35mm Film Stock Review:- Film, film, film, film, film, film, film, film, wonderful film, wonderful film……..but which one to choose?
Beginners often ask on forums what’s the best film to start with. It’s a hard one to answer. So much depends on what you are trying to photograph, what sort of photography you prefer and the look you want to achieve.
If you want landscapes you probably want colour film and something with a very fine grain. For street work you may prefer black and white and a coarser grain to give it that newsprint or Cinema Verite look. Beginners often get into these kinds of questions and in this article I’ll try and give some advice as well as show different film stocks being used with my own photography to give an idea how different films render. All of the images were shot with different cameras and lenses.
While a lens may affect a picture in its sharpness or sometimes its colour rendition, the biggest effect will be the film and its post processing where modern photo editor software will give a large degree of latitude over the finished result. Likewise the developer used for the negatives can add a particular look. Film processing is an art and science unto itself and I wont be covering that in this article.
All of the pictures here are very raw and mostly as they came out of my own cameras, principally a Minolta XD7, Nikon F-301 and Nikon F. All were done with minimal post processing to correct contrast and colour, the same processes that any laboratory would use to print your pictures. All of the shots were developed by the same laboratory and were then scanned by myself using a Plustek Opticfilm 7300i scanner.
Where filters were used in taking the pictures I have made notes with each shot along with a general summary of how the film reacts. All of this is based on my own experience shooting the various films which I hope will help people on their journey.
This review doesn’t cover every film in existence, It’s geared to only the most common types. Like most photographers I mostly stick to what I know for consistent results.
General advice on film stocks for beginners.
One of the easiest mistakes beginners make is buying half a dozen different films and immediately shooting stuff. My advice is start with something readily available and stick with it while you learn how to get the best from it. Don’t incline to butterfly around trying every film type because you will never really learn how to get maximum value from the type of film you are shooting with and, if you are shooting every roll with no experience with the film, it will more often be a lucky dip as to whether stuff comes out as you intended. This is doubly so when using boutique type films which may require a roll of test shots to really get to grips with how the film renders specific scenes. Remember to keep a log book to record settings, light etc this will help you get to grips with what works and what doesn’t.
How do I get ‘that look’?
The answer lies as much in the post process as it does with the photograph on the negative. While I have tried to show pictures here to show the films off in their natural state, the post process work can render a very different look depending on how they are developed, printed or scanned. In some cases it’s not possible to truly show stuff because the web server won’t allow me to upload the master files which are in excess of 10mb per picture. Hopefully what I can show and tell will give you some pointers as to which film most closely meets your own needs and vision but always remember its as much about the post process as it is about the film itself.
STANDARD BLACK AND WHITE FILMS
The overall key to any black and white film is finding subjects with good contrast. Black and white shots absolutely need good contrast in the scene for the best images. Most black and white films have a fairly forgiving with an exposure latitude of around 2 stops so if you are shooting with vintage, unserviced cameras you may find black and white returns good results despite exposure errors. Some film stocks have a tighter tolerance and with those you really need the camera to be performing inside its stated stops or else risk having pictures under or overexposed.
Ilford FP4
A trusty standard black and white film which has been around since Noah was in short pants. It’s a film I use quite a lot and I cut my teeth on FP4 as its been around as long as I have and back in the balmy 1970s it was a low cost film making it the go-to film for students and beginners.
It has a nice smooth grain, excellent sharpness and can pick up fine detail but its weak spot is it’s quite a slow film at ASA 125 so you really need good light to make it pop. In poor light shutter speeds and aperture can be compromised forcing you to shoot at slow speeds or with an unreasonably wide aperture reducing your depth of field. In its element under good light it’s a lovely film to shoot with and quite tolerant of stop errors.
It can work well for portraiture with its tight grain and and nicely balanced tones.
Ilford HP5
The running mate to FP4. HP5 is an ASA 400 film that can be pushed to faster speeds (remember to let any lab doing the processing know what ASA rating you shot it at). I have pushed it to 3200 in the past to make the film break up and go super grainy like old news print. I mostly shoot it at ASA 400. Like FP4 it’s quite tolerant to exposure errors of around 2 stops but much will depend on what was photographed. It has a medium contrast which can cause it to turn things to muddy grey if the subject lacks any solid contrast.
I like HP5 a lot, it’s fast enough for poor light and can render urban street scenes as nicely gritty. Like many photographers it’s my standard general purpose black and white film. Under good light it can produce quite a smooth grain but as the light goes down it can start to show a gritty, grainy look.
I mostly use it for street work where it allows for a faster shutter speed and produces a very gritty, realist look.
Kodak Tri-X 400
Similar to, but usually more expensive than HP5, is Kodak Tri-X 400. It’s very similar in the way it shoots, though Tri-X generally gives better detail and a much finer grain with a classic texture. I find in low light it’s rather good but under bright conditions it can create a slightly nervous look and sometimes needs a lot of careful adjusting with contrast in post processing. Tri-X gives nice solid blacks and sharp whites with excellent tones and detail.
Although a good choice for night scenes you should remember that AS 400 is not that fast and for night scenes I would usually shoot it at around ASA 1600. When pushed although Tri-X will grain up a bit though it’s nowhere near as grainy as HP5.
I used Agfa APX-400 only once during a trip across Europe. I did not like the results over much as the film tended to push everything towards a mush of greys rather than having any strong definition. It can create a slightly softer look than films like Tri-X and FP4. To get the film to look good it needed a lot of post edit work to tune the contrasts. On the upside it has a nice fine grain thats very close to FP4 so the film sort of falls between FP4 and HP5. The fine grains of FP4 but with the speed of HP5 but with a slightly softer look.
It may well perform better if its slightly overexposed by around a 1/2 stop or pushed to ASA 800. I can’t be sure of that as I have never used it since but some films do like to be pushed a bit to get them to behave.
It can certainly create the classic black and white film look but for me I would prefer the solid blacks of Tri-X or the finer detail of FP4.
Ilford XP2 Super
I seldom use XP2 and find it a bit of an odd duck. Its standard speed is ASA 400 but it can be used between ASA 50 and ASA 800 on the same role without changing chemistry. I have never used that particular feature. The film is very fine grained but I have found from experience it tends to lack contrast at ASA400 and rapidly turns things into a mess of grey. Pushed out at ASA 800 it can start to be effective and can be used to create a similar tone to old 1940s movie film. In good light with strongly defined subjects it renders well with good sharp detail.
BUDGET BLACK AND WHITE FILMS
No one said film photography is cheap but there are some budget films around. Most are reasonable enough if you can spend time to learn how to get the best from them. As in every other field of endeavour you get what you pay for. While budget films may not be to everyones taste they can produce some nice results .
Kentmere Pan 400
A film I have not used much. I was sent a sample pack of some Kentmere by mistake and the shop didn’t want it back so I decided to shoot it. My hopes were not high for it and the initial role shot at ASA 400 delivered very average output.I found the film lacked any real ability to get details and lacked tonal range.
I resolved to shoot the next rolls at ASA 800 and see if the film would improve and it did. For dim scenes or very highly contrasted scenes the film produced quite a nice look. In can grain up quite badly and this may of course suit some people seeking a newspaper type look. It’s not a favourite of mine but I could see an application for it for getting a certain look.
For a trip to Lanzarote I decided to use some slow(ish) ASA 100. I knew the light would be bright and strong and I was a bit wary of the possible risk of airport scanners and so opted for a slow film. I was a bit short of FP4 so decided to use some Shanghai GP3 100 as I had a couple of sample rolls. Shanghai GP3 is a Chinese made film and while I applaud any new manufacturer bringing a new stock to market I was a bit less impressed with the actual results.
My experience with the film was not good. It seemed to lack tonal range and suffered from quite extreme grain. On some subjects which had a very strong contrast it could work quite well but for general use I found it lacking in detail and tones and generally with an unpleasant grain. Its sole upside is that it’s less expensive than film from Kodak or Ilford. With different developing it might well perform better. My test rolls were developed by a commercial lab and I have no idea what developer they may have used and that may, in fairness, have affected its performance.
I shot a few scenes with a strong red filter and the film performed slightly better giving an almost Infra Red look to the shots.
BOUTIQUE FILMS
With any boutique film you need to be on your guard and shoot at least one roll of various subjects to see how the film plays. I was very wrong footed with Agent Shadow and very few of the shots taken with the first roll worked out. While boutique film makers should be applauded for their efforts you should always be wary and never shoot anything critical until you have mastered the film and know its strengths and weaknesses.
Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow 400
I was a supporter of the Kosmo Foto films Kickstarter and and was happy to receive quite a few rolls of the film as part of the Kickstarter deal. The film is a nominal ASA 400 film and its manufacturers states that it can be pushed as high as ASA 6400. The film was geared to produce a 1940s/1950s black and white movie look. As a big fan of film and especially films like ‘The Third Man’ I was sold on the idea of the film to create that style of look.
I shot the first roll at ASA 400 for testing and to see what the film was good at. I found the film tended to grain up and lose contrast in daylight at ASA 400 and tended to deliver overall poor results. In dim settings at ASA 400 the film delivered what it was supposed to do, a very cinematic look but overall I was unhappy with the film at ASA 400.
Subsequent shots using the film pushed up to 800 and night scenes showed the film could really capture the look I was going for in Bruges and I would love to try it pushed out to 1600. Sadly the film is no longer in production though it is available through some film outlets.
Agent Shadow, along with Shanghai 400 Colour (see the colour films section) are the arch example of when shooting with boutique films you absolutely need a few rolls to shoot to get a feel for how the film will respond to certain scenes.
I still have some Agent Shadow in the fridge and I am waiting for another chance to shoot in Bruges or Vienna to give the film another run.
STANDARD COLOUR FILMS
I don’t use much colour film, it doesn’t really suit my shooting style but I am not entirely ignorant about it either and have used various colour films over the years. Many are no longer available and formulations have changed over time.
Not all colour films are equal and some will render colours quite differently to others as you will see in some of these samples.
While many people will tell you that colour print films have a good latitude for exposure the reality is somewhat different. Yes you will get an acceptable picture of Aunt Mabel in 6×4 format for your scrapbook but you may find the quality is not good enough for anything else. My own experience is colour print films may have some latitude but it’s always at the cost of quality with either nasty grain showing up or muddy colours.
Here are some samples of modern colour film with notes as to how I found them in use.
Fujifilm 400 / Fujicolour Superia 400
Much ado in online forums regarding Fuji and their film stocks. The original Superia version has been replaced with Fujifilm 400 rumoured to be produced by Kodak. I have found little difference between the two and both favour reds in the scene. The newer Fujifilm 400 seems to produce perhaps a bit more detail and is slightly less vibrant but that may just be down to the subject matter I shot with it.
Both tend to skew darks slightly towards purple and during scanning/post processing of the negatives I usually have to apply a shift to the colour to give the film a more natural look. Labs doing printing for you do this as routine. Usually I use an image editor to give a slight push on its curves to make the image a bit brighter and more colour balanced.
Both versions of Fuji 400 tend to create very vivid and overblown colours and this gets more extreme under very bright sunlight. I generally use Fuji 400 as an all purpose film but it’s especially good with intense colour scenes. It does tend to veer towards a technicolour look. It also scans very nicely to black and white giving a nice sharp finely grained look like that resembles Ilford FP4. It also has an advantage for me in that Silverfast (my scanning software) can more easily remove defects in colour film than it can with black and white making Fuji quite nice for scanning to black and white.
One of my favourites but only for work where I know I will have good light. The relatively slow speed makes it unsuitable for me. Many people forget how slow a 100 ASA film is. I like to have a very wide latitude of exposure options open to me and 100 ASA is too limiting under anything except very bright conditions. I often use a polariser filter to darken the sky down and a polarising filter can often impose a -2 stop filter factor. With 100 ASA film that stop difference can be critical.
With good conditions Ektar produces a nice vivid colour without ever lapsing into riotous colour which Fuju 400 is often wont to do and also keeps the reds under control.
Kodak Portra 400
The ultimate in colour film for many photographers. Portra is known for its true to life colours, its ability get detail and its super fine film grain. It’s also expensive. I only use it for critical stuff where I really want the best possible output and hang the expense. The last time I used it extensively was in Japan last year where the film was cheaper to buy and I really wanted the best.
With that said for some shots Fuji 400 might have actually shot better with Fuji films more vivid colours so there’s a lesson that lower cost films are not always a worse choice. I burned through 35 rolls of Portra 400 in Japan and frankly I should have been more cautious about using so much of an expensive film. Thats the kids inheritance thinned down a bit for sure!
Portra gives lifelike colours and a very fine grain which is why portrait photographers tend to favour it as it renders skin tones well but it also renders landscapes in a very natural way with excellent detail. I have also shot Portra 160 and find little to choose between them in terms of output. I prefer a faster film speed so favour Portra 400.
Portra has a reputation for its wide exposure latitude. I have never found that to be the case and find Portra 400 and 160 can skew colours badly and lose detail very fast if exposure values are off. It will hold on to highlights but thats not of much value if all of the other colours are very undersaturated.
BUDGET COLOUR FILMS
Budget colour films from Kodak and Fuji can be very reliable although lacking the fine grain and detail of their more expensive cousins. Most are perfectly adequate. Snobs may insist you shoot with Portra but standard off the shelf budget films Kodak Ultramax can get perfectly acceptable results.
KODAK GOLD 400 / KODAK ULTRAMAX 400
There is very little to choose between the older Kodak Gold 400 and the newer UltraMax 400. The sample shots were all done with Kodak Ultra Max as it’s a current film but I sincerely doubt you could ever tell the difference between it and the older Kodak Gold.
It’s a reasonable film but lacks the sharpness and detail of films like Ektar or Portra and can, under less than good light, make things go a bit dreamlike with subdued colours and/or show a lot of grain. That’s not a bad thing of itself and as ever a great deal of photography is knowing how to use the tools you have to achieve the look you want. Under extremely bright light it will make colours pop and somewhat overblow them rather like Fuji 400. This can be an advantage if you know how to use it and want that look.
Don’t be put off by the films weaknesses, it has its strengths too which include the price and also its exposure latitude of at least 2 stops.
Shanghai GP400 Color
Another film from Chinese company Shanghai. On its release I was anxious to give it a try and get some stuff shot with it on a visit to Wales. As I said earlier of Shanghais GP100 it’s very laudable that people are attempting to create new films. Sadly I found the Shanghai 400 Colour to be a bit disappointing. It has its charms but the test roll I shot was far from impressive. I suspect it needs a bit of overexposure to make it look good and would probably shoot the other rolls at around 1 stop over as it seems less sensitive to light than its ASA 400 would suggest.
As I mentioned whenever shooting a film stock you have not used before it’s as well to run some test shots before you commit to doing anything critical and doubly so when the film is either boutique or from a manufacturer which is not one of the major players.
Shanghai GpP400 Color produces a vintage like effect, something akin to a tinted postcard. Shot at ASA 400 it tends to show quite a lot of grain and a loss of detail and the scanned outputs needed a fair amount of colour correction to get them to an acceptable quality.
SPECIALIST FILMS
These are almost never budget films and have special applications though they may well perform beyond their intended purpose.
Cinestill 800
Better known for its use as a night time film Cinestill 800 can be used for daylight work. You need either a daylight correction filter or a bit of messing about with the scanned output. Rather like Shanghai GP400 Colour it can produce a nicely faded effect but it scores with better detail and more pleasing colours. I generally only use it for night shots where there is a lot of artificial light and even then quite often prefer to opt for other films, which have a more general purpose use, and use a longer exposure.
Ilford SFX 200
SFX 200 is a medium speed film, it can easily be pushed to ASA 400 with no significant loss of quality. It has an extended red sensitivity which makes it suitable for Infra Red photography using an IR filter but it can be used as a kind of high gain black and white. It will produce extremely high contrast images almost as if you were using a red filter on the camera. I haven’t shot much with it but what I have shot I have liked quite a lot. It’s very fine grained and produces beautiful darks and shadows. I only started using it recently for Infra Red work but the output from non-IR shots has certainly intrigued me and I will be shooting some more of this film in the near future.
The Departed….Fuji Technical 100
The final shot is from an amazing film no longer available. I once had a pile of this bought cheap in Japan as the film was expiring. If you are ever in position to buy this as an expired film stock (assuming its been kept in a fridge) then grab it with both hands. It produces stunning colour and very high detail and for landscapes it’s simply amazing.
FILTERS
A word on filters. To get the most from many films, especially with black and white, you need some filters. You don’t need dozens of every shade just a few will make a difference to how the film looks.
Yellow Filter – Black and white photography – Exposure Compensation Typically 2 stops.
Darkens the sky slightly to allow clouds to ‘pop’ and renders skin tones smoothly for portraits.
A yellow filter also increases the tones in vegetation to give more tonal depth in landscape work.
Red Filter – Black and white photography – Exposure Compensation Typically 2-3 stops.
Darkens the sky to near black for for dramatic clouds.
Polariser – Colour photography – Exposure Compensation Typically 1-2 stops.
Removes reflections off of water and wet surfaces and makes the sky darker allowing clouds to ‘pop’.
The polariser is a filter which cannot be easily replicated in post processing/scanning as it affects the overall response of the film.
Bear in mind ALL filters require compensation for exposure as less light is getting into the camera. As a result you will either need to slow the shutter by 1-3 stops or open the aperture by 1-3 stops.
As an example – if your meter reading is telling you f11 at 500th and your filter compensation is 2 stops then you either have to slow down the shutter to 125th OR open the aperture to f5.6.
Your camera may, or may not, compensate based on its own TTL meter and the type of metering cell the camera uses.
Some cameras have metering cells which will not compensate accurately for various reasons. The Minolta XD series for instance is blind to a red filter due to the wavelengths on which its light meter bases exposure so will not always compensate correctly meaning you will end up with overexposed pictures.
It’s alway best if in doubt to take an exposure reading, add the filter and then check if the camera has compensated correctly.
FINALLY…
If you are a beginner, or even a seasoned pro, and using a new film don’t be disappointed with the first roll out of the camera. I have put more film in the bin than I have ever put in the negatives folders. Remember you are learning all the time about what works and what doesn’t no matter how much film you have shot. If you are not learning you are dying from a creative point of view. It will help enormously if you keep a note book of what film was in use, what did the metering suggest, did you apply compensation (for filters or bright stuff in the scene like snow), what was in the scene. This will allow you to compare outputs and learn from what worked and what didn’t – and remember you always learn the most from mistakes.
Many of the pictures I have shown in this article come from my own scrapbook – I keep a log of films and any notable failures so I don’t repeat them when using the same film. It also acts as a reference guide for what film may work best for particular shots. Yes of course I know what FP4 or Tri-X will look like but I may not recall what SFX 200 pushed to 400 and using a deep red filter looks like in 4 years time when I may want to consider using it again.
I am going away now to shoot some film – you should too!
This article is an expanded piece from some posts I have made on various forums. Unfortunately forums have a way of burying information and Facebook applies compression to images which may distort or give a false impression of what the image looks like. Quite a few people asked me to create a more permanent example of film stocks so I hope this will be of use to the film photography community. Mel
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