The cost of almost everything, including photographic film, is climbing at an alarming rate in the early months of 2022. In particular, I have been following the prices of ISO 400 black and white film, which I use almost exclusively.
At the high end is Kodak Tri-X. A 5-pack of 120 Tri-X was about $48 when I looked last week. A 100’ roll of 135 Tri-X was about $145. That works out to about $9.60 for a 12-exposure roll of 120 and about $3.60 for a 12-exposure bulk loaded roll of 135.
At the low end is Arista EDU Ultra 400. A single roll of 120 film is about $6.00. A 100’ roll of 135 film is about $64, which translates to about $1.60 for a 12-exposure bulk loaded roll.
The prices of the developing chemicals I use have increased too, but not so dramatically, and they are still quite low compared with the prices of the film.
I have no intention of giving up on film, but I am going to have to take the rising prices, and the likelihood that we are nowhere near the end of the increases, into consideration when deciding how to continue.
Mere Film Photography 
I decided last year that I would not spend more than $10 on any 35mm film stock. HP5 Plus made the cut. Shooting Ilford HP5 Plus reminds me of my early days of 35mm film photography (30 years ago) when I exposed and developed Ilford HP5 400.
As for the cost of the film, since I can’t go back to 1982, I can only look at what something costs now. The price of all film stock has gone up and is going up rapidly. No amount of rationalising will make that stop. Have you noticed how challenging it is to find 35mm film to buy?
If you develop at home ( I do not ), the prices of some of the developing chemicals have increased.
In all likelihood, I think this trend will continue.
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I have not bought film, 35mm or otherwise, or chemicals in a local brick and mortar store for many years, but I have seen no availability issues so far with my online sources.
Continuing – and likely accelerating – inflation and supply chain issues will cause some people to reconsider their discretionary spending. I don’t know the demographics of the film user community but for those of us on fixed incomes the future will likely be fairly grim. I will certainly not be buying any more cameras or lenses.
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