Understanding what's what: Film Type
35mm film
What film do I have?
35mm C41 Negative Film
The most common film shot today is 35mm C41 negative still film, the 35mm refers to the size to the film's measurement, the film is 35 mm (1.4 in) wide. Each image is 24×36 mm in the most common "full-frame" format. C41 is the chemical film developing process also known as CN-16 , CNK-4 , and AP-70. The process of C41 leaves you with a colour negative, which our lab then scans producing a digital positive image. Some of the most readily available 35mm colour negatives are: Kodak Ultramax 400iso, Kodak Gold 200iso, Kodak Portra 160iso, Kodak Portra 400iso, Kodak Portra 800iso, Kodak colorplus 200iso Kodak Pro Image 100iso, Fujifilm Superia 400iso, Fujifilm C200 200iso, Fujifilm Pro400H, Lomo 800, Lomo 400, Lomo 100, Lomochrome purple, Lomochrome metropolis, Ilford XP2 35mm true black and white film
Thanks to Ilford, true black and white 35mm negative film is still readily available. Black and white film is developed in a completely different chemical to c41 colour film. If you're unsure whether you have a black and white film check the canister as 95% of film will indicate what process it needs to be developed. If not, you can usually tell by the colour of the leader, black and white film tends to look grey, as undeveloped colour film is normally a brown red colour. Some of the most readily available 35mm colour negatives are: Ilford Delta, Ilford HP5, Ilford Fp4, Ilford PanF, Ilford ortho, Kentmere Pan, Kodak Tmax, Kodak triX, Agfa APX, Lomo lady grey, Lomo earl grey , Fujifilm Neopan 35mm E6 Positive Film
Less common, but a favourite among the people who shoot it. 35mm positive film is well known as colour slide film. Slide film can be difficult to shoot as most slide film needs an exposure latitude of about 1 stop, this is why we don't recommend it for the average shooter unless they're prepared. E6 refers to the chemical process in which it goes through, producing positive images as opposed to the c41 negative. When E6 film goes through the negative chemical process of C41 its called cross-processing, this causes very strong colour shifting that some would call odd, these often come out with over saturated colour and heavy contrast. Some of the most readily available 35mm colour negatives are: Fujifilm velvia, fujifilm provia, Kodak ektarchrome |
120 film
120 film comes in c41 colour, E6 positive and true black and white.
120 does not refer to the size of the film but is simply a numbering system introduced by Kodak, unlike 35mm film, 120 does not contain sprockets and is backed with a light proof backing paper, this acts as a leader for the film to be pulled through the camera as well as light proofing. The backing paper is marked with numbers, some cameras can view these through the back of the camera. |