Best Film for the Canon EOS Rebel
The best film to use in your Canon EOS Rebel should depend on the available light, your lens, and if you want to use color or black & white.
To prevent having to lug around a flash or tripod, get a 35mm film that has an ISO of 400 or higher.
Make sure that you have a fast lens if you want to shoot images in low light, conditions that are frequently encountered indoors. For lens lens suggestions go read my blog post on the 5 Best Lenses for the Canon EOS Rebel.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - An excellent selection for a wide range of conditions. The film is fast enough so that you should be able to handhold the EOS Rebel in most circumstances.
The images will have excellent colors and is on the warm side.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - Another option that might have better availability based on where you are in the world.
When compared to Kodak, Fujifilm tends to be a little cooler with notable greens and blues.
Lomography 800 - You’re limited to a small number of offerings if you want a color ISO 800 35mm film. This is the only 35mm film emulsion geared towards consumers.
The emulsion can also be found in the 120 film format, for use with a medium format camera.
Kodak Gold 200 - A surefire solution to get that mid-1980s through 90s feeling. Use an on-camera flash to get the “nostalgic” look the film is known for.
To really bring the best out of this film, over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops. This will provide the wonderful colors people love the film for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - Among the enthusiasts online, Portra 400 is without a doubt the most widely used color film emulsion. Overexpose the film by 1 or 2-stops to get the look and feel the film is well known for.
Kodak Portra is also available in ISO 160 and 800 emulsions. 8x10 sheets, 4x5 sheets, and rolls of 120 film are also manufactured.
Black and White Film
Consumer
These film emulsions have low costs and good quality, making them quite popular to try in the Canon EOS Rebel.
The primary attraction for budget minded photographers and photography students is the very low price. Even if you wouldn’t put yourself in those groups, it is great to have inexpensive rolls of 35 film available for testing newly obtained used cameras.
Kentmere 400 - It’s manufactured by the parent company of Ilford, Harmon Technology. This is excellent due to the fact that makes this the most commonly available film of the 3.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - Is likely to be easier to acquire in Europe as the film is manufactured out of the Czech Republic by Foma Bohemia.
A solid film emulsion to work with for your first few attempts at analog photography or developing film at home. Also a good choice if you happen to be testing out a camera to guarantee that it’s functioning properly.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - The cheapest place to get this film is straight from Ultrafine.
If you process color film yourself, you might have done that with developer sold by them.
Professional
The two top selling black and white 35mm films are Ilford HP-5 Plus 400 and Kodak Tri-X 400. They do have numerous traits that are equivalent that make them a favourite, while keeping different rendering.
Both emulsions can be pushed 1 or 2 stops and while still generating professional photos. A roll can be used at ISO 400, 800, or 1600, making them quite useful.
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - The most important differences are that HP5 Plus has lower levels of contrast and is more affordable in comparison to Tri-X. Low amounts of contrast can be nice because of the fact contrast can be changed when making a print or editing digitally.
The film stock still looks great when pushed 2-stops. It is also noted for having subdued grain.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film stock features a stronger look. To reveal the classic grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it should be developed in Kodak D-76.
You’ll unquestionably see more contrast with Kodak Tri-X 400. That’s helpful if that is the style you are looking for because it means less work when editing digitially or making a print.
Slide Film
Films that make a positive image can be called transparency, slide, or reversal film. That means a lightbox or projector can be used to view the slides.
This is distinct from the more prevalent negative film stocks that produce pictures that need inverting the colors for the image to be viewed.
Slide films have a smaller amount of latitude and dynamic range when compared with negative films and so they are perceived as challenging to shoot.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - This is a fine grain film known for beautiful skin tones. There is almost no hypersaturation of colors. It has a daylight color balance.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - Delivers appealing looking pictures that have highly elevated amounts of saturation and contrast. It is razor-sharp and balanced for daylight. It has the highest resolving power of any available slide film emulsion.
There’s another speed that is ISO 100.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Produces natural and vibrant colors with moderate contrast and color saturation. It’s a daylight color balanced film with ultra fine grain.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black & white reversal film, described by Fomapan as having excellent resolving power, elevated levels of contrast, and very fine grain. It’s also mentioned as a replacement for the long discontinued Agfa Scala film emulsion.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Professional film stocks cost more because they have a greater dynamic range, are easier to push, and bigger latitude.
There will also be a disparity in supply. Consumer film emulsions can frequently be obtained from big-box stores and pharmacies in small amounts. Professional level film stocks should be ordered from a photography store or online.
ISO
A film’s light sensitivity is shown as the ISO.
The higher the film’s ISO, the less light is needed to expose an image. This comes at the expense of increased film grain.
It is often tough to handhold the EOS Rebel with ISO 100 or slower films (ISO 25, ISO 50, etc). The will likely be longer will be longer than what you could handhold without causing motion blur unless you’re shooting in full sun.
To stop motion blur you are going to need to use a flash, tripod, and/or fast lens. The extra accessories may not be needed if you choose to use a higher speed ISO 400 or ISO 800 film.
The ISO selection knob is labeled as ASA on the Canon EOS Rebel. The change to labeling ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) happened after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Latitude
Latitude is the range of stops a film can be overexposed while still holding onto adequate quality. Pro films have a greater latitude along with a slightly higher price.
Transparency film has less latitude when compared to negative film. That is a reason why it is considered difficult to work with.
Dynamic Range
The difference between the shadows and highlights parts of a photograph is described as dynamic range. Parts of a photograph that fall out of this range will be rendered as completely white overexposed highlights or solid black underexposed shadows.
When shooting in a wide variety or quickly shifting lighting situations, films with a bigger dynamic range is better.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
The constrained dynamic range of reversal film is a second reason why it’s regarded as a challenge to shoot. Golden hour is the ideal time to use transparency.
Film Type
The Canon EOS Rebel takes 35mm film that is in metal canisters. The film can also be referred to as 135 film, and it is the most commonly used film format.
120 or 220 film, used with medium format cameras, is the only other type of film you are likely to encounter}.
One of the marvelous things about film is that you can change the film you work with and get a completely different look to your shots.
DX Coded Film
Just about all new 35mm film manufactured at this point has DX encoding. This lets cameras to auto detect and set the ISO of the film canister loaded.
The ISO (ASA) on the Canon EOS Rebel needs to be manually dialed in. For that reason DX-coding doesn’t matter.
Canon EOS Rebel Resources
Where to Get Film Developed?
You will find a handful of possible choices for where to get film developed. For a more detailed discussion of the choices have a look at my guide on Where to Develop Film.
WARNING: Big box stores and pharmacies have ceased developing film locally. They send the film off-site to be processed by a third party. Consequently, you won’t 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
The easiest choice and the method I would suggest using if you’re just starting to use film is to mail your film to a photo lab to be developed and scanned. A disadvantage to this is that it will become very expensive if you’re regularly shooting film.
There are a couple of things that you are able to do to reduce the costs required to shoot film, on condition that you’re using a medium 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 considered one of the most well known ways to reduce costs.
A 100 foot bulk roll can load roughly 18 rolls of film containing 36 frames. Depending on the film you are likely to save 20%-30%.
Bear in mind that you’re limited to 100 foot rolls of black and white film. This is due to black & white film is easier and more affordable to process yourself.
Home Developing and Scanning
It is possible to process and digitize any film at home. It is an intelligence method to lower your costs so that you can shoot more film with your Canon EOS Rebel.
Black & white film is by far the simplest to develop yourself. Developer temperature and development times are both not as imperative to do correctly with black and white films as they are for slide or color negative.