Simple Question about a Simple Film

<p>I shoot digital and have done so for years but I just purchased a Nikon EM film camera to shoot film again. I am looking to purchase film that is commanly available in a drug store. What I am familiar with is no longer sold. Would you please recommend color negative, black and white and color slide film that I can buy in a local store. If I find that I really enjoy shooting film again, I will order more serious films (I loved Kodachrome, Ektachrome and Tri-X). </p>

<p>Thank you, D</p>

 

<p>The local stores such as the discount places are steadily discontinuing film developing and sales. Slide film is close to impossible to find, but a number of the color negative films produce good results, have lots of lattitude, and scan well.<br /> Walgreens still has some house brand films, ISO 200 and 400. Most places they also sell Kodak and Fuji c/n films as well.</p>

<p>Otherwise, you need to find the nearest camera shop, if there is still one. They will likely either have or can get any film still made (including Kodachrome for the time being).</p>

<p>Aside from the vagaries of shipping, which must have been dealt with because lots of people have film shipped, the biggest choice will still come from places like <a href="http://www.freestylephoto.biz/">Freestyle</a> , Adorama, and B&H.</p>

<p>If you have one near by. Then, go to a camera shop. Mine has all of Kodak's, Ilford and Fuji films available.</p>

<p>For B&W try a roll of Ilford's XP2..your local drugstore can develop & print it in an hour as well as burn you a CD. I occasionally still see a roll of Tri-X in the drugstores, but since I bulk load I never buy the single rolls.</p>

<p>there is only one process for printing slides Cibachom,e<br>

all the others have discontinued color reversal paper.<br>

In rural areas any B&W is impossible to find except an occaisional roll of "cromogenic" film that gets developed like color nmegative.<br>

the new color negative film is vastly better than the older color print films.<br>

and the 1 hour labs often do a decent job.</p>

<p>The XP2, and the Kodak BW400CN (CVS sells this! But at a high price) and some Fuji option all process C41 so you can take them to the drug store, but it's just not the same. Real B&W film is available in real photo stores and online but it's hard to find people to develop it and people tend to do it themselves.</p>

<p>The drug store color films are actually quite good these days. I like the Fuji Superias but a lot of people swear by drug store Kodak. Also, if the drug store has its own film brand you can try to figure out what it is - CVS obviously doesn't have its own film factory but their film is labeled Made In Japan, process C41 and CN16 and has certain stripes on the negative top and bottom, all of which points to Fujicolor. You can usually find this stuff cheaper at the standard online large photo stores.</p>

<p>For slide film, if you don't have a good store near you (hopefully with a refrigerator) go mail order. Fuji and Kodak E-6 options are good. Kodachrome is still out there but you need to use Dwayne's to process it or a store with a drop box that will have it end up at Dwayne's.</p>

<p>If you loved Kodachrome, Ektachrome, and Tri-X, try Kodachrome, Ektachrome, and Tri-X. All of these films are commonly avaliable online and in photo stores. If you are limiting yourself to drug stores, your choices are severely limited. The best film most drugstores carry is 200 speed or 400 speed C-41, and not much else. CVS sells Tri-X, but the price is very inflated for what it is.</p>

<p>Since you mention the term "simple film" in the caption ... Fujis Sensia 100 is a quite solid performing simple slide film, nothing special buit the general availability is good (at least where I live).</p>

<p>Walgreens 200 and 400 C-41 made by Fuji are good the EM is a nice little full auto camera.. I call min my Lazy Day Camera. The Kodak C-41 B&W film is good for mini lab processing. As for Slide film Sensia is great as is Elitechrome 100 and 200 from Kodak. If you have a Wal-Mart close by just use the send out for the E6 film..</p>

<p> Hope you have fun and as for B&W film Like Tri-X wait untill you can process it yourself...</p>

<p>Yes, our CVS also sells Tri-X, but no one there knows what it is. I buy bulk film (Tri-X rebadged as Arista Premium).<br>

Tri-X is so easy to process that you could probably pick up most of what you need for a few dollars on ebay and then invest in some quart/liter size chemistry to process. If you have a scanner with a negative holder, then you're set. Otherwise, go the C41 color route.</p>

<p>If a local store is a Target, K-mart or similar stores you will find Kodak Gold and Fuji Superia for sale. Our local Target has dropped Fuji. Either of those films would be fine for general shooting. The Fuji is a lower grain film. Nice bright colors in both types. I have not seen any other types of film such as black and white in a long time now in the regular stores, drug stores etc. Of course places such as BHPhoto will have everything available mail order. It seems the Kokak Ektar is extrememly popular now. I have a roll but I do not have a film camera right now but I plan to buy something when I come across something cheap or free.</p>

If you got a film camera again, spend $20 and order a 3 roll selection of your favorite films, maybe try something new too. With shipping should be about 20-25 tops. Dont forget the Kodachrome, its still incredible. Slide film and BW will give you the most differentiation from digital.

Otherwise, go to a Walmart and pick up a 3 pack of Kodak BW400 (black and white c41, excellent stuff - the 3 pack is 10 bucks). Also get a multi pack of Kodak Gold 200. Unique color palette, and good film.

<p>Best deals on film BHphotovideo, adorama, and freestyle. Ilford & tri-x. I have used Fuji which is available in Target & they also carry Kodak. The quality of the final product depends considerably on the lenses used.</p>

<p>Hi<br>

I had the same question. I got some of my answers.<br>

But can anyone tell me why pictures from BW400CN do not really look like B/W? Is it because they are developed by C-41? I developed my roll through Ritz but was not happy with quality, all pictures had an orange tinge. So finally moved to color. Currently using Fuji-400/Ektar-100/Kodak Pro 160VC & NC. But these Kodak films can be bought only from B&H or Adorama etc, not local Walmart/Target etc. Can you people suggest a consumer grade Kodak or Fuji film which is locally available?<br>

TIA<br>

-DD</p>

<p>If you wish to use a film that you can buy at a pharmacy, I suggest going to CVS and picking up Kodak 400HD. It is a step between Gold and Portra.You can also find TRI-X at CVS. Unless you have a real camera store nearby, you arn't going to find any good films. I suggest heading streight to the Ektachrome and Kodachrome!</p>

I find lots of slide film offerings on EBay. I have several batches of fresh dated Elite Chrome 100 from sources there, put it in the freezer, and have never had any problems with it.

<p>Deepak, have never shot the C-41 B&W. But, I believe the orange tint on the negative is from a dye. While standard B&W, uses silver. So,to make a print from a C-41 B&W negative. The printing paper is different?</p>

<p>You should be able to get Kodak Gold 200 pretty much anywhere...Walmart, Target, Walgreens, etc. I even saw it at a gas station a few days ago. When I first learned how to use manual exposure about 2 or 3 years ago, I was just using Kodak Gold 200. It's easy to find, it's cheap, and it does actually take good pictures. So that's what I would recommend.</p>

<p>Fuji 200 is another good film, and it has more punchy colors. (Which you may or may not like. I happen to like saturated colors, especially for landscape photos.) But it's not quite as easy to find at local drug stores as it was a couple of years ago. I did see it at Walgreens recently though.</p>

<p>You should also try the new Kodak Ektar 100 film. It's super sharp (no visible grain) and it has really nice, saturated colors. It has a different look to it, which I've never seen with other films. You'll probably have to order it online or buy it at a photography supply shop.</p>

<p>Our local Costco has 6-packs of Fuji 400 24 shot rolls for about 8 bucks. </p>

<p>Deepak, the tint does come from the film being a color process but it's supposed to be washed off in the developing. This assumes that the lab is doing C41 to the manufacturer's spec, which includes things like how often the chemicals need to be replaced. I believe (if I understand it correctly) that a color tint is an indication that the lab's C41 chemicals are not fresh or some other variable (concentration, temp, time) is off. I've read that the bleach is the most expensive C41 chemical, and there's some debate over how reusable it is, so some labs reuse it well past manufacturer's recommendations. This could cause the colors to not be removed completely.</p>

<p>So the flipside of BWCN film being convenient because you can take it to minilabs is that BWCN can be subjected to the low quality control of some minilabs.</p>

<p>BTW if you do have a CVS in your area watch for sales on the CVS brand 200 and 400 film. It's relabeled Fujicolor. I'm a big fan of the 200 and I got it for $5 per 4-pack a while back. Also, for some reason the CVS near me seems to hav the best quality control in my area for C41 developing and scanning, except for a couple of shops that are good but expensive.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>But can anyone tell me why pictures from BW400CN do not really look like B/W? Is it because they are developed by C-41? I developed my roll through Ritz but was not happy with quality, all pictures had an orange tinge.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>It's not the film's fault that labs process, scan and print poorly. C41 B&W can give you great results. It's color process film but if you're getting color images it's the lab messing around.<br /> Give 400CN (or Ilford XP2) a chance and take it somewhere else.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>...why pictures from BW400CN do not really look like B/W? Is it because they are developed by C-41? I developed my roll through Ritz but was not happy with quality, all pictures had an orange tinge.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>The wierd color balance you're seeing is not due to any problem with the film itself. It is designed to run through a standard C-41 process just like any other color negative film. So if you're getting acceptable color prints from the same lab, your film is fine. The problem is in the printing. The printer itself is setup to apply one of a set of standard color correction profiles according to the film type. If the machine does not recognize the type of film by the bar codes along the margins, then the operator either must take some action or allow the default profile to run. The default profile can produce acceptable results from a color negative film, but is completely wrong for a monochromatic film. And that's where the wierd color balance on your prints comes from. There is no dye that needs to be washed off, and there is likely nothing wrong with the negatives. It's just the result of an indifferently mass produced color printing process.</p>

<p>My computer screen is a lot closer than the nearest pharmacy, let alone camera shop. I haven't bought film locally in nearly 10 years. Why bother when you can't seem to get the same emulsion twice, and then only in closeout quantities.</p>

<p>If you care about quality and consistency, then you want to stick with as few types of film as possible and get to know them well. If not, then why complain about variability?</p>

<p>Film is like a box of chocolates. Sorry My Forrest Gump was talking. I shoot so little C-41 in 35mm Whatever I pick up is mostaly Local but now when I do order 120 C-41 I do get about 20 rolls at a time and put them in the freezer.</p>