Best Film for the Nikon N5005
The best film to use in the Nikon N5005 is going to depend on your lens, lighting conditions, and if you want to shoot color or black & white.
To prevent having to lug around a tripod and/or flash, pick a film that has an ISO of 400 or higher.
If you want to shoot photographs inside or anytime there is low light, ensure that you have a fast lens. Have a look at my post on the 5 Best Lenses for the Nikon N5005 for recommendations.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - A terrific selection for a variety of lighting conditions. Using this film you should be able to handhold the N5005 in almost all circumstances.
The photographs will have extremely good skin tones and tend to be on the warm side.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - Depending on where you are in the world, this film can be more widely available. It’s a great alternative to Kodak film.
Fujifilm pictures appear to have cooler colors with stronger greens and blues, compared to Kodak.
Lomography 800 - If you want a color 35mm film with an ISO of 800, there are only a small number of choices. This is literally the only 35mm film geared towards consumers.
Lomography 800 is also offered in the 120 film format, for use with medium format cameras.
Kodak Gold 200 - A surefire solution to obtain that mid-1980s through 90s style. Use a flash to get the “authentic” film look.
To really bring the best out of the film, make sure to over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops. This will give you the eye-catching colors people love the film for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - By far the most popular color negative film among photography enthusiasts online. Overexpose Portra 400 by 1 or 2-stops to get the rendering the film is well known for.
Additionally, ISO 160 and 800 versions of Kodak Portra. 8x10 sheets, 4x5 sheets, and rolls of 120 film are also manufactured.
Black and White Film
Consumer
With reasonable costs and more than acceptable quite popular to be used in the Nikon N5005.
The biggest appeal for budget minded photographers and photography students is the very affordable price. Even if you would not put yourself in that group, it is good to have affordable rolls of film around for trying out recently acquired used gear.
Kentmere 400 - Produced by Harmon Technology, which is the parent company of Ilford. This is good because that makes this the most widely sold 35mm film of the 3.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - Might be easier to obtain in Europe as the film is produced by Foma Bohemia inside of the Czech Republic.
A suitable film stock to work with for your initial couple of attempts at home developing or analog photography. Also a good choice if you are testing out a camera to be sure that it’s working properly.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - The cheapest place to buy this film is online directly from Ultrafine.
If you process color film at home, you could have done that with chemicals produced by them to process your film.
Professional
The two most frequently used black and white 35mm films are Ilford HP-5 Plus 400 and Kodak Tri-X 400. They possess a large amount of traits in common that make them so well liked, while maintaining individual appearances.
You can create great photos after pushing both emulsions 2-stops. A roll can be used at ISO 400, 800, or 1600, making them very useful.
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - Between the two films, HP5 Plus is more affordable and has lower levels of contrast. Low amounts of contrast can be an advantage because contrast can be added when making a print or during digital processing.
The film stock still appears good when pushed 2-stops. It is also recognized for having subtle grain.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film provides a stronger style. To create the classic grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it should be developed in Kodak D-76.
Tri-X 400 unquestionably has greater contrast. That’s ideal if it is the look you are after because it results in much less work when through digital post processing or making a print in the darkroom.
Slide Film
Slide film, also known as reversal or transparency film, produces a positive image. This allows the slides to be exhibited with a light box or projector.
Colors don’t need to be inverted to be seen, as opposed to the more prevalent negative films.
Slide films are considered hard to shoot due to the fact slide film has a smaller amount of latitude and dynamic range when compared with negative film.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - This is a fine grain film known for beautiful skin tones. There’s virtually no hypersaturation of colors. It’s daylight color balanced.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - Produces distinctive looking photographs that have high levels of contrast and saturation. It is incredibly sharp and balanced for daylight. When compared to all the slide films available, it has the best resolving power.
An ISO 100 version is also available.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Produces vivid and natural colors with medium color saturation and contrast. It’s a ultra fine grain film balanced for daylight.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black & white transparency film, described by Fomapan as having very good resolving power, elevated contrast, and very fine grain. It is also mentioned as a alternative for the long discontinued Agfa Scala Film Stock.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Pro film stock have improved latitude, are easier to push, and expanded dynamic range, which is why pro-film costs more.
There is a difference in availability. Consumer film stocks can generally still be seen in big-box stores and pharmacies in meager amounts. Professional film emulsions has to be ordered from a specialized photography store or online.
ISO
A film’s light sensitivity is listed as the ISO.
The less light available to get an image, the bigger the ISO needs to be. Also, expect to see increased film grain.
It is often hard to handhold the N5005 with ISO 100 or slower speed films (ISO 50, ISO 25, etc). This is because if you don’t have full sun, the shutter speeds will likely take longer than what you could handhold without resulting in motion blur.
A fast lens, tripod, and/or flash are going to help you with longer shutter speeds. The extra accessories might not be needed if you use a higher speed ISO 800 or ISO 400 film.
As a quick note, the ISO dial is listed as ASA on the Nikon N5005. The transition to labeling ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) came after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Film Latitude
Film latitude is the number of stops film can be overexposed while still keeping adequate results. Pro film stocks have a larger latitude to go along with a slightly increased price.
Slide film has less latitude when compared to negative film. That is one of the reasons it is deemed to be challenging to work with.
Dynamic Range
The difference between the darkest and brightest parts of a picture is known as dynamic range. Areas of a photograph that fall out of this range will appear as totally black underexposed shadows or solid white overexposed highlights.
A bigger dynamic range is advantageous because it can make working in a variety of lighting conditions easier.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
Slide film is considered to be tough to use resulting from the small dynamic range. The best time to try it out is during the golden hour.
Film Type
35mm film that is sold in metal canisters is used by the Nikon N5005. The film can also be described as 135 film, and it is the most popular type of film.
120 or 220 film, used by medium format cameras, is the only other film format you are likely to see}.
Swapping the film emulsion you are using will alter the look of your photos. This is an example of the best things about film.
DX Coded Film
All new 35mm film offered for sale today has a DX code. This allows cameras to automatically detect and set the ISO when the film is loaded into the camera.
DX-coding is not going to change anything for the Nikon N5005 because ISO needs to be set manually with the ASA knob.
Nikon N5005 Resources
Where to Get Film Developed?
You will find a range of possibilities for where to get film processed. For a more detailed discussion of the possible choices check out my article on Where to Develop Film.
WARNING: Film is no longer processed on location at big box stores and pharmacies. They ship film away to be processed by a 3rd party. As a result, you will not be given your negatives back.
- Develop Film at Home
- Use a Local Photography Lab
- Use a Mail Order Photo Lab
- Pharmacy or Big Box Store
The most straightforward method and what I suggest doing if you are just starting to use film is to send off your film to a photo lab to be developed and scanned. A downside to this is that it will become expensive if you’re frequently using film.
There are a couple of things that you are capable of doing to reduce the expenses required to shoot film, if you are using a moderate to high volume of film.
Bulk Loading Film
Buying a bulk roll of 100’ of film and loading in into canisters yourself is among the common methods to lower your costs.
A 100’ roll of film can fill typically around 18 canisters of film containing 36 frames. Depending on the film stock you will probably save 20%-30%.
Keep in mind that you’re limited to 100 foot rolls of black and white film. This is due to the fact black and white film is a lot easier and more affordable to develop at home.
Home Developing and Scanning
All film can be processed at home. In fact it is a very good option to spend less so you can shoot more film with your Nikon N5005.
Black & white film is by far the least complicated to process at home. Developer temperature and time are not as crucial to do correctly with black & white films as temperatures and time are for color negative or slide film.