The Film Photographers Guide to Film
Why do we love to shoot film? Most people will tell you it has a different look and “feel” than a digital image which some people feel looks too “clinical”. And there is a difference. Fuji digital cameras market themselves as having a “film feel” to their images. There are also people who like to have a tangible, physical negative. Be it nostalgia, or just to be hip.Personally, I enjoy the different looks you get with different films. An example is when I’m shooting bands, I like a gritty, grungy look, so I shoot Tri-X. But when I’m shooting a model, I shoot a Pan film, and for architecture I shoot T-Max films because each has a different tone and sharpness. More on these films later.
What I recommend when starting is to experiment with different films to see what you like. The rest of this blog will talk about different films to help guide you as you experiment.
Size
Currently film comes in a few negative sizes. Most cameras are 35mm. This size comes in an easy-to-use metal container that keeps the film in the dark and you can load and unload your camera anywhere for the most part.(Infrared films need special care and films over ISO 800 shouldn’t go through the X-Ray while checking in for a flight.)
Medium format which is also called 120 a is a larger negative. You will have better detail and less grain to make larger prints. You will see medium format cameras marked as 6x4.5 (645), 6x6,6x7,6x9. These all use 120 film which is 6cm wide and then the negatives are 4.5cm, 6cm, 7, cm, or9cm long. There are even a few cameras that use 120 for panoramic photos that are longer than 9cm long. The film is called 120 because it’s 120cm long, so you get more photos per roll with a 645 than you will with a 6x7…
Large format film is given in inches with 4x5 film being the smallest common of the large format sizes. There are 8x10 as well, but few people still shoot with these films. The film needs to be loaded into film holders in the dark. Each holder only holds two sheets so you will need to preload and bring many film holders with you.
Film Types
Film comes in Black and white (B&W), color negative, and color positive or slide film. B&W film are negatives, but we usually just call it B&W. Films also come in different light sensitivities. Like on a digital camera, they are rated in ISO numbers (an old standard you may also hear is ASA, the numbers for ISO and ASA are equal in their light sensitivity values, ASA 100 and ISO 100 are the same). In general, you use a lower ISO when you have plenty of light and you want the best colors and details. As the ISO goes up, you will need less light, but you will also have more grain, less vibrant colors, and fine details will be lost.
At the bottom of this blog is a list of films we carry with some of their characteristics to help you explore the wide world of film. I will also add a downloadable PDF you can use as a reference.
B&W
First let’s talk about different B&W film types. There are different chemical formulas and manufacturing methods giving different detail, tones, and grain structure. One thing I will not cover but will really expand what you can achieve with film is how you process and print the images.Learning to process your own B&W will open the many different developer types and methods that can affect how your final photo will look. Ansel Adams’“The Negative” is an awesome starting point with far more information than I can put here is a blog.
Pan Film
"Pan" is panchromatic, meaning it's sensitive to the visible spectrum of light (with a little of the UV spectrum which is why we use UV filters sometimes), or normal, visible light. These are good general-purpose films giving a tonal range similar to how we see.
Common Pan films are:
Ilford FP4 & HP5
Tri-x
Ilford Pan
T-Max
Kodak came out with T-GRAIN emulsion in 1986. This was a special process leading to extremely fine grain in their film. The film is known for having a broad tonal range and exposure latitude (meaning you can push it in processing to shoot a higher ISO than the film is rated at). It is well-suited for scanning and enlarging for high-quality prints.
T-Max film scan be processed to make B&W slides. (Schillers doesn’t offer this.)
Ilford Delta uses Ilford’s Core-Shell emulsion, which is very similar to the T-Max emulsion.Most say the contrast of the T-Max is higher, Delta has more greys.
Ortho Film
Orthochromatic film (Ortho) is a film base that that is sensitive to blue and green light, but not red. Red and orange colors tones will appear almost black, while blue and greens color tones will compare to what you will achieve with Pan films. Common applications will be for portraits,landscape, and industrial copy work. It has the advantage that it can be handled in a red safe light process.
Infrared and other specialist films
Infrared (IR) film is only sensitive to light waves in the700-850nm range. This is outside of the human range of sight. It has a very cool ghost effect on skin and will turn green living leaves white instead of dark. It requires special handling and shooting. For shooting IR, you will need to focus different using the IR mark on the lens and use a strong red filter like a 720nm or 760nm. Handling IR film needs to be done in complete darkness and try keeping your camera out of direct sun when not shooting. The film is sensitive to heat and x-ray, you will need to hand check it if going through airport security.
Color Films
I’m going to mostly focus on color negative film because few people are shooting slides these days and it’s even harder to find places to process them. I use a place out of Denver (Denver Digital Imaging Center). Slide films I feel have a better “pop” to the color, mostly when you push it a¼ to ½ stop. Slides also have less range so you really must be right on with your exposure. Schillers does carry Kodak Ektachrome which has a neutral color balance with good color saturation. Ektachrone is great for cross processing.Cross processing is where you shot positive slide film but process it in neg film chemistry then print it.
Color films can also come in different color balances. Most are what we call daylight balance. They are designed to be shot without artificial lighting. Most flashes and strobe are also daylight balance meaning you can shoot daylight film while using flashes and the color will look normal.The other common color balance is for tungsten lights (old school light with filaments). If you use daylight film with this type of light your photos will look yellow orange, not very attractive. With tungsten films you can shoot with these lights and the color will be normal. If you shoot tungsten film in sunlight, your photos will have a blue tone. You can use filters to fix for different color lights.
Cine Still a 50D and 400D are both day light balance and800T which is tungsten balanced.
With color negative films you are really going to be choosing color profiles. Different films are better for different subject as they reproduce some colors better than others. As for grain and sharpness the normal lower ISO will be better at both.
Gold 200, UltraMax 400, and Color Plus from Kodak, and Fujicolor 200 & 400, are all good films to start with. They are priced right and are great for point and shoot cameras as well as just capturing daily life. Slight over exposure yields better color saturation. Shoot films rated at ISO 400 at 320 and ISO 200 at 160.
Kodak Portra 180, 400, and 800 are sharper, with better color representation. Portra is a great film for professionals, portrait shooters, and people just wanting the best-looking images. It’s a natural to slightly warm color that is really nice for portraiture work.
Kokad Ektar 100 is known for ultra-fine grain and high color saturations. It can be used for portraits, but I think it really shines for landscapes as it seems to do better with greens and blues. It is probably the best for large printing though Portra is also good.
Other fun color films to play with
Harman also makes Red which will give a red color cast to everything. Lomography has several fun color balances like purple that turns green leaves purple red, Metropolis that gives what I call a post-apocalyptic punk feel as well as a Redscale similar to Harmen Red.
Films like Ilford Color, Lomography Color92 have a retro color look to them.
Filters
Filters can be used for both B&W and color films. The normal polarizer works the same as it will on a digital camera. As I talked about above, you can use color filters to correct color balance. You can also use color filters on B&W to change the look of an image. I shoot infrared and it requires a very strong red filter, but you can also use blue, yellow,and green filters.
At Schillers we offer both C-41 (color negative film) and B&W film developing. We will also cross process E-6 slide films (Ektachrone is E-6 film, Kodachrome is not, and we cannot process Kodachrome). For C-41process we use a Noritsu V50 processor that we monitor using control strips.The B&W is done my hand is steel tanks using Kodak D76 developer. Both 35mm& 120, color and B&W are scanned using Noritsu 1800 series scanner. We offer both normal 2000dpi and 4000dpi hi-rez scans.
Conclusion
All of these can be fun, and I really recommend that you play and try out some until you find what you like. Some films I use for strictly professional shoots while others like Metropolis I love for street photography. Find the ones you like and let them be part of your style of shooting.
