John, I'd suggest starting with one of the cheaper Polaroid films. I've been using Type 667 (corresponding to Type 57) in a converted pack-film Polaroid camera with excellent results, but the exposures would be uncomfortably short for hand shuttering with a short focal length (the film is ISO 3000). Even the Type 52/72/56, however, is a lot cheaper than 55 and at ISO 400 will give nice exposures without too much need for reciprocity correction in daylight. Type 56, BTW, is the sepia tone version...