Best Film for the Canon EOS Rebel II
The best film to use in your Canon EOS Rebel II will be based on the lens, available light, and if you want to shoot color or black & white.
Choosing an ISO 400 35mm or higher speed will allow you to skip being burdened with a flash and/or tripod.
Make sure that you have a fast lens if you want to shoot pictures in low light, conditions that are frequently encountered indoors. Take a look at my guide on the 5 Best Lenses for the Canon EOS Rebel II for suggestions.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - This film works well in a wide variety of lighting conditions and is a very good choice for a color 35mm film. Kodak UltraMax 400 is fast enough so that you should be able to handhold the EOS Rebel II in almost all circumstances.
Expect photos to look a little warm with amazing colors.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - An alternative to Kodak that could have greater availability depending on what country you are in.
Fuji photographs appear to have cooler tones with an emphasis on greens and blues, compared to Kodak.
Lomography 800 - There are only a small number of options if you want a color ISO 800 35mm film. For 35mm film emulsions focused on consumers, this is the only choice.
The film can also be found in the 120 film format, to be used with medium format cameras.
Kodak Gold 200 - A reliable solution to get that mid-80s through 90s rendering. Use an on-camera flash to get the “nostalgic” look the film is known for.
To bring the best look out of the film, over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops. This will produce the gorgeous colors everyone loves the film for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - By far the most popular color negative film among film enthusiasts online. Overexpose the film by 1 or 2-stops to get the look and feel the film is highly regarded for.
Additionally, ISO 800 and 160 emulsions of Kodak Portra. 8x10 sheets, 4x5 sheets, and rolls of 120 film are also available.
Black and White Film
Consumer
With affordable prices and more than acceptable favorable to be used in the Canon EOS Rebel II.
The largest appeal for photography students and budget minded photographers is the very affordable cost. Even if you do not put yourself in that group, it’s nice to have comparatively cheap rolls of 35 film readily available for testing newly obtained camera gear.
Kentmere 400 - It’s made by the parent company of Ilford, Harmon Technology. This is excellent due to the fact that allows this to be the most broadly available B&W film out of the three.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - It’s easier to purchase in Europe as the film is manufactured by Foma Bohemia in the Czech Republic.
A very good film to employ for your first couple of attempts at analog photography or home developing. Also a good option if you’re looking to try out a camera to ensure that it’s completely operational.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - The cheapest store to get this film is straight from Ultrafine.
They distribute developer kits for 35mm film, so if you develop film at home you may have previously interacted with them.
Professional
The two most popular black & white 35mm film stocks are Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford HP-5+ 400. They possess a lot of qualities in common that make them a favourite, while keeping unique styles.
Both film emulsions can be pushed 2 stops and deliver solid photographs. 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 cheaper when compared to Tri-X. Less contrast can be helpful because contrast can be adjusted when making a print or editing digitally.
The film emulsion has subtle grain and still appears outstanding when pushed 2-stops.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film has a stronger style. To produce the legendary grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it will need to be developed in D-76.
You’ll undoubtedly see far more contrast with this film emulsion. That’s helpful if it happens to be the overall look you will want because it means substantially less work when making a darkroom print or editing digitially.
Reversal Film
Transparency film, also known as reversal or slide film, generates a positive image. This means the slides can be exhibited with a projector or light box.
The colors are not required to be inverted to be seen, as opposed to the more commonly available negative film stocks.
Slide films have a smaller amount of dynamic range and latitude when compared to negative films and so they are believed to be difficult to shoot.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - This is a film known for beautiful skin tones and fine grain. The colors will not look oversaturated. It’s daylight balanced.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - This is a seriously sharp daylight balanced film with lots of contrast and saturation, giving photos a distinctive appearance. It has the top resolving power of any available transparency film stock.
An ISO 100 version is also on the market.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Offers vivid and realistic colors with medium color saturation and contrast. It has ultra fine grain with a daylight color balance.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black & white transparency film, reported by Fomapan as having very good resolving power, fine grain, and elevated contrast. It is also mentioned as a substitute for the discontinued Agfa Scala.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Professional film stock have increased latitude, dynamic range, and can more easily be pushed, which is why pro-film costs more.
You should expect to see a significant difference in where rolls of film can be purchased. Consumer film stocks can more often than not still be purchased from pharmacies and big-box stores in meager quantities. Pro film stocks should be ordered from a online or specialized camera store.
ISO
A film’s sensitivity to light is shown as the ISO.
The less light there’s available to properly expose an image, the higher the ISO of the film will need to be. Furthermore, be prepared for larger sized film grain.
It may be challenging to handhold the EOS Rebel II with ISO 100 or slower speed films (ISO 25, ISO 50, etc). The are going to be longer might take longer than what you can handhold without leading to motion blur unless you are in full sun.
A fast lens, flash, and/or tripod can assist you with longer shutter speeds. Using a high speed ISO 800 or ISO 400 film will help make the extra gear not needed.
The dial to select film speed is labeled as ASA on the Canon EOS Rebel II. The switch to using 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 producing good photographs. Pro film emulsions have a greater latitude to go along with a slightly increased price.
Transparency film has a smaller amount of latitude than negative film. That is one of the reasons it is thought of harder to shoot.
Dynamic Range
The range between the darkest and brightest details of a photo is known as dynamic range. Parts of a photo that are not in this range will be seen as white overexposed highlights or totally black underexposed shadows.
A bigger dynamic range is better because a bigger range makes working in varied lighting conditions easier.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
The limited dynamic range of slide film is an additional reason it is viewed as a challenge to shoot. An extremely good time to give it a try would be during the golden hour.
Film Type
35mm film that is sold in canisters is used by the Canon EOS Rebel II. 35mm 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 encounter is 120 or 220 film that is used with medium format cameras}.
One of the fantastic properties of film is that you can swap the film stock you use and get a completely different look to your photos.
DX Coded Film
Most commercially available 35mm film distributed these days has a DX code. This enables electronically controlled cameras to detect and set the ISO of the film loaded into the camera.
ASA (ISO) on the Canon EOS Rebel II is required to be dialed in manually. So DX-coding will not matter.
Canon EOS Rebel II Resources
Where to Get 35mm Film Developed?
There are a handful of choices for where to have film developed. For a more thorough discussion of the options check my guide on Where to Develop Film.
WARNING: Pharmacies and big box stores no longer develop film on site. They send film away to be developed by a 3rd party. As a result, you won’t be given your processed 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 photo lab to be developed and scanned is the simplest choice if you’re just beginning to shoot film. If you regularly shoot film, this may be a disadvantage because it can get pricey.
Assuming that you’re using a medium to high volume of film, there are a couple of actions that you can do to cut back on your expenses.
Bulk Loading Film
Ordering a roll of 100’ of film and loading in into canisters yourself is among the most widely used ways to save money.
A 100’ roll will load about 18 canisters of film containing 36 exposures each. Count on discounts of 20-30% based on the film you pick.
Keep in mind that you are limited to rolls of black and white film. This is due to black and white film is a lot easier and less expensive to develop at home.
Home Developing and Scanning
Any film can be processed by hand. In fact it is a good method to reduce costs so you can shoot more film with your Canon EOS Rebel II.
Black & white film is by far the least complicated to process at home. Temperature and time are both not as imperative to get correct with black & white film as temperatures and time are for slide or color negative.