Best Film for the Canon EOS ELAN
The best film to use in your Canon EOS ELAN will be based on the lens, available light, and type of film you want to use.
Getting an ISO 400 film or higher speed will allow you to eliminate having to carry around a flash and/or tripod.
If you want to capture photos indoors or anywhere there is low light, make sure that you have a fast lens. For lens lens recommendations go to my list on the 5 Best Lenses for the Canon EOS ELAN.
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 in most circumstances.
Expect images to look a bit warm with beautiful skin tones.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - Based on where you are in the world, this film can have greater availability. It’s a great alternative to Kodak emulsions.
Fujifilm images appear to have cooler tones with an emphasis on greens and blues, compared to Kodak.
Lomography 800 - If you want a color 35mm film with an ISO of 800, there are not many offerings. For film stocks focused on consumers, this is the single option.
Additionally, if you have a medium format camera, it’s also available in 120 film format.
Kodak Gold 200 - A great way to get that mid-1980s through 90s rendering. For the authentic photography experience use a flash.
Over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops to produce the most popular look the film has to offer. This will give you the attractive colors everyone loves Kodak Gold 200 for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - Among the film enthusiasts online, Portra 400 is definitely the most frequently used color film. Overexpose the film by 1 or 2-stops to get the style the film is known for.
Kodak Portra is also offered in ISO 800 and ISO 160 emulsions. 8x10 sheets, 4x5 sheets, and rolls of 120 are also easily found.
Black and White Film
Consumer
These film emulsions have reasonable costs and very good quality, making them favorable to be used in the Canon EOS ELAN.
The major draw for photography students and budget minded photographers is the competitive cost. Even if you do not put yourself in that group, it’s nice to have relatively cheap rolls of film on hand for trying out newly acquired camera gear.
Kentmere 400 - It is manufactured by the parent company of Ilford, Harmon Technology. This is good considering that allows this to be the most broadly available film out of the three.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - Can be easier to obtain in Europe as the film is made inside of the Czech Republic by Foma Bohemia.
A good quality film emulsion to work with for your first couple of attempts at home developing or film photography. Also a good choice if you happen to be looking to try out a camera to check that it is operating correctly.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - The cheapest store to purchase this film is online directly from Ultrafine.
If you process film yourself, you could have used chemicals produced by them to process your film.
Professional
The 2 best black and white films are Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford HP-5 Plus 400. They possess a large amount of characteristics that are equivalent that make them popular, while preserving unique rendering.
Both emulsions can be pushed 1 or 2 stops and while still generating good results. A 35mm roll of film can be used at ISO 400, 800, or 1600, making them remarkably versatile.
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - The primary differences are that HP5 Plus is less expensive and has lower levels of contrast compared to Tri-X. A lack of contrast can be nice because of the fact contrast can be increased when making a print in the darkroom or through digital processing.
The film stock has subtle grain and still looks great when pushed 2-stops.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film emulsion provides a more distinctive look to it. To showcase the classic grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it should be processed in D-76.
You’re going to clearly see far more contrast with Kodak Tri-X 400. That’s awesome if it happens to be the look and feel you are after because it results in much less work when making a print in the darkroom or through digital post processing.
Slide Film
Slide film, also known as reversal film or transparency film, results in a positive image. That means a projector or lightbox can be used to showcase the photos.
The colors do not need to be inverted to be seen, unlike the more readily available negative films.
Slide films have much less latitude and dynamic range than negative film and so they are considered more difficult to work with.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - The film is known for fine grain and attractive skin tones. The colors do not show up oversaturated. It has a daylight color balance.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - This is a exceptionally sharp daylight color balanced reversal film with high levels of contrast and saturation, giving shots a distinct appearance. Matched against all the reversal films you can buy, it has the best resolving power.
You can also get it in an ISO 100 emulsion.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Creates realistic and vivid colors with medium contrast and color saturation. It is a ultrafine grain film balanced for daylight.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black & white slide film, noted by Fomapan as having increased contrast, very fine grain, and high resolving power. It’s also mentioned as a substitute for the discontinued Agfa Scala Film Stock.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Pro films cost more due to the fact that they have greater latitude, dynamic range, and are easier to push.
There’s a difference in business that sell it. Consumer film stocks can more often than not be seen in pharmacies and big-box stores in anemic quantities. Professional level film emulsions will need to be purchased from a camera store or online retailer.
ISO
The ISO signifies the film speed, which may also be regarded as the film’s light sensitivity.
The higher the ISO, the less light will be required to get an image. This comes at the cost of larger film grain.
It may be difficult to handhold the EOS ELAN with ISO 100 or slower films (ISO 25, ISO 50, etc). The can take more time might be longer than what you could handhold without leading to motion blur unless you’re in full sun.
A tripod, flash, and/or fast lens are going to help you with longer exposure times. The extra gear may not be needed if you pick a faster ISO 800 or ISO 400 film.
As a quick note, the ISO dial is labeled as ASA on the Canon EOS ELAN. The change to labeling 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 a film can be overexposed while still maintaining satisfactory images. Pro film emulsions have a larger latitude paired with a slightly higher cost.
Negative film has a larger amount of latitude when compared to reversal film. That is a reason why it’s viewed as harder to shoot.
Dynamic Range
The difference between the brightest and darkest parts of a photo is referred to as dynamic range. Areas of an image that do not fit within this range will appear as solid white overexposed highlights or completely black underexposed shadows.
When working in a wide variety or quickly changing lighting conditions, films with a larger dynamic range is preferable.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
The constrained dynamic range of transparency film is another reason why it is considered to be tough to shoot. Golden hour is the prime time to use transparency.
Film Type
35mm film that is in canisters is used by the Canon EOS ELAN. The film can also be described as 135 film, and it is the most popular film format.
The only other type of film you are likely to encounter is 120 or 220 film that is used in medium format cameras}.
Changing the film emulsion you are using will change the look of your photos. This is one of the fantastic things about shooting film.
DX Coded Film
Almost all new 35mm film for sale these days has DX encoding. This makes it possible for cameras to automatically detect and set the ISO of the canister loaded.
ASA (ISO) on the Canon EOS ELAN is required to be set manually. For that reason DX-coding doesn’t do anything.
Canon EOS ELAN Resources
Where to Get 35mm Film Developed?
You will find just a few possible choices for where to have film developed. For a more detailed explanation of the possible choices have a look at my guide on Where to Get Film Developed.
WARNING: Pharmacies and big box stores don’t process film locally. They ship the film off to be developed by a separate company. Because of this, you won’t be given your negatives back.
- Develop Film at Home
- Use a Local Photography Lab
- Use a Mail Order Photo Lab
- Pharmacy or Big Box Store
The simplest choice and what I would suggest doing if you’re just getting started shooting film is to mail off your film to a lab to be processed and scanned. A disadvantage to this is that it becomes pricey if you frequently use film.
There are two actions that you can do to decrease the expenses involved in shooting film, if you’re going through a moderate to high volume of film.
Bulk Loading Film
Purchasing a bulk roll of 100 feet of film and manually loading in into canisters yourself is certainly one of the most popular options to cut costs.
After you’re done, you’ll end up making roughly 18 rolls of 36 frames each. Depending on the film stock you will probably save 20%-30%.
Bear in mind that you’re only going to find 100’ rolls of black and white film. This is because black and white film is much easier and more affordable to develop yourself.
Home Developing and Scanning
You have the ability to process and digitize film at home. In fact it’s an excellent way to reduce costs so that you can use more film with your Canon EOS ELAN.
Black & white film is much simpler to develop at home. Temperature and time are not as crucial to do correctly with black & white films as temperatures and time are for color negative or transparency film.