Getting into photography for cheap (film or digital)

The common misconception is that photography is expensive. I held back my photography because I though that this was true. For years I shot mainly with just my iPhone and an entry level DLSR, which I though I could not afford to upgrade. If I only knew just how little money you can get away with it, I would have purchased my dream gear much earlier.

Getting into film photography is dirt cheap, because you can get cameras and other equipment very inexpensive — or even free. The running costs are higher than in digital, because you’ll have to acquire film and chemicals. But, that is not as big of a cost as you might think. I buy few rolls of film per month and it definitely doesn’t feel like I’m losing money. I spend about 20€ per month on film. And partly because it isn’t free, I actually pick and choose what I shoot and don’t waste film on pointless shooting. Now I’m thinking about bulk loading my film, which would save me at least some amount.

Film cameras and vintage lenses

I got my Olympus OM-1 for free, so absolutely no costs there. It was given to me by my cousin, who thought I would like the camera after noticing I’m into vintage gear. Your parents, relatives or friends may have old film camera in the attic just lying around. In addition to my OM-1, I had my old cameras too (Canon AE-1 and a bunch of others), which I bought with a bargain 10-15 years ago, so I don’t consider them to be a much of cost either, since I already had them.

Old cameras may be broken so one one thing you might want to prepare for is getting them fixed. That’s not terribly expensive either. If you buy an old camera from a store like cameraventures.com it has been serviced and comes with a guarantee. A tested and maintenanced Canon AE-1 body from cameraventures.com costs, I’m guessing, about 30€ and a nice 50mm f1.8 lens will be another 30€ so totally not a huge amount of money for a great camera.

I’ve bought at least three lenses for about 20€ each from sales groups on Facebook. Great resource for buying amazing stuff! Some people also just wants go get rid of their old stuff, and I’ve been actually donated several cameras for free. I bought a wide angle lens for my Olympus and the seller gave me a working OM-10 body and two Olympus point and shoots too. That’s three free cameras. Another guy sent me a Canon QL19 GIII for free because he didn’t use it. Ok, I got lucky, but it’s not uncommon that you will just get amazing deals when you get into the film shooting community. After your friends and relatives notice that you like old cameras, your bound to get their old family cameras and whatever has been lying around in their storage for the past 30 years.

Chemicals and other developing equipment

My chemicals (developer, stop bath and fixer) ended up costing something like 60€-ish in total and they will last a long time. A big 3,8l pack of D-76 developer costs about 17€ which is good for almost 20 rolls of 35mm film. (I’ve also bought a bottle of Rodinal, but I don’t use that any more.) The developing cost per roll is about 1€. Totally not expensive. I paid 10€ for my developing tank on a used gear market on Facebook and the rest of my “lab equipment” is just stuff from our kitchen. Used film scanners can be found for 50€, which is one of the most expensive single investments in the shopping list.

Digital cameras and lenses

Good new digital cameras are horrendously expensive, which is one of the reasons I was reluctant to buy one for many years. After a bit of research though, I ended up in a fairly good deal. I am not into big DSLRs so much, so I had my eyes on a mirrorless system. I’ve had two so far. My first was Canon EOS M, which I paid 100€ used. I never knew I could get away with such a small amount of money. I ended up upgrading it to M3 for that I paid 300€ for. It came with a kit lens which I sold with the old M body for 240€, if memory serves. I settled with the M3 and after selling the old stuff out of the way, it really didn’t end up costing me too much. A real bang for the buck!

I only have two lenses for my digital camera. I have the 24mm f2.8 and 50mm f1.8 STM. I basically could do just fine with the 24mm since it’s so multifunctional all-rounder. You can get one of those used for 100€ and the 50mm is probably the most affordable lens in the world. I bought mine for 100€ brand new. I needed an adapter though, which was a bit expensive for my taste. It cost 125€, but with it I can adapt any Canon lens to my mirrorless body. It still kills me to think that an adapter was more expensive than any of my actual lenses.

Even though I have a very minimal digital setup, it was far more expensive than my film setup (including all the film I’ve ever bought). You can get a similar kit for about 500-600€ which isn’t a total bank breaking budget for a good digital setup. I think the same goes for DSLRs as well. I think you can get a fairly good used DSLR body for a few hundred.

Bearing in mind that I’m not a total gear freak and I buy my equipment little by little, it definitely doesn’t feel like I’m constantly spending money on gear. I got back into film photography last year and I’ve been spending maybe 20€ here and 20€ there spanning a long period of time. It is quite satisfying actually to find a good deal for a lens for example. I still can’t believe that I got a 35mm f2.8 Canon FD lens for as little as 20€ and it takes just as sharp and amazing photos as any other lens. So my conclusion is that photography doesn’t have to be expensive at all, especially if you do sensible purchases and avoid getting too much G.A.S (gear acquisition syndrome).