Best Film for the Canon EOS ELAN 7E
The best film to use in the Canon EOS ELAN 7E is going to be based on the lighting, lens, and type of film you want to use.
To eliminate having to lug around a flash or tripod, get a film that has an ISO of 400 or faster.
If you need to capture images in low light, such as inside, make sure that you have a fast lens. For lens lens ideas go read my blog post on the 5 Best Lenses for the Canon EOS ELAN 7E.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - This film handles a multitude of lighting conditions well and is a great pick for a 35mm color film. The film is fast enough so that you should be able to handhold the EOS ELAN 7E in just about all circumstances.
Expect photographs to appear a bit warm with outstanding skin tones.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - Based on your location, this film might be more widely available. It’s a very good alternative to Kodak emulsions.
Fuji photos appear to have cooler tones with stronger greens and blues, compared to Kodak.
Lomography 800 - If you want a color 35mm film with an ISO of 800, there are only a few choices. For film stocks focused on consumers, Lomography 800 is the only choice.
Lomography 800 can also be bought in the 120 film format, to be used with a medium format camera.
Kodak Gold 200 - A staple film stock that was launched in the mid-1980s. The film offers the look of home snapshots from the 1980s and 1990s. For the authentic shooting experience take advantage of a flash.
Over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops to reveal the best the film can achieve. This will provide the exceptional colors people love Kodak Gold for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - Among enthusiasts online, Portra 400 is hands down the most popular color negative 35mm film. Overexpose the film by 1 or 2-stops to get the color the film is well known for.
Kodak Portra is also available in ISO 800 and ISO 160 versions. 8x10 sheets, 4x5 sheets, and rolls of 120 film are also available to purchase.
Black and White Film
Consumer
These film stocks have affordable costs and excellent quality, making them favorable for use in the Canon EOS ELAN 7E.
The biggest draw for budget minded photographers and photography students is the very affordable price. Even if you don’t put yourself in that group, it’s nice to have economical rolls of 35 film readily available for trying out newly obtained used cameras.
Kentmere 400 - It’s manufactured by the parent company of Ilford, Harmon Technology. This is great since that allows this to be the most commonly sold B&W film out of the three.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - Might be much easier to acquire in Europe as the film is made by Foma Bohemia out of the Czech Republic.
A pretty good film to try for your first few attempts at analog photography or home developing. Also a good selection if you’re trying out a camera to make sure that it’s operating correctly.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - The best store to buy this film is straight from Ultrafine.
They sell developer kits for 35mm color film, so if you develop film at home you might have already interacted with them.
Professional
Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford HP-5+ 400 are the two most frequently used black & white 35mm films. They do have several characteristics that are similar that make them popular, while preserving individual styles.
Both films can be pushed 1 or 2 stops and while still delivering good quality photos. This makes the film versatile as a roll can be shot at ISO 400, 800, or 1600.
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - The primary differences are that HP5 Plus has lower levels of contrast and is less expensive when compared to Tri-X. Lower levels of contrast can be nice because of the fact contrast can be adjusted when making a print in the darkroom or editing digitally.
The film still looks outstanding when pushed 2-stops. It is also recognized for having subtle grain.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film provides a stronger aesthetic to it. To create the traditional grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it will need to be processed in Kodak D-76.
Kodak Tri-X 400 unquestionably has far more contrast. That’s beneficial if that is the look and feel you need because it results in less work when editing digitially or making a print in the darkroom.
Reversal Film
Film stocks that produce a positive image are referred to as transparency, slide, or reversal film. That means a projector or lightbox can be used to show the photos.
This is distinct from the more commonplace negative film stocks that produce images that require inverting the colors in order to be seen.
Slide films have much less latitude and dynamic range when compared with negative film and so they are perceived as more challenging to shoot.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - This is a fine grain film known for beautiful skin tones. There is virtually no hypersaturation of colors. It has a daylight color balance.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - This is a seriously sharp daylight color balanced reversal film with high levels of contrast and saturation, giving images a beautiful rendering. It has the best resolving power of any available reversal film.
There’s another emulsion with an ISO of 100.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Delivers vivid and realistic colors with medium color saturation and contrast. It has ultrafine grain with a daylight color balance.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black and white slide film, described by Fomapan as having fine grain, increased contrast, and high resolving power. It’s also mentioned as a alternative for the discontinued Agfa Scala film emulsion.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Professional film stock are easier to push, have improved latitude, and dynamic range, which is why they will cost you more.
There’s a difference in business that sell rolls of film. Consumer films can frequently be bought in pharmacies and big-box stores in meager quantities. Professional film stocks will need to be purchased from a online or photography store.
ISO
The speed of the film is shown as ISO, which can also be regarded as the film’s sensitivity to light.
The bigger the film’s ISO, the less light is needed to capture a photo. This comes at the expense of larger film grain.
ISO 100 and slower films (ISO 25, ISO 50, etc) is often challenging to shoot handheld in the EOS ELAN 7E. The can be longer will likely take longer than what you can handhold without causing motion blur unless you are out in full sun.
To avoid this you’ll need to use a flash, tripod, and/or fast lens. Using a high speed ISO 400 or ISO 800 film will likely make the additional accessories not needed.
As a quick note, the ISO selection knob is labeled as ASA on the Canon EOS ELAN 7E. The shift to using ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) came after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Film Latitude
Film latitude is the number of stops film can be overexposed while producing satisfactory results. Professional films have a larger latitude to go along with a slightly increased cost.
Negative film has a larger amount of latitude when compared to transparency film. That is a reason why it’s deemed to be challenging to use.
Dynamic Range
Dynamic range is the difference between the shadows and highlights details of a picture that can be recorded. Sections of an image that do not fit in this range will be rendered as totally white overexposed highlights or totally black underexposed shadows.
A bigger dynamic range is better due to the fact that a bigger range can make working in a variety of lighting situations easier.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
The small dynamic range of transparency film is another factor it’s thought to be a challenge to shoot. Golden hour is the prime time to shoot transparency.
Film Type
The Canon EOS ELAN 7E takes 35mm film that is sold in canisters. In addition, it is the most often used type of film and occasionally described as 135 film.
The only other type of film you are probably going to notice is 120 or 220 film that is used by medium format cameras}.
One of the excellent properties of film is that you can switch the film stock you use and get a completely different look to your photographs.
DX Coded Film
Virtually all new 35mm film offered at this point has a DX code. This makes it possible for electronically controlled cameras to automatically detect and set the ISO of the film canister put in the camera.
DX-coding will not matter for the Canon EOS ELAN 7E because ISO is required to be manually dialed in with the ASA knob.
Canon EOS ELAN 7E Resources
Where to Get Film Developed?
You will find a handful of options for where to process 35mm film. For a more in depth explanation of the choices look at my guide on Where to Develop Film.
WARNING: Pharmacies and big box stores have ceased processing film at the store. They mail the film off-site to be processed by a 3rd party. This means that, you won’t receive your processed negatives back.
- Develop Film at Home
- Use a Local Photography Lab
- Use a Mail Order Photo Lab
- Pharmacy or Big Box Store
Shipping film to a mail-order photo lab to be developed and scanned is the most convenient solution if you’re just beginning to use film. If you frequently use film, this may be a disadvantage due to the fact that it can get pricey.
So long as you are using a moderate to high volume of film, there are a few actions that can be done to limit your expenses.
Bulk Loading Film
Purchasing a roll of 100’ of film and manually loading in into canisters yourself is considered one of the most well known options to lower your costs.
A 100’ bulk roll of film will load around 18 canisters of film containing 36 frames. Based on the film you will probably save 20%-30%.
Bear in mind that you’re only going to be able to get 100 foot rolls of black & white film. This is in part because black & white film is easier and less expensive to process at home.
Home Developing and Scanning
Any film can be processed by hand. It is a good option to spend less so that you can use more film with your Canon EOS ELAN 7E.
Black & white film is much simpler to process yourself. Temperature and time are not as essential to get correct with black and white films as they are for color negative or transparency film.