The Best Available 35mm Film for the Canon EOS ELAN 7E
The best film to use in your Canon EOS ELAN 7E is going to depend on the lens, lighting conditions, and type of film you want to use.
Taking advantage of an ISO 400 35mm or faster will enable you to avoid needing to lug around a tripod and/or flash.
If you want to take photos in low light, such as indoors, ensure you are using a fast lens. For lens recommendations take a look at my guide on the 5 Best Lenses for the Canon EOS ELAN 7E.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - The film handles a plethora of lighting conditions well and is a very good pick for a 35mm color film. The film is fast enough so that you should be able to handhold the EOS ELAN 7E in the vast majority of scenarios.
Expect images to look slightly warm with pleasant colors.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - Depending on your location, this film can be more widely available. It’s a top quality alternative to Kodak film.
In comparison to Kodak, Fujifilm appears to be a little bit cooler with notable greens and blues.
Lomography 800 - If you want a color film with an ISO of 800, there are only a small number of choices. This is literally the only 35mm film targeted towards consumers.
Lomography 800 is available in the 120 film format, for use in a medium format camera.
Kodak Gold 200 - A staple film emulsion that started production in the mid-1980s. It offers the look of snapshots from the 80s and 90s. For the genuine shooting experience have an on-camera flash.
To bring the best out of the film, over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops. This will help you achieve the outstanding colors people love the film for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - Among the photography enthusiasts online, Portra 400 is by far and away the most popular color 35mm film. Overexpose it by 1 or 2-stops to get the rendering the film is known for.
Kodak Portra is also available for purchase in ISO 160 and ISO 800 emulsions. Portra is also offered in rolls of 120 film, 4x5 sheets, and 8x10 sheets.
Black and White Film
Consumer
These film emulsions have affordable prices and good quality, making them favorable to try in the Canon EOS ELAN 7E.
The primary attraction for budget minded photographers and photography students is the very affordable price. Even if you would not put yourself in those groups, it’s great to have low-priced rolls of film around for testing newly acquired camera gear.
Kentmere 400 - It is made by the parent company of Ilford, Harmon Technology. This is good since that allows this to be the most commonly available B&W film out of the 3.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - Can be much easier to find in Europe as the film is produced by Foma Bohemia inside of the Czech Republic.
A good quality film stock to work with for your initial few attempts at home developing or film photography. Also a good option if you’re trying out a camera to ensure that it’s fully operational.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - You can get the cheapest price by purchasing it from Ultrafine.
If you develop color film at home, you may have done that with chemicals sold by them.
Professional
The 2 most commonly used black and white 35mm films are Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford HP-5 Plus 400. While they both do have distinctive looks, they possess a number of capabilities that are similar that makes them so popular.
You can still get quality results after pushing both film stocks 2-stops. A 35mm roll can be used at ISO 400, 800, or 1600, making them very versatile.
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - The main differences are that HP5 Plus is less expensive and has lower levels of contrast when compared to Tri-X. Minimal contrast can be a benefit because of the fact contrast can be increased when making a print or during digital processing.
The film has subtle grain and still appears outstanding when pushed 2-stops.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film emulsion provides a more distinctive rendering to it. To produce the traditional grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it needs to be processed in D-76.
You’re going to definitely see considerably more contrast with Tri-X. That’s great if it is the overall look you would you like because it involves significantly less work when during digital processing or making a print in the darkroom.
Transparency Film
Transparency film, also known as slide film or reversal film, produces a positive image. That means a projector or lightbox can be used to view the pictures.
This is different from the more often used negative films that result in photos that require the colors to be inverted for the image to be viewed.
Slide films have less latitude and dynamic range when compared to negative film and so they are viewed as tougher to work with.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - This is a fine grain film known for beautiful skin tones. The colors will not seem oversaturated. The film is daylight balanced.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - Delivers appealing looking photos that have high amounts of saturation and contrast. It is razor-sharp daylight balanced film emulsion. Velvia has the best resolving power of any elevated increased.
An ISO 100 speed is also available for purchase.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Creates realistic and vibrant colors with moderate contrast and color saturation. It has a daylight color balance and ultrafine grain.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black and white reversal film, described by Fomapan as having excellent resolving power, fine grain, and elevated contrast. It’s also billed as a alternative for the discontinued Agfa Scala reversal film.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Pro film stock have improved dynamic range, latitude, and are easier to push, which is why pro-film costs more.
There is a significant difference in availability. Consumer film emulsions can frequently still be seen in big-box stores and pharmacies in limited amounts. Pro film emulsions needs to be bought from a specialized photography store or online.
ISO
A film’s sensitivity to light is shown as the ISO.
The higher the ISO of the film, the less light will be required to get a frame. This comes at the tradeoff of bigger film grain.
It might be problematic to handhold the EOS ELAN 7E with ISO 100 or slower speed films (ISO 25, ISO 50, etc). This is due to the fact that without full sun, the shutter speeds are going to take longer than what you’re able to handhold without producing motion blur.
To avoid motion blur you will need to use a fast lens, flash, and/or tripod. The additional accessories may not be needed if you choose to use a higher speed ISO 800 or ISO 400 film.
The ISO knob is marked as ASA on the Canon EOS ELAN 7E. The change to labeling ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) came after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Latitude
Film latitude is the number of stops film can be overexposed while still holding onto good results. Pro films have a greater latitude to go along with a somewhat higher price.
Reversal film has less latitude in comparison with negative film. That is a reason why it is considered harder to work with.
Dynamic Range
Dynamic range is the difference between the highlights and shadows details of a photo that can be captured. Parts of a photo that don’t fit in this range will be rendered as solid white overexposed highlights or totally black underexposed shadows.
When shooting in a wide variety or quickly shifting lighting conditions, film stocks with a bigger dynamic range are a superior choice.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
The small dynamic range of slide film is an additional factor it’s considered tricky to shoot. A fantastic time to try it out would be during the golden hour.
Film Type
35mm film that is sold in canisters is used by the Canon EOS ELAN 7E. It can also be described as 135 film, and it’s the most popular film format.
The only other type of film you are probably going to see is 120 or 220 film that is used by medium format cameras}.
One of the terrific properties of film is that you can change the film stock you work with and get a completely different look to your photographs.
DX Coded Film
Almost all available 35mm film distributed currently has a DX code. This will allow cameras to auto detect and set the ISO when the film is loaded into the camera.
The ASA (ISO) on the Canon EOS ELAN 7E has to be manually set. Which means DX-coding will not do anything.
Canon EOS ELAN 7E Resources
Where to Get 35mm Film Developed?
You will find a variety of choices for where to get film developed. For a more comprehensive discussion of the possible choices go look at my guide on Where to Get Film Developed.
WARNING: Film is no longer developed on site at big box stores and pharmacies. They send film away to be developed by a 3rd party. This means that, you won’t receive your negatives back.
- Develop Film at Home
- Use a Local Photography Lab
- Use a Mail Order Photo Lab
- Pharmacy or Big Box Store
The easiest option and the method I suggest using if you’re just getting started shooting film is to send off your film to a photo lab to be developed and scanned. A disadvantage to this is that it becomes very expensive if you consistently use film.
There are a few activities that you are capable of doing to limit the costs involved in using film, provided that you are shooting a moderate to high volume of film.
Bulk Loading Film
Certainly one of the ideal options to lower your expenses on film is to buy a bulk roll of 100 feet of film and manually load canisters yourself.
A 100’ roll will fill typically around 18 rolls of film with 36 frames. You should expect to save 20-30% based on your choice.
Bear in mind that you’re going to be limited to rolls of black & white film. This is due to the fact black & white film is quite a bit easier and more cost-effective to process yourself.
Home Developing and Scanning
You have the ability to develop and digitize film yourself. In fact it is a very good option to spend less so you can shoot more film with your Canon EOS ELAN 7E.
Black & white film is by far the simplest to process. Developer temperature and development times are not as essential to get correct with black & white films as time and temperatures are for color negative or slide film.