As a college junior, I took an advanced photojournalism course offered at Kansas State University. I made friends with a fellow photography student who apparently kept close tabs on the weekly surplus sales held at Ft. Riley. Thanks to his updates on what was being offered, I made several Tuesday afternoon road trips over to the post in search of irresistible deals.

Once I found 100 foot rolls of Ansco film selling at a fraction of what I was paying for a comparable Kodak film. I bought several rolls with plans to load it into 35 mm cartridges.

I tried the film but wasn't happy with the...