Also, people have been talking here about developing the negatives itself to minimise the cost. Ended up making a kind of compromise: bought Epson v850 flatbed scanner and taking the film-rolls for development company to get the negatives. The scanners pays for itself really quickly as here one 120 film roll scanning costs 16 euros :D
It looks like you cut your teeth a little bit later than my generation. When we were shooting, digital was just dawning, and all of us couldn’t wait to stop paying for film and processing. I was talking to Grant not long ago, and he said Transworld spent about 400k on film servicing. We hated film servicing so much that we even settled for the sub-par digital bodies (1D anyone?) with no steroid crops.
Anyhow - ever since I bought digital, I couldn’t ever understand the desire to shoot film. It’s only very recently that I’ve had the desire to get a 645 film camera (with optional digital back) – I’m rambling.
Great shots. Always happy to see a new skate photographer.
I was one of the original users on SBP, you probably knew me under a different username. I had stuff run in the mags with the original 1D, mostly postage stamp sized sequences. I remember the ongoing arguments about the pros/cons of using the 1D with its 1.3x crop on the fisheye.
For me shooting film is now mostly about 4x5. My medium format bodies have been used for projects I started back in the last decade. I'm waiting on the price of the new CFV II 50c from Hasselblad to see if I keep or ditch my existing V series bodies and lenses.
A top spec Epson flatbed+negative scanner will cost you in the region of $500. This will allow you to scan medium format film at a quality more than adequate for web stuff and also for printing up to 50x50cm.
Film costs are now in the region of $7 per roll for quality B&W and $15 per roll for quality colour. That's good stuff by the likes of Ilford and Kodak.
Development of B&W is trivial to do at home, and will cost you around $3 per roll. You can economise by reusing chemicals or by doubling up (two rolls in a tank for example) to bring this down to $1 per roll. Chemicals will last in the region of one year if stored in air tight light proof containers.
Development of colour is slightly more involved but can still be done for around $5 per roll.
Printing is where the expense comes at you. Depending on paper, sizes, inks, etc, this can set you back anything from $5 per print for a cheap mass-market lab style print for 20x20cm, to $30 if the inks/paper are better.
All in all I don't think it's that much more expensive than using a digital camera. You shoot less, you shoot different photos, you see different things. I average around 50 rolls per year through my Hasselblad.
FWIW I wrote about my experiences with Hasselblad cameras a couple of years ago : https://leejo.github.io/2017/03/08/ten_years_with_a_hasselbl...