Secondly, you’re going to need some film. There are a lot of budget films around, my favorite being Fuji. You can get four rolls of Fuji Superia 400 for around $12 on Amazon. That’s 96 total shots, which isn’t too bad. A lot of people don’t like Agfa films, but I think they are super fun to mess around with, especially in a party or concert setting. They’ll set you back around $4 a roll in store, which isn’t too bad. My budget film option of choice is only available in some specific places. Camera Mall in Ann Arbor sells expired film for $2 a pop, generally Fuji Superia 800. It has only been expired by one month, and I have never had any issues shooting with it. It isn’t the best film, but for starting out or just messing around, it’s not a bad deal. Once you have gotten your hands dirty, I would recommend trying Portra or Ektar films, which are both by Kodak and are a little over $10 a roll. They produce amazing colors and are fun to mess around with for portraits. If you really feel confident in yourself, you can try Kodak Tri-X or Ilford HP5 black and white films, both of which are stellar, but will cost you a pretty penny to have developed… which is our next topic.

When I first started shooting film, I had no idea where I would have it developed. I heard that Woodward Camera did good work (which I must say, they really do), but after developing some film there I found the pricing to be a bit out of my budget as a broke & alcoholic college student. My buddy Julian recommended Express Photo & Camera in Livonia, and I haven’t looked back since. Development and scanning for one standard color roll ends up being around $5, and you save if you wait to develop a number of rolls at once. This is far cheaper than Camera Mall in Ann Arbor and Woodward Camera in Birmingham. They also only take about an hour to do the whole process, whereas the others can take up to a week or more. The workers at Express Photo & Camera are the nicest damn people you will ever meet, and are always happy to help with any questions you might have. Developing traditional black-and-white film is more expensive no matter where you go because of the different chemicals used, so to test the waters I would recommend Ilford XP2. This is because it can be developed in the same chemistry as color film, AKA, Express Photo & Camera can do it for cheap. I don’t like the results from XP2 quite as much as HP5 or Tri-X, but saving around $10 a roll is a nice kicker.