Photoline 200: The Cheapest Film I’ve Ever Used

Deep in the camera jungles of Hidalgo, I found a film. A film cheap enough to make me buy 5 rolls for only 50 pesos (more or less 1.25 USD) without having to think more than once. Read about it after the jump!

Hidalgo is a street in Manila where you can buy almost all types of cameras, digital, analogue, cheap, expensive, old and banged up, or brand new. The place is like a jungle, full of busy people always selling something. Anyway, I’m not here to talk about that place. I am here to tell you about the cheapest film I ever used.

I found the film in a store named ‘True Colors’. It just caught my eye, because of the unfamiliar box, and when I checked it was “Photoline ASA 200” film. Photoline is a photo printing/developing service company with many branches here in the Philippines, so it was a mystery to me how it got there in that particular shop. Actually, the film is expired, but only a few months, I asked the grumpy woman at the desk how much the film was. She said in plain voice “Ten Pesos”. I did not think. It was as if suddenly my coin purse tossed a 50 Peso bill in my hand and made me buy 5 rolls.

But here’s the twist, it was a 12 shot film, so if your lab develops a 12 exp film at the same price as the 36 exp. film, you lose. But I got an idea, why not combine 2 films in a single cartridge? So that’s what I did (and maybe write a Tipster about it soon). I had my 2 rolls of 12exp film developed for the price of one! Okay, enough of my story. Just check out the photos that I took with it, and be in awe!

For a 200 ISO film, I was surprised that It is also good in low light situations. To be honest I think this is a re-spooled film from Konica or Kodak, the colors are somewhat very similar to those films, but nothing is absolutely wrong with that because it is dirt cheap, but still very reliable.

This article was written by Community member walasiteodito.

written by walasiteodito on 2013-03-05 #gear #review #cheap-photoline-walasiteodito-hidalgo-philippines