Jimmyp82 Posted February 22, 2023 Share #1 Posted February 22, 2023 Advertisement (gone after registration) The scenario - you have a leica film camera, but due to film costs can only afford to shoot black and white, however you'd love to shoot some colour. Suddenly you find £4000. Is it a better investment / more fun to buy a leica m10 and shoot digital, or buy 250 rolls of kodak portra (around 9000) shots. What would you do and why? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted February 22, 2023 Posted February 22, 2023 Hi Jimmyp82, Take a look here Theoretical question, just for fun!. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Huss Posted February 22, 2023 Share #2 Posted February 22, 2023 I recently bought Fuji Superia 400 for $16/3pack. So a third of the price of Portra 400. I like Fuji just as much, so I would buy 750 rolls of Fuji Superia 400 instead of 250 rolls of Portra. And then wonder how I can afford to get it developed... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted February 22, 2023 Share #3 Posted February 22, 2023 Who said creating art was ever cheap? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmyp82 Posted February 22, 2023 Author Share #4 Posted February 22, 2023 (edited) Fair question about development. C41 negs only costs me £5 a roll. So what's the calculation for £4000 if porta is £16 a roll? Also three rolls of fuji for 16??!? Please send link! Edit - Approx 187 rolls porta and development = 4k! Edited February 22, 2023 by Jimmyp82 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pegelli Posted February 22, 2023 Share #5 Posted February 22, 2023 I'd buy a second hand M240 (or M9 with a new/non corroding sensor) and spend the rest on Porta. For me both digital and film have their place, so why not both? 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpitt Posted February 22, 2023 Share #6 Posted February 22, 2023 (edited) Digital is the future. Buy any digital M second hand and keep some money for film. Use both. M240 and M9 are the cheapest options now. M10 would be great but then you will keep shooting B&W. Even the M9 will have higher ISO capability and resolution vs film. M240 and up brings extra capabilities with the EVF and liveview. M240 or M10 is probably the best option going forward. Edited February 22, 2023 by dpitt Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
malligator Posted February 22, 2023 Share #7 Posted February 22, 2023 Advertisement (gone after registration) If you're willing to go all the way with color wet printing, get the film. If you're just going to digitize anyway, get a color digital camera and shoot B&W film. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamj Posted February 22, 2023 Share #8 Posted February 22, 2023 But would you in fact get an M digital or rather some other Leica digital or perhaps a new Sofucanikon with all their automation and highly corrected lenses? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huss Posted February 22, 2023 Share #9 Posted February 22, 2023 1 hour ago, Jimmyp82 said: Fair question about development. C41 negs only costs me £5 a roll. So what's the calculation for £4000 if porta is £16 a roll? Also three rolls of fuji for 16??!? Please send link! Edit - Approx 187 rolls porta and development = 4k! mpex.com Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmans Posted February 22, 2023 Share #10 Posted February 22, 2023 I would take the film....I have a Ricoh GR11 and 111 which essentially is a mini but cheaper Leica. Film hands-down and I never shoot in color so, I would stick with BW Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anbaric Posted February 22, 2023 Share #11 Posted February 22, 2023 2 hours ago, Jimmyp82 said: Also three rolls of fuji for 16??!? Please send link! Nowhere in the UK, sadly. After briefly being available for £10 a roll at Boots, we seem to have gone back to the normal situation of 'stock coming soon' (if you're in the UK, might be worth trying your local branch to see if they have the odd roll). The scalpers on ebay want £16-18 (bet they stocked up at Boots the other week). 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironhorse Posted February 22, 2023 Share #12 Posted February 22, 2023 I am happy with the look of digital color and use my film cameras to shoot black and white. I would happily get the M10. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crem Posted February 23, 2023 Share #13 Posted February 23, 2023 (edited) 5 hours ago, Jimmyp82 said: The scenario - you have a leica film camera, but due to film costs can only afford to shoot black and white, however you'd love to shoot some colour. Suddenly you find £4000. Is it a better investment / more fun to buy a leica m10 and shoot digital, or buy 250 rolls of kodak portra (around 9000) shots. What would you do and why? How many rolls of film do you use per year? Shoot film if you can afford it in a sustainable way is my advice. If 250 rolls would last you years, then go with film. If you are a street photographer shooting multiple rolls per day (everyday) then I'd go digital. Edited February 23, 2023 by Crem 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spydrxx Posted February 23, 2023 Share #14 Posted February 23, 2023 I only shoot B&W in my film bodies, although I have probably 20 color rolls in the freezer. I shoot digital for color. If I got the $4k, I'd do something else with it. IMHO it seems a waste of $ for a Leica digital body when I already have a couple of digital bodies which use my Leica (and other) lenses very satisfactorily. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Ricoh Posted February 23, 2023 Share #15 Posted February 23, 2023 $4k of film equates to a LOT of scanning etc. Anyway, with that sort of investment it’s difficult to make a sensible value judgement as to whether each shot is a keeper or not. With digital, on the other hand, the cost per frame is insignificant, hence less likely to cloud one’s judgement whether to keep or not. Your followers will be happier seeing less dross. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmyp82 Posted February 23, 2023 Author Share #16 Posted February 23, 2023 Lots of valid points... personally I've only owned a film Leica since late October, and I think I have shot maybe 12 rolls of film since then, so 3 a month approximately. At current UK prices if this was all portra it would cost around £570 ish for the film plus £180 for developing per year, so £750, and that's if every roll was portra. (vs £432 for ilford xp2 film + dev) Knowing myself I'd probably end up with the M10...however until i discover £4k under the bed this will stay theoretical 😄😔 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted February 23, 2023 Share #17 Posted February 23, 2023 11 hours ago, dpitt said: Digital is the future. Sounds like something you might hear Judith Hann say on Tomorrow's World. 😂 I bought a fresh pack of Portra 400 yesterday (saw it on Amazon for £75) to top up my modest stash of the film. I view film as my primary medium for my more considered use but I don't actually use very much of it. I've long since gone past the point where I go around taking photos of everything I see and a roll of film can last me quite some time. £4000 worth of Portra, even at today's prices, would likely last me longer than an M10 (though in reality they wouldn't serve the same purpose). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anbaric Posted February 23, 2023 Share #18 Posted February 23, 2023 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpitt Posted February 23, 2023 Share #19 Posted February 23, 2023 15 minutes ago, wattsy said: Sounds like something you might hear Judith Hann say on Tomorrow's World. 😂 I bought a fresh pack of Portra 400 yesterday (saw it on Amazon for £75) to top up my modest stash of the film. I view film as my primary medium for my more considered use but I don't actually use very much of it. I've long since gone past the point where I go around taking photos of everything I see and a roll of film can last me quite some time. £4000 worth of Portra, even at today's prices, would likely last me longer than an M10 (though in reality they wouldn't serve the same purpose). I know film is here to stay, just as vinyl for audio it has its merits for the happy few. Digital is for daily use and convenience. Film will be for fun, if I have some spare time. I take about 10.000 pictures a year worth saving, of which less than 100 analog. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikep996 Posted February 23, 2023 Share #20 Posted February 23, 2023 (edited) " I take about 10.000 pictures a year worth saving, of which less than 100 analog." You take 10,000 pictures a year that are worth saving? WOW!! That's impressive! How many total pictures do you take per year? By my "average keeper rate" (pics I'd print/show) I'd have to take at least 200,000 pics to come up with 10,000 good ones! Now, if we're considering pics on my iPhone that I have never looked at, there is a huge number that could be called "keepers" since I "kept" them...because its too much trouble to delete them! 🤣 Edited February 23, 2023 by Mikep996 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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