Best Film for the Canon EOS ELAN II
The best film to use in the Canon EOS ELAN II will be based on the available light, your lens, and type of film you want to shoot.
Using an ISO 400 film or higher speed will enable you to eliminate needing to haul around a tripod or flash.
If you want to be able to to take images inside or anytime there is low light, ensure you are using a fast lens. Take a look at my short article on the 5 Best Lenses for the Canon EOS ELAN II for lens ideas.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - A great selection for a plethora of conditions. Kodak UltraMax 400 is fast enough so that you should be able to handhold the EOS ELAN II in the vast majority of circumstances.
The pictures will have extremely good skin tones and tend to be on the warm side.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - Depending on where you are in the world, this film could have greater availability. It is a top quality alternative to Kodak.
Fuji images tend to have cooler tones with stronger blues and greens, when compared to Kodak.
Lomography 800 - If you want a color 35mm film with an ISO of 800, there aren’t very many options. This is the only film geared towards consumers.
Additionally, if you have a medium format camera, Lomography 800 is also available in 120 film format.
Kodak Gold 200 - A reliable solution to get that mid-80s through 90s style. For the authentic photography experience use a flash.
Over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops to produce the best the film can achieve. This will provide the beautiful colors people love Kodak Gold for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - Among photography enthusiasts online, Portra 400 is undoubtedly the most widely used color 35mm film. Overexpose the film by 1 or 2-stops to get the rendering the film is highly regarded for.
There are also ISO 800 and ISO 160 versions of Portra. 8x10 sheets, 4x5 sheets, and rolls of 120 film are also available.
Black and White Film
Consumer
With affordable prices and excellent very popular for use in the Canon EOS ELAN II.
The primary appeal for budget minded photographers and photography students is the affordable cost. Even if you would not put yourself in that group, it is good to have relatively cheap rolls of film available for evaluating newly purchased used cameras.
Kentmere 400 - Made by Harmon Technology, which is also the parent company of Ilford. This is notable since that allows this to be the most widely sold 35mm film out of the three.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - It will probably much easier to get in Europe as the film is made by Foma Bohemia in the Czech Republic.
An appropriate film stock to use for your initial few attempts at home developing or analog photography. Also a good choice if you’re trying out a camera to make sure that it’s working correctly.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - The best store to buy this film is directly from Ultrafine.
If you process color 35mm film at home, you might have used chemicals produced by them.
Professional
Ilford HP-5 Plus 400 and Kodak Tri-X 400 are the two most popular black & white films. They have quite a few capabilities in common that make them so popular, while keeping unique looks.
You can get solid photographs after pushing both film emulsions 2-stops. A roll can be used at ISO 400, 800, or 1600, making them quite flexible.
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - Between the two films, HP5 Plus is less expensive and has lower levels of contrast. Minimal contrast can be an advantage due to the fact contrast can be increased when making a print in the darkroom or editing digitally.
The film has subdued grain and still looks outstanding when pushed 2-stops.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film possesses a more distinctive style to it. To reveal the classic grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it needs to be developed in Kodak D-76.
Kodak Tri-X 400 undeniably has far more contrast. That is very good if it happens to be the overall look you are looking for because it requires substantially less work when editing digitially or making a darkroom print.
Transparency Film
Reversal film, also known as transparency or slide film, creates a positive picture. This means the photos can be exhibited with a projector or light box.
This is different from the more widespread negative films that create photos that need inverting the colors so that they can be seen.
Slide films are thought of very hard to work with due to the fact slide film has less dynamic range and latitude when compared to negative film.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - This is a fine grain film known for beautiful skin tones. The colors will not look oversaturated. Ektachrome has a daylight color balance.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - Provides beautiful looking images that have elevated amounts of saturation and contrast. It is sharp and color balanced for daylight. It has the greatest resolving power of any available reversal film emulsion.
There is also another emulsion that is ISO 100.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Delivers vibrant and realistic colors with medium contrast and color saturation. It’s a ultrafine grain film with a daylight color balance.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black & white reversal film, described by Fomapan as having excellent resolving power, elevated levels of contrast, and fine grain. It’s also mentioned as a replacement for the discontinued Agfa Scala Film Stock.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Professional film stock have a greater dynamic range, are easier to push, and increased latitude, which is the reason they are more expensive.
There is a significant difference in business that sell film. Consumer films can frequently be seen in big-box stores and pharmacies in anemic quantities. Pro film stocks should really be bought from a specialized photography store or online retailer.
ISO
The ISO refers to the speed of the film, which may also be regarded as the film’s light sensitivity.
The higher the ISO of the film, the less light will be required to expose a picture. This comes at the cost of noticeably increased film grain.
ISO 100 and slower speed films (ISO 25, ISO 50, etc) might be difficult to shoot handheld in the EOS ELAN II. The are going to take longer will likely take more time than what you are able to handhold without resulting in motion blur unless you are shooting in full sun.
A flash, tripod, and/or fast lens can assist you with longer exposure times. Using a fast ISO 800 or ISO 400 film is likely to make the extra gear unnecessary.
The ISO selection knob is listed as ASA on the Canon EOS ELAN II. The switch to labeling ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) came after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Film Latitude
Latitude is the amount of stops film can be overexposed while maintaining tolerable quality. Pro film emulsions have a greater latitude to go along with a somewhat higher price.
Transparency film has less latitude in comparison with negative film. That is one of the reasons it’s thought of more challenging to work with.
Dynamic Range
The range between the darkest and brightest details of an image is known as dynamic range. Areas of an image that do not fit within this range will be rendered as completely white overexposed highlights or completely black underexposed shadows.
When working in a variety or quickly shifting lighting situations, films with a larger dynamic range are a much better choice.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
Reversal film is considered a challenge to use because of the limited dynamic range. An excellent time to try it out is during the golden hour.
Film Type
35mm film that comes in metal canisters is used by the Canon EOS ELAN II. In addition, it is the most frequently used type of film and in some instances is described as 135 film.
The only other type of film you are likely to encounter is 120 or 220 film that is used with medium format cameras}.
Switching the film you are using will change the look of your images. This is an example of the fantastic things about film.
DX Coded Film
Most new 35mm film sold at this point has DX encoding on the canister. This makes it possible for electronically controlled cameras to detect and set the ISO of the film canister loaded into the camera.
DX-coding does not make a difference for the Canon EOS ELAN II because ISO needs to be dialed in manually with the ASA knob.
Canon EOS ELAN II Resources
Where to Get 35mm Film Developed?
There are a few possible choices for where to have film processed. For a more extensive explanation of the choices check my article on Where to Get Film Developed.
WARNING: Pharmacies and big box stores do not process film on site. They ship film away to be developed by a separate company. This means that, 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
Sending film to a mail-order lab to be developed and scanned is the most convenient choice if you are just beginning to shoot film. If you consistently use film, this can be a downside due to the fact that it can get very expensive.
Assuming that you’re shooting a medium to high volume of film, there are a couple of activities that you are capable of doing to minimize your expenses.
Bulk Loading Film
Purchasing a bulk roll of 100 feet of film and loading in into canisters by hand is certainly one of the leading options to reduce costs.
A 100 foot roll of film will fill roughly 18 canisters of film containing 36 frames. Expect to save 20-30% depending on your selection.
Take into account that you’re limited to 100’ rolls of black & white film. This is in part because black and white film is a lot easier and cheaper to process yourself.
Home Developing and Scanning
It’s easy to process and digitize film at home. It’s an excellent option to cut costs so that you can shoot more film with your Canon EOS ELAN II.
Black and white film is by far the easiest to develop. Temperature and time are not as crucial to do correctly with black & white film as temperatures and time are for color negative or slide film.