Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/07/18

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Bulk loading (long!)
From: Karen Nakamura <mail@gpsy.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2003 15:24:00 -0500
References: <B69D7542-B94E-11D7-BD8D-000393802534@mac.com>

Regarding those of you who were snidely (grin) commenting about the 
cheapos who would save a few bucks when they're using $2000 cameras 
and $2000 lenses (well, not me, my lenses are C-V).

The way I rationalized getting a Leica in the first place was because 
the cost of the camera really is the smallest item in the overall 
cost of ownership. Film and developing is the biggest hit.

I go through about 150 rolls of film a year. Most of it is E-6, so 
the cost of each roll is about $4 + $6 for developing = $10.  That's 
$1500/year for film or over the lifetime of the camera (20 years? 50 
years?), about $30,000 or $75,000....

(makes you almost want to go digital? )

I'm using a lot more B&W right now. I admit that I only hand-roll 
film for my classic cameras and use pre-rolled for my work (mostly 
because I can get reimbursed for it), but still each roll's savings 
does add up in the long run. But hand-rolling and hand-developing 
means that my B&W work is about $2 a roll, versus $8 if I pre-bought 
and outsourced developing.

Look at it this way, you only need to hand-roll 200 cartridges in 
order to get a new Summicron. :-)


Karen Nakamura
www.photoethnography.com
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In reply to: Message from Martin Howard <mvhoward@mac.com> ([Leica] Bulk loading (long!))