This morning, I gave the cost involved in photography a bit of a thought. Quite recently, there was a brief discussion over at Photo Musing about the cost of digital photo equipment vs the old film cameras. Actually, the discussion was about something else, but Mike O’Donoghue made some assumptions that I really disagreed with. Just to amuse myself (or make me cry if the results were bad), I made a small comparison of the shooting cost for each. I took care to not use my own equipment in case the results would be disturbing, in fact, I used a different brand than I own. I made it all i Norwegian kroner, but you can divide by approx 6.5 to get USD.

So, here’s the deal:

Say you want a decent equipment, but not top of the line. You want a Nikon D200. As good as a pro camera, but the price is not that bad. Then you want some high quality zoom lenses that covers wide angle to tele, but not necessarily the extremes. Of course a couple of flash cards and a bag.

Nikon D200: 12500kr
17-55 f:2.8: 12000kr (pretty expensive, but you want the best)
70-200 f:2.8: 16000kr

Bag: 1500kr
CF cards: 1000kr

misc: 1000kr

Oh, of course, you don’t really own a computer, and you need some software, so you’ll by an iMac and Lightroom

iMac: 12000kr
Lightroom: 1500kr

All this adds up to … Oh, lets say 60000kr. There is always something more you want.

So, lets have a look at the film variant.
It’s difficult to find a decent film camera these days, but on the used marked, you find a bargain at say 3000kr. Top notch, bought just before the digital era kicked in. Still need some lenses

Camera (used): 3000.-
24-85 f:2.8-4: 7000.-
70-200 f:2.8: 16000.-
Bag: 1500.-
misc: 1000.-

Don’t need a computer or software now, so this should be around … Lets say 30000kr.
Oooo, half the price, what did I think of buying all that digital equipment.

But wait, I need film.
A high quality positive film cost about 90kr, and high quality development about 60kr. Then you need the frames and somewhere to store them.Of course, you wouldn’t keep all your shots, but still more than just the top 10%. Say you keep around half of them, and each kept frame cost about 3kr to frame and store. So each shot would then cost you about 5.70kr.

How much do you really shoot each year. You’re a serious amateure, and if you use digital equipment you make around 6000 exposures each year. Film photographers aren’t usually that trigger happy, but maybe 4000 on film. The digital adds very little extra cost. Hard disk is cheap. These 6000 exposures will maybe add up to 100-200kr in storage. while the film (brace yourself), 22800.-

So, in just one year, the film camera is equal to the digital, and the digital camera will probably last for 3-5, maybe longer. And remember, you keep the lenses, so the next time you need to upgrade, it’s just the camera.

So the conclusion must be that the old fashioned film equipment is only cheaper if you don’t take pictures. Once you start to use it, the cost will escalate.