Depending on developer, cost will vary.
If you get real creative, and decide to go for straight Metal mixtures and other home-brewed concoctions, I would have to recommend some kind of Pyro developer (No real flames). It is a gorgeous developer that work with both density and silver itself, giving a high extended tonal range, and being dirt cheap. But slightly dangerous.
If you plan to print at home, again, mixing yourself can make some of the best developers known, esp with split baths, but some can get risky again, such as developers like Amidol.
Of course, the cheap AND easy way is to use Kodak Dektol for both film and paper, just standard for paper, and at a 1/37 dilution for film. It is fine grain and high detail, just watch it with pushed film.
Or you could also go the other route again, and start using Rodinal in a 1/500 ratio as a developer for around 2 to 3 hours of developing time, one agitation, and get some great negatives provided your film does not suffer from to much bromide drift, and that is about as cheap as you can go, as it will last for hundreds of rolls.
|