Best Film for the Nikon N4004s
The best film to use in the Nikon N4004s will have to be based on the available light, your lens, and type of film you want to use.
Using an ISO 400 film or higher speed will allow you to eliminate having to haul around a flash or tripod.
If you need to take photographs in low light, such as inside, ensure you are using a fast lens. For lens lens suggestions have a look at my brief article on the 5 Best Lenses for the Nikon N4004s.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - The film works well in a plethora of lighting conditions and is a great choice for a 35mm color film. The film is fast enough so that you should be able to handhold the N4004s in the majority of circumstances.
Expect photographs to appear a little warm with wonderful skin tones.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - An alternative to Kodak that could have far better availability depending on where you are in the world.
Fujifilm photos tend to have cooler tones with notable greens and blues, when compared to Kodak.
Lomography 800 - There are a few offerings if you want a color ISO 800 35mm film. This is the only film focused on consumers.
In addition, if you own a medium format camera, it is also sold in 120 film format.
Kodak Gold 200 - A staple film that debuted in the mid-1980s. It produces the look and feel of snapshots from the 1980s and 90s. For the authentic photography experience take advantage of an on-camera flash.
To really bring the best out of this film, make sure to over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops. This will ensure that you get the wonderful colors everyone loves Gold 200 for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - By far the most popular color negative film among photography enthusiasts online. Overexpose it by 1 or 2-stops to get the overall look the film is highly regarded for.
Additionally, ISO 160 and 800 versions of Kodak Portra. 8x10 sheets, 4x5 sheets, and rolls of 120 are also available.
Black and White Film
Consumer
These film stocks have low costs and excellent quality, making them quite popular to try in the Nikon N4004s.
The major appeal for photography students and budget minded photographers is the low cost. Even if you wouldn’t put yourself in those groups, it’s great to have low-priced rolls of 35 film readily available for trying out newly obtained used cameras.
Kentmere 400 - Made by Harmon Technology, which is also the owner of Ilford. This is notable because that allows this to be the most broadly available film out of the three.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - It will probably easier to purchase in Europe as the film is manufactured by Foma Bohemia in the Czech Republic.
A suitable film stock to employ for your initial few attempts at analog photography or home developing. Also a good selection if you’re attempting to try out a camera to ensure that it’s totally functional.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - You can get the cheapest price by purchasing it from Ultrafine.
If you develop color film at home, you could have done that with chemicals produced by them to process your film.
Professional
The 2 most commonly used black & white 35mm film stocks are Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford HP-5 Plus 400. While they both have unique rendering, they possess several capabilities that are similar that help makes them a favorite.
You can create high quality images after pushing both film stocks 2-stops. A 35mm roll of film can be used at ISO 400, 800, or 1600, making them very useful.
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - Between the two films, HP5 Plus has lower levels of contrast and is more affordable. Minimal amounts of contrast can be good because of the fact contrast can be added when making a darkroom print or during digital processing.
The film has subdued grain and still looks outstanding when pushed 2-stops.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film stock has got a more distinctive style to it. To showcase the classic grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it needs to be processed in Kodak D-76.
The film definitely has considerably more contrast. That’s awesome if it’s the overall look you need because it involves not as much work when making a darkroom print or through digital processing.
Reversal Film
Reversal film, also known as slide or transparency film, provides a positive picture. This means the photographs can be showcased with a projector or light box.
The colors are not required to be inverted to be seen, in contrast to the more commonly available negative film stocks.
Slide films are viewed as very hard to work with because slide film has a lot less dynamic range and latitude than negative film.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - The film is known for striking skin tones and fine grain. There is virtually no hypersaturation of colors. Ektachrome is daylight balanced.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - Produces beautiful looking shots that have highly elevated amounts of saturation and contrast. It is sharp with a daylight color balance. Out of all the slide films you can get, it has the best resolving power.
You can also get it in an ISO 100 speed.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Delivers vivid and natural colors with medium color saturation and contrast. It has a daylight color balance and ultra fine grain.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black & white slide film, described by Fomapan as having fine grain, very good resolving power, and higher levels of contrast. It’s also mentioned as a alternative for the long discontinued Agfa Scala transparency film.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Professional film stocks cost more because they can more easily be pushed, have greater dynamic range, and latitude.
You should be prepared for a disparity in business that sell it. Consumer film emulsions can frequently still be seen in pharmacies and big-box stores in meager amounts. Professional level film needs to be bought from a online retailer or camera store.
ISO
A film’s sensitivity to light is displayed by the ISO.
The less light available to get an image, the bigger the film’s ISO will be required. This comes at the tradeoff of larger film grain.
It can be troublesome to handhold the N4004s with ISO 100 or slower speed films (ISO 50, ISO 25, etc). The will be longer can take longer than what you could handhold without producing motion blur unless you are working in full sun.
To avoid this you will need to use a fast lens, tripod, and/or flash. The additional accessories might not be needed if you choose to use a higher speed ISO 800 or ISO 400 film.
As a quick note, the ISO knob is labeled as ASA on the Nikon N4004s. The shift to labeling ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) came after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Film Latitude
Latitude is the amount of stops film can be overexposed while retaining tolerable photographs. Pro films have a greater latitude along with a somewhat higher price.
Negative film has a greater amount of latitude than slide film. That is a reason it is perceived as more challenging to shoot.
Dynamic Range
The range between the brightest and darkest details of an image is referred to as dynamic range. Sections of a picture that don’t fit within this range will appear as solid black underexposed shadows or solid white overexposed highlights.
A bigger dynamic range is advantageous because it makes working in a variety of lighting conditions easier.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
Transparency film is viewed as hard to use as a consequence of the limited dynamic range. Golden hour is the best time to use reversal.
Film Type
The Nikon N4004s uses 35mm film that is sold in metal canisters. It can also be called 135 film, and it’s the most commonly used type of film.
The only other type of film you are probably going to notice is 120 or 220 film that is used with medium format cameras}.
Switching the film stock you are working with will transform the look of your photographs. This is an example of the marvelous things about film.
DX Coded Film
All new 35mm film distributed at this time has a DX code. This enables cameras to automatically detect and set the ISO of the film canister loaded into the camera.
ASA (ISO) on the Nikon N4004s needs to be set manually. Which means that DX-coding doesn’t be of any use.
Nikon N4004s Resources
Where to Get 35mm Film Developed?
You will find a range of possible choices for where to get film developed. For a more extensive explanation of the choices go to my article on Where to Develop Film.
WARNING: Film is no longer developed locally at big box stores and pharmacies. They ship film off to be processed by a third party. As a result, you will not 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
Shipping film to a mail-order photo lab to be developed and scanned is the easiest option if you’re just getting started shooting film. If you consistently shoot film, this could be a downside because it can get pricey.
There are a couple of things that can be done to limit the costs involved in using film, given that you’re shooting a medium to high volume of film.
Bulk Loading Film
Buying a bulk roll of 100’ of film and manually loading in into canisters by hand is certainly one of the leading methods to save money.
A 100 foot bulk roll of film will fill about 18 canisters of film containing 36 frames. Expect to save 20-30% depending on your selection.
Be aware that you’re limited to bulk rolls of black and white film. This is in part because black and white film is much easier and less expensive to process yourself.
Home Developing and Scanning
It is easy to develop and scan film at home. In fact it is a smart option to save money so you can use more film with your Nikon N4004s.
Black and white film is by far the least difficult to develop at home. Chemical temperature and development times are both not as imperative to do correctly with black and white film as they are for color negative or slide film.