Not All Films Are Equal

So today, I'm talking about the kind of film I put through my cameras.

I've shot many different kinds of films so I'll break it down into what I like, by the type.

The films I like for color prints are Ektar 100 and Xtra 400. Ektar is my go-to film for nature photography. It saturates the colors like slide film does and has incredibly fine grain.

(This is where I'll upload a shot with Ektar. My scanner isn't being nice right now)

Xtra 400 is also decent, however, the colors it produces are somewhat cold and most photos need to be edited before printing (I don't print color so everything has to be done in GIMP), although this could be the printer's. The best part about it though is that Walgreen's carries it and the grain profile is quite attractive and, if used correctly, can produce beautiful results.

An example of Xtra 400's color range.

The film I like for slides is Fuji Provia 100f. It's freaking beautiful. This is my favorite film for landscapes and portraits because when you underexpose it, you get colors that are a hair muddy but still contrasty, when you properly expose it you get a wide range of colors that "pop" out of the image, and when you over expose it, you get get decent contrast that doesn't completely wash out. Taking pictures of backlit subjects can be done with this film, and it does a decent job of getting the overexposed parts a nice white while keeping the colors of properly exposed portions intact.

This was underexposed by about a stop. Gotta love the sharpness of my Mamiya's lenses!

Finally, my favorite films for black and white are Kodak TMax 100, 400, and P3200. TMax 100 is a damn sharp film and is great for close-ups because of the amount of detail the film can maintain. The only drawback is the slow speed, which makes it an outdoor and studio film.

TMax 100's virtually invisible grain at 8x10.

TMax 400 is also a great film but unlike TMax 100, it's not as fine (although it's a lot better than 400 TX). The faster speed does make it more usable in the real world and I've heard that pushing it to 800 gives great results, although I have yet to try this.

(I took some pictures yesterday with a roll of TMax 400. I just need to process them.)


P3200 is not a film for regular photography. It is the film you use when you are working in super low light or making pure art. The film produces really heavy grain that looks cool when printed out. One thing to note though is that it is not true 3200 ISO film. It is 800 speed film that can be ideally pushed up to 3200. Ilford makes a true 3200 ISO film that I want to try though.

The grain at 8x10 is large enough on this film to easily point out.