Budget 35mm film: ends and re-cans

Lee Love · December 31, 2006

A few days ago, I read a post (I found through google) from a guy trying to parse budget differences between HD and 35mm. I thought I bookmarked it, but now can't find it.

Someone replied that, using ends and re-cans, you could expect 35mm to cost about $25-30 per minute, including developing and telecine xfer.

I have had a hard time finding printed film prices on the web. Everyone wants you to call. Something I've found said 1000' Kodak 5293 for $540. It's supposed to be fresh factory sealed. Is that really the going rate? That works out to about $5.40 a minute. It's do-able for my budget.

I'd rather use factory fresh film in standard lengths, but will use ends, etc. if it's a significant savings. What is the concensus on the ends/re-cans approach? Is there lots of extra work involved?

I tried to search for the thread. The search function seems not to be working on this site.

I'm afraid this post reeks of newbieness, but when I was directing on Mad Ave, I didn't pay for nothing!

Lee Love · December 31, 2006

Gee, I wish I could delete or edit this post. I think my math was wrong. It looks more like $54 a minute. Bit of a dif, there.

I found a recent post where someone needed worthless film for mag practice. Someone said drgroup sells ends for @ $.10 a foot. Is this for real?

Bit of a big dif there!

Edited December 31, 2006 by Lee Love

Jon Kukla · December 31, 2006

You shouldn't buy junk film for your practice. Talk to a rental house or a lab - they probably do have extra bits lying around.

As for using short ends, the main thing to think about is the reputation of the company you are getting them from. I'm not too familiar with purchasing them myself, but if you search the board, there are several companies worth checking out (and several worth avoiding).

People generally don't use short ends because they want to, but because they have to in order to save costs. (The main exception being using discontinued stocks.)

Remember that the film costs you are being quoted is for the raw stock - you still need to pay for development and a print/telecine.

Kenny N Suleimanagich · January 5, 2007

if you NEED 35mm dummyjunk film, i have about 100ft on a core. PM me, if you pay for shippng its yours

Thomas Worth · January 7, 2007

if you NEED 35mm dummyjunk film, i have about 100ft on a core. PM me, if you pay for shippng its yours

If possible, I think you should stay away from real film for test purposes (i.e. learning how to load mags, etc). The reason is because it still has emulsion on it, which can come off and cake up inside the mechanism. A better alternative would be leader. It's basically a clear piece of plastic with no emulsion and no possibility of contaminating the insides of the camera or magazine.

Lee Love · January 7, 2007

If possible, I think you should stay away from real film for test purposes (i.e. learning how to load mags, etc). The reason is because it still has emulsion on it, which can come off and cake up inside the mechanism. A better alternative would be leader. It's basically a clear piece of plastic with no emulsion and no possibility of contaminating the insides of the camera or magazine.

cool, where do I find that?

Robert Hughes · January 12, 2007

Black and white film lasts a long time and is relatively impervious to storage. I've bought lots of 16 and 35 negative and reversal stock used without problem (as long as it's less than 20 years out of date). Color-you can shoot with it, but don't expect it to look as good as new film stock.