In August I bought a used Nikon F5 for 180EURs. Yes, it’s a damn steal
Since then I estimate I’ve spent around 150EURs just to print and develop the negatives.
I estimate I’ve spent at least 40EURs on film, BTW never buy B&W film at the photo shops here in Oldenburg. When you can buy Ilford Delta 3200 for 5EURs online, you look at the 10EUR price tag photodose charges and you scoff.
Then I bought the cheapest lens Nikon offers, the AF 50mm 1.8D, a circular polarizer and a UV filter for it. All in all, 180EURs.
Recently I’ve been noticing some scratches on some negatives. Since the photos of my ex mean a lot to me, I had to shell out around 30EURs for 100 sheets of nice little polypropylene sleeves for the negatives. Taking proper archival care of these negatives will be a real pain in the future I imagine. And I bought some Rollei Nightbird and more Ilford B&W. All in all 50EURs.
So I spent 600EURs so far on film. What if I had gone digital?

First, I would’ve wanted the D7000 because it has a 100% viewfinder and most importantly works with screw type AF lenses. That would already be 1000EURs. And then I would realize that my 50mm is now a short telephoto at 85mm because of DX, so I now have to buy yet another lens, a 35mm DX, which is quite expensive, say 300. Archival costs are negligible, even including burning multiple discs with parity data. So 1300EURs.

So far, film is looking like a pretty good deal, although it has many running costs and storage/archival is bulky. No one component of film photography is much more expensive than the other, which means on all components there is not much room for improvement in cost effectiveness. As time goes by the initial investment on the F5 and 50mm lens will look even smaller in comparison with everything else. The question is when? I estimate around 1.5 more years before I will have spent 1300EURs on film photography. And then? in 1.5 years, the D7000 will be replaced by something with the same price, and the 35mm DX lens won’t be any cheaper. It’ll be just as hard to justify switching to digital.

So I think I’ll just keep shooting film.