I live in Portland, and eBay and Craigslist are the best ways I’ve found to get cheap film, either because someone’s done shooting film, or because it’s old and expired. Blue Moon Camera, in St. John’s, also sells expired film in a mixed basket. I would trust their stock.

You have to be very careful with old Polaroid film. It’s common to get ripped off. Unless you can test expired Polaroid film, it is risky to buy. I’m talking about old stuff, like before 2000/2010. I bought two packs of 4x5 Polaroid film. One dried up, the other still seems usable.

In my experience, shooting old 35mm film is perfectly fine, but different stocks will have different degradation. And depending on the color shifts or type of work you shoot, some expired film will look better.

Experiment with some different films at different expiration dates.

I’ve found that older film requires more light. Otherwise, everything is lost in shadow and grain.

Buy bulk on eBay and load your own canisters if you want super cheap.

I get my film from Freestyle Photo, but that's non-expired stuff and it starts at about $4.50/roll for their house-brand (rebranded Foma) B&W, in either 35mm or 120.