Best Film for the Canon EOS Rebel XS N
The best film to use in your Canon EOS Rebel XS N will be based on your lens, available light, and type of film you want to shoot.
Working with an ISO 400 film or faster will allow you to skip needing to carry around a flash or tripod.
If you want to take photos inside or anytime there is low light, make sure that you have a fast lens. For lens lens ideas see my list on the 5 Best Lenses for the Canon EOS Rebel XS N.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - An excellent option for a diverse range of lighting conditions. The film is fast enough so that you should be able to handhold the EOS Rebel XS N in the majority of circumstances.
The photographs will have terrific colors and leans towards the warm side.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - A different option than Kodak that may have better availability depending on where you are in the world.
Fujifilm photos appear to have cooler colors with an emphasis on blues and greens, compared to Kodak.
Lomography 800 - There are a few choices if you want a color ISO 800 film. This happens to be the only 35mm film stock focused on consumers.
Additionally, if you have a medium format camera, Lomography 800 is also for sale in 120 film format.
Kodak Gold 200 - An outstanding means to get that mid-1980s through 90s style. For the genuine shooting experience take advantage of a flash.
To bring the ideal look out of this film, you’ll need to over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops. This will help you achieve the beautiful colors people love the film for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - Among photography enthusiasts online, Portra 400 is by far and away the most widely used color negative film. Overexpose it by 1 or 2-stops to get the appearance the film is well known for.
Portra is also sold in ISO 800 and 160 versions. As well as in rolls of 120, 4x5 sheets, and 8x10 sheets.
Black and White Film
Consumer
With affordable prices and good quite popular to use in the Canon EOS Rebel XS N.
The major attraction for photography students and budget minded photographers is the low cost. Even if you wouldn’t put yourself in that group, it is good to have economical rolls of 35 film readily available for trying out newly purchased used cameras.
Kentmere 400 - Made by Harmon Technology, which is the owner of Ilford. This is notable due to the fact that allows this to be the most commonly sold B&W film out of the 3.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - Will be less difficult to find in Europe as the film is made in the Czech Republic by Foma Bohemia.
A very good film emulsion to use for your first few attempts at developing film at home or analog photography. Also a good option if you happen to be trying out a camera to confirm that it is fully operational.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - The cheapest store to purchase this film is online directly from Ultrafine.
They make chemical developer kits for color 35mm film, so if you develop film at home you could have previously interacted with them.
Professional
Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford HP-5 Plus 400 are the 2 best black and white 35mm film stocks. They do have numerous capabilities that are similar that make them so well received, while maintaining individual looks.
Both emulsions can be pushed 2 stops and still deliver high quality images. A 35mm roll can be shot at ISO 400, 800, or 1600, making them quite flexible.
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - Between the two film emulsions, HP5 Plus has lower levels of contrast and is less expensive. A lack of contrast can be a benefit due to the fact contrast can be adjusted when making a darkroom print or through digital post processing.
The film emulsion has subtle grain and still appears very good when pushed 2-stops.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film emulsion features a stronger aesthetic to it. To reveal the legendary grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it should be developed in Kodak D-76.
Tri-X 400 undeniably has far more contrast. That’s perfect if it’s the overall look you want to have because it involves less work when editing digitially or printmaking.
Reversal Film
Film emulsions that make a positive image are typically referred to as reversal, slide, or transparency film. This allows the photos to be shown with a light box or projector.
This is distinct from the more prevalent negative film emulsions that result in photos that require the colors to be inverted in order to be viewable.
Slide films have a smaller amount of latitude and dynamic range than negative film and so they are believed to be more challenging to use.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - The film is known for fine grain and wonderful skin tones. The colors do not show up oversaturated. Ektachrome has been color balanced for daylight.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - Offers unique looking photographs that have greatly elevated levels of saturation and contrast. It is razor-sharp with a daylight color balance. When compared with all the reversal films offered, it has the top resolving power.
You can also get it in an ISO 100 version.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Offers realistic and vibrant colors with medium color saturation and contrast. It is a ultra fine grain film with a daylight color balance.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black and white slide film, noted by Fomapan as having increased contrast, high resolving power, and fine grain. It’s also mentioned as a substitute for the long discontinued Agfa Scala Film Stock.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Pro film stocks cost more because they have improved latitude, dynamic range, and can more easily be pushed.
You should be prepared for a significant difference in supply. Consumer film stocks can usually be obtained from pharmacies and big-box stores in small amounts. Pro film often need to be purchased from a online retailer or photography store.
ISO
The ISO refers to the speed of the film, which may also be regarded as the film’s sensitivity to light.
The less light available to capture an image, the higher the ISO of the film needs to be. This comes at the expense of noticeably increased film grain.
It may be challenging to handhold the EOS Rebel XS N with ISO 100 or slower speed films (ISO 50, ISO 25, etc). The will probably take longer might take more time than what you are able to handhold without producing motion blur unless you’re shooting in full sun.
A flash, fast lens, and/or tripod can help you with longer exposure times. Using a fast ISO 800 or ISO 400 film will make the additional gear unnecessary.
As a quick note, the ISO selection knob is labeled as ASA on the Canon EOS Rebel XS N. The move to using ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) came after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Film Latitude
Film latitude is the amount of stops a film can be overexposed while still keeping adequate images. Pro film emulsions have a greater latitude along with a somewhat increased cost.
Transparency film has a smaller amount of latitude than negative film. That is one of the reasons it is believed to be challenging to work with.
Dynamic Range
Dynamic range represents the range between the darkest and brightest parts of a picture that can be captured. Sections of an image that fall out of this range will be rendered as totally white overexposed highlights or black underexposed shadows.
A larger dynamic range is advantageous since it helps make shooting in a wide variety of lighting conditions easier.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
The small dynamic range of reversal film is one more reason it’s considered tough to shoot. The perfect time to give it a try is during the golden hour.
Film Type
35mm film that comes in metal canisters is used by the Canon EOS Rebel XS N. The film can also be described as 135 film, and it’s the most often used film format.
120 or 220 film, used in medium format cameras, is the only other film format you are going to encounter}.
One of the terrific things about film is that you can swap the film stock you use and get a different look to your shots.
DX Coded Film
Virtually all new 35mm film manufactured today has a DX code. This lets electronically controlled cameras to detect and set the ISO of the film loaded into the camera.
DX-coding will not make a difference for the Canon EOS Rebel XS N because ISO needs to be set manually with the ASA knob.
Canon EOS Rebel XS N Resources
Where to Get Film Developed?
You will find a handful of choices for where to get 35mm film processed. For a more complete explanation of the choices look at my guide on Where to Develop Film.
WARNING: Film is no longer processed on site at pharmacies and big box stores. They send film away to be developed by a 3rd party. That is why, you will not get 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 photo lab to be developed and scanned is the easiest choice if you are just starting to use film. If you frequently shoot film, this might be a disadvantage since it can get expensive.
There are two things that you are able to do to greatly reduce the costs required to shoot film, if you’re shooting a moderate to high volume of film.
Bulk Loading Film
One of the best options to cut costs on film is to buy a roll of 100’ of film and manually load it into canisters by hand.
Once you’ve finished, you’ll get approximately 18 canisters of 36 frames. Based on the film you will probably save 20%-30%.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you’re limited to 100 foot rolls of black and white film. This is in part because black and white film is easier and more cost-effective to develop at home.
Home Developing and Scanning
It is easy to develop and scan film at home. In fact it is an intelligence option to reduce costs so you can shoot more film with your Canon EOS Rebel XS N.
Black & white film is by far the least difficult to process yourself. Temperature and time are both not as necessary to get correct with black and white film as time and temperatures are for color negative or transparency film.