It's time for the annual Film Buying Event -- I'm down to 5 rolls.(posted 8293 days ago)Unfortunately, I'm struggling with the fact that economics is against me right now. I'm considering getting Keynes, Marx, Smith, et al. back on my side by bulk loading.
I had been using TMX and D3200 and was going to go with TX and TMZ for the next year. I figured out that TX is much cheaper to self-load: the break even point is 45 rolls if you get 3 uses from a film cartridge. TMX and HP5+ have similar costs.
TMZ, though, costs 58% more to bulk load not including the equipment! Since most of the time I want big grain & EI 800 when I use 35mm, I was wondering about the viability of TX or HP5+ as EI 800 films for everyday use. Is there any soup (preferably as a liquid concentrate) which makes EI 800 palatable for these films? (My previous work with them made them out to be about EI 250 in Rodinal 1:50 when metered in-camera.)
(I'd be most likely to try Rodinal (1:25 + 25g/l sodium sulfite) or HC-110, if left to my own devices. And I could live with some loss of shadow detail: I print the shadows down fairly often to assure a full black. De gustibus...)
Assuming EI 800 is possible from TX or HP5+, what bulk equipment is recommended? Right now I'm thinking Watson loader and screw-top plastic cartridges...