Best Film for the Canon EOS Rebel T2
The best film to use in the Canon EOS Rebel T2 will be based on the lighting, lens, and type of film you want to shoot.
To prevent having to carry around a tripod or flash, get a 35mm film that has an ISO of 400 or faster.
If you need to shoot photographs in low light, such as indoors, make sure that you have a fast lens. Check out my brief article on the 5 Best Lenses for the Canon EOS Rebel T2 for lens recommendations.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - This film handles a large range of lighting conditions well and is an excellent pick for a color 35mm film. Kodak UltraMax 400 is fast enough so that you should be able to handhold the EOS Rebel T2 in lots of circumstances.
Expect photos to look a little warm with pleasant colors.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - An alternative to Kodak that might have better availability depending on what country you are in.
When compared to Kodak, Fujifilm tends to be a little cooler with notable blues and greens.
Lomography 800 - There are a small number of offerings if you want an ISO 800 speed color film. For film stocks geared towards consumers, this is the only choice.
It is for sale in the 120 film format, for use with a medium format camera.
Kodak Gold 200 - A staple film that was launched in the mid-1980s. Kodak Gold 200 provides the look and feel of family snapshots from the 1980s and 1990s. For the genuine experience use a flash.
To bring the ideal look out of this film, over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops. This will ensure that you get the gorgeous colors people love Gold 200 for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - By far the most popular color negative film among enthusiasts online. Overexpose Portra 400 by 1 or 2-stops to get the color the film is well known for.
There’s also ISO 160 and ISO 800 versions of Portra. 8x10 sheets, 4x5 sheets, and rolls of 120 are also available.
Black and White Film
Consumer
These film emulsions have low costs and very good quality, making them very popular to try in the Canon EOS Rebel T2.
The major appeal for photography students and budget minded photographers is the competitive price. Even if you would not put yourself in those groups, it is nice to have affordable rolls of 35 film available for testing recently acquired used cameras.
Kentmere 400 - It is produced by the parent company of Ilford, Harmon Technology. This is great because that allows this to be the most commonly available film out of the three.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - It is less difficult to purchase in Europe as the film is made by Foma Bohemia inside of the Czech Republic.
An appropriate 35mm film to try for your initial few attempts at analog photography or developing film at home. Also a good choice if you happen to be trying out a camera to be sure that it’s working properly.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - The best place to get this film is directly from Ultrafine.
If you develop color 35mm film yourself, you may have done that with chemicals produced by them.
Professional
The 2 most commonly used black and white films are Ilford HP-5 Plus 400 and Kodak Tri-X 400. They do have many attributes in common that make them so popular, while preserving different rendering.
Both film emulsions can be pushed 2 stops and produce professional images. This makes the film versatile as a roll can be shot at ISO 400, 800, or 1600.
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - The fundamental differences are that HP5 Plus is less expensive and has less contrast when compared to Tri-X. Minimal amounts of contrast can be a benefit because of the fact contrast can be added when making a darkroom print or during digital processing.
The film still appears very good when pushed 2-stops. It is also noted for having subdued grain.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film emulsion possesses a stronger style to it. To create the classic grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it should be developed in D-76.
Kodak Tri-X 400 undeniably has considerably more contrast. That’s ideal if it happens to be the look you want to have because it results in much less work when through digital processing or making a print.
Reversal Film
Film stocks that make a positive image can be called slide, transparency, or reversal film. This allows the slides to be shown with a light box or projector.
This is unique from the more readily available negative films that make photographs that require inverting the colors in order to be viewable.
Slide films have much less latitude and dynamic range than negative film and so they are believed to be harder to work with.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - This is a film known for fine grain and stunning skin tones. There is virtually no hypersaturation of colors. It is daylight color balanced.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - Creates appealing looking shots that have elevated levels of contrast and saturation. It is razor-sharp and balanced for daylight. When compared with all the reversal films that are available, it has the best resolving power.
There is another speed with an ISO of 100.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Delivers natural and vibrant colors with medium contrast and color saturation. It’s a film balanced for daylight with ultra fine grain.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black & white transparency film, noted by Fomapan as having very good resolving power, very fine grain, and elevated contrast. It’s also billed as a alternative for the long discontinued Agfa Scala transparency film.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Professional film stocks cost more due to the fact they are easier to push, have greater dynamic range, and latitude.
You should be prepared for a significant difference in supply. Consumer film emulsions can frequently still be obtained from pharmacies and big-box stores in anemic amounts. Professional quality film stocks often need to be purchased from a online or specialized camera store.
ISO
The speed of the film is listed as ISO, that can also be regarded as the film’s sensitivity to light.
The bigger the ISO of the film, the less light will be required to expose an image. In addition, be prepared for larger film grain.
ISO 100 and slower films (ISO 25, ISO 50, etc) can be hard to use handheld with the EOS Rebel T2. The will most likely take more time will most likely be longer than what you’re able to handhold without leading to motion blur unless you are out in full sun.
A tripod, flash, and/or fast lens can assist you with longer shutter speeds. The extra gear might not be needed if you go with a faster ISO 400 or ISO 800 film.
As a quick note, the ISO selection knob is labeled as ASA on the Canon EOS Rebel T2. The shift to labeling ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) happened after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Film Latitude
Latitude is the amount of stops a film can be overexposed while keeping adequate images. Professional film emulsions have a larger latitude along with a somewhat higher cost.
Transparency film has less latitude than negative film. That is one of the reasons why it’s considered more difficult to use.
Dynamic Range
Dynamic range is the difference between the shadows and highlights parts of a picture that can be recorded. Sections of an image that do not fit within this range will be seen as solid black underexposed shadows or solid white overexposed highlights.
When working in a variety or quickly shifting lighting situations, films with a bigger dynamic range is preferable.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
Slide film is considered to be challenging to shoot as a consequence of the constrained dynamic range. The perfect time to try it would be during the golden hour.
Film Type
The Canon EOS Rebel T2 uses 35mm film that is in canisters. It can also be called 135 film, and it’s the most frequently used film format.
120 or 220 film, used in medium format cameras, is the only other film format you are probably going to notice}.
One of the excellent properties of film is that you can change the film stock you use and get a different look to your photos.
DX Coded Film
Just about all new 35mm film made at this point has DX encoding on the canister. This lets cameras to automatically detect and set the ISO when the canister is loaded into the camera.
ASA (ISO) on the Canon EOS Rebel T2 has to be selected manually. For that reason DX-coding doesn’t make a difference.
Canon EOS Rebel T2 Resources
Where to Get 35mm Film Developed?
There are a variety of possibilities for where to develop film. For a more thorough explanation of the possible choices go to my article on Where to Develop Film.
WARNING: Big box stores and pharmacies don’t process film locally. They mail the film off to be processed by a separate company. As a result, you will not 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
Sending your film to a mail-order lab to be processed and scanned is the easiest option if you are just starting to shoot film. If you regularly shoot film, this may be a downside because it can get pricey.
There are two things that you are capable of doing to greatly reduce the expenses involved in shooting film, if you’re going through a moderate to high volume of film.
Bulk Loading Film
Purchasing a roll of 100’ of film and manually loading in into canisters by hand is certainly one of the ideal ways to cut costs.
All said and done, you will get approximately 18 rolls of 36 exposures. Expect to save 20-30% depending on your selection.
Keep in mind that you’re going to be limited to bulk rolls of black & white film. This is because black & white film is a lot easier and cheaper to process at home.
Home Developing and Scanning
You can process and scan any film yourself. It’s a great method to cut costs so you can shoot more film with your Canon EOS Rebel T2.
Black and white film is significantly easier to develop yourself. Chemical temperature and time are not as vital to do correctly with black and white films as time and temperatures are for color negative or slide film.