by before you are convinced that the outlay on the digital was worth it. > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: John Francis [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: 13 October 2003 04:51 > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: Re: Has Pentax missed again? > > > > > > And, of course, in three years it's not that hard for even a > > $1500 camera to pay for itself; my normal film is Provia > > 100F. Processed and mounted I don't get all that much change > > from $20 for a single roll (though there are discounts for > > quantity). I'll shoot more than 100 rolls over a three-year > > period; using a digital body instead means I'll actually be > > spending less. > > > > >