Best Film for the Canon EOS-1v
The best film to use in your Canon EOS-1v will have to be based on your lens, available light, and if you want to use color or black & white.
To avoid having to carry around a flash or tripod, select a 35mm film that has an ISO of 400 or higher.
If you intend to capture photographs inside or anytime there is low light, ensure that you are using a fast lens. Take a look at my post on the 5 Best Lenses for the Canon EOS-1v for suggestions.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - This film works well in a plethora of lighting conditions and is a terrific selection for a color 35mm film. Using Kodak UltraMax 400 you should be able to handhold the EOS-1v in the majority of situations.
The pictures will have terrific skin tones and is on the warm side.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - An alternative to Kodak that may have far better availability depending on what country you are in.
When compared to Kodak, Fuji appears to be a little cooler with stronger greens and blues.
Lomography 800 - If you want an ISO 800 color film, there are only a few possible choices. This happens to be the only 35mm film targeted towards consumers.
The film can also be bought in the 120 film format, to be used in medium format cameras.
Kodak Gold 200 - An outstanding option to get that mid-80s through 90s feeling. Use a flash to get the “authentic” look.
Over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops to reveal the best look the film can achieve. This will ensure that you get the beautiful colors people love the film for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - By far the most popular color negative film among photography enthusiasts online. Overexpose it by 1 or 2-stops to get the rendering the film is known for.
Plus, ISO 160 and ISO 800 versions of Kodak Portra. 8x10 sheets, 4x5 sheets, and rolls of 120 film are also available to buy.
Black and White Film
Consumer
With reasonable costs and more than acceptable favorable to try in the Canon EOS-1v.
The largest appeal for budget minded photographers and photography students is the very low price. Even if you would not put yourself in those groups, it is great to have low cost rolls of 35 film available for trying out newly obtained camera gear.
Kentmere 400 - It is produced by the parent company of Ilford, Harmon Technology. This is notable since that allows this to be the most broadly sold film out of the 3.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - It’s easier to purchase in Europe as the film is manufactured by Foma Bohemia in the Czech Republic.
An excellent 35mm film to choose for your initial couple of attempts at film photography or developing film at home. Also a good option if you happen to be testing out a camera to check that it is completely operational.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - You can get the best price on this film by ordering it straight from Ultrafine.
If you process film at home, you may have done that with developer produced by them to process your film.
Professional
Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford HP-5 Plus 400 are the 2 most frequently used black & white 35mm film emulsions. They do have a large amount of characteristics that are comparable that help make them a favourite, while maintaining different styles.
Both emulsions can be pushed 1 or 2 stops and result in professional results. This makes the film versatile as a roll can be shot at ISO 400, 800, or 1600.
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - The most significant differences are that HP5 Plus is cheaper and has lower levels of contrast when compared to Tri-X. Minimal amounts of contrast can be nice due to the fact contrast can be adjusted when making a darkroom print or during digital post processing.
The film still looks excellent when pushed 2-stops. It is also recognized as having subtle grain.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film stock provides a stronger look to it. To reveal the legendary grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it needs to be processed in D-76.
You’re going to undeniably notice considerably more contrast with Tri-X 400. That’s great if it is the overall look you are looking for because it involves much less work when during digital post processing or printmaking.
Reversal Film
Films that make a positive image are referred to as transparency, reversal, or slide film. This means the slides can be displayed with a projector or light box.
This is unique from the more commonly available negative film emulsions that create pictures that need the colors to be inverted for the image to be seen.
Slide films have less dynamic range and latitude when compared with negative films and so they are thought to be harder to use.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - This is a fine grain film known for beautiful skin tones. There is no hypersaturation of colors. Ektachrome has been balanced for daylight.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - This is a extraordinarily sharp daylight balanced transparency film with high levels of contrast and saturation, giving photos a special rendering. Velvia has the best resolving power of any elevated elevated.
You can also get it in an ISO 100 version.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Offers vivid and realistic colors with moderate contrast and color saturation. It has a daylight color balance and ultra fine grain.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black & white reversal film, described by Fomapan as having fine grain, elevated levels of contrast, and very good resolving power. It is also mentioned as a alternative for the discontinued Agfa Scala Film Stock.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Professional films cost more due to the fact they have better latitude, dynamic range, and are easier to push.
There is a big difference in availability. Consumer films can frequently still be obtained from big-box stores and pharmacies in limited quantities. Professional film should really be bought from a online retailer or camera store.
ISO
Film speed is listed as ISO, which may also be thought of as the film’s sensitivity to light.
The less light available to expose an image, the bigger the film’s ISO should be. This comes at the expense of more film grain.
It can be hard to handhold the EOS-1v with ISO 100 or slower films (ISO 25, ISO 50, etc). The can be longer will most likely take more time than what you’re able to handhold without causing motion blur unless you are shooting in full sun.
To stop this you will need to use a fast lens, flash, and/or tripod. Using a high speed ISO 400 or ISO 800 film is likely to make the additional equipment unnecessary.
As a quick note, the ISO selection knob is marked as ASA on the Canon EOS-1v. The transition to using ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) came after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Film Latitude
Film latitude is the amount of stops a film can be overexposed while still producing usable photographs. Professional films have a larger latitude along with a somewhat increased price.
Negative film has more latitude than slide film. That is one of the reasons why it’s believed to be more difficult to use.
Dynamic Range
Dynamic range is the difference between the highlights and shadows parts of a photograph that can be captured. Areas of a photograph that do not fit within this range will appear as solid white overexposed highlights or completely black underexposed shadows.
A bigger dynamic range is preferable due to the fact that a larger range makes working in a variety of lighting situations easier.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
Transparency film is thought to be tricky to use on account of the constrained dynamic range. A very good time to try it would be during the golden hour.
Film Type
35mm film that is sold in canisters is used by the Canon EOS-1v. The film can also be called 135 film, and it’s the most often used film format.
The only other film format you are likely to come across is 120 or 220 film that is used with medium format cameras}.
Changing the film you are using will alter the look of your shots. This is an example of the best things about shooting film.
DX Coded Film
Nearly all commercially available 35mm film on the market currently has DX encoding. This will allow cameras to automatically detect and set the ISO of the film loaded.
DX-coding doesn’t change anything for the Canon EOS-1v because ISO must be dialed in manually with the ASA knob.
Canon EOS-1v Resources
Where to Get 35mm Film Developed?
There are only a few possibilities for where to have 35mm film processed. For a more complete discussion of the possibilities have a look at my article on Where to Get Film Developed.
WARNING: Pharmacies and big box stores no longer develop film on site. They ship the film away to be developed by a separate company. As a result, you will not be given your developed negatives back.
- Develop Film at Home
- Use a Local Photography Lab
- Use a Mail Order Photo Lab
- Pharmacy or Big Box Store
The simplest option and the method I would suggest doing if you are just beginning to use film is to send off your film to a photo lab to be processed and scanned. If you regularly shoot film, this could be a disadvantage since it can get very expensive.
There are a few activities that can be done to decrease the expenses required to shoot film, if you are going through a moderate to high volume of film.
Bulk Loading Film
Certainly one of the most widely used ways to lower your costs on film is to buy a bulk roll of 100’ of film and load it into canisters by hand.
A 100 foot roll will fill up typically around 18 canisters of film with 36 frames. Depending on the film stock you can expect to save 20%-30%.
Take into account that you are going to be limited to 100 foot rolls of black & white film. This is in part because black and white film is quite a bit easier and less expensive to develop at home.
Home Developing and Scanning
Any film can be processed at home. In fact it’s a smart option to reduce costs so you can shoot more film with your Canon EOS-1v.
Black & white film is significantly easier to develop. Chemical temperature and development times are not as vital to get correct with black & white film as time and temperatures are for color negative or slide film.