Best Film for the Nikon N8008s
The best film to use in the Nikon N8008s will be based on your lens, lighting, and type of film you want to shoot.
Taking advantage of an ISO 400 35mm or faster will allow you to eliminate having to carry around a tripod and/or flash.
If you want to shoot images indoors or anytime there is low light, make sure you are using a fast lens. For lens lens recommendations go read my post on the 5 Best Lenses for the Nikon N8008s.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - A great option for a wide range of conditions. The film is fast enough so that you should be able to handhold the N8008s in almost all situations.
The images will have fantastic skin tones and tend to be on the warm side.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - A different option than Kodak that may have far better availability based on what country you are in.
In comparison to to Kodak, Fujifilm appears to be a small amount cooler with an emphasis on greens and blues.
Lomography 800 - If you want an ISO 800 color 35mm film, there are only a small number of offerings. This is literally the only 35mm film geared towards consumers.
Furthermore, if you have a medium format camera, it’s also offered in 120 film format.
Kodak Gold 200 - A staple film that debuted in the mid-1980s. Kodak Gold 200 gives the look and feel of home snapshots from the 1980s and 90s. Use an on-camera flash to get the “nostalgic” look the film is known for.
To bring the best out of this film, make sure to over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops. This will provide the wonderful colors everyone loves the film for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - Among the photography enthusiasts online, Portra 400 is without a doubt the most popular color 35mm film emulsion. Overexpose Portra 400 by 1 or 2-stops to get the look and feel the film is highly regarded for.
Kodak Portra is also available for purchase in ISO 800 and 160 versions. 8x10 sheets, 4x5 sheets, and rolls of 120 are also available.
Black and White Film
Consumer
These film stocks have reasonable costs and more than acceptable quality, making them very popular to be used in the Nikon N8008s.
The biggest appeal for photography students and budget minded photographers is the reasonable cost. Even if you would not put yourself in those groups, it is good to have economical rolls of 35 film on hand for trying out newly purchased used gear.
Kentmere 400 - Manufactured by Harmon Technology, which is also the parent company of Ilford. This is great because that makes this the most broadly sold B&W film of the three.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - Can be easier to get in Europe as the film is produced in the Czech Republic by Foma Bohemia.
A solid film stock to use for your initial few attempts at developing film at home or analog photography. Also a good selection if you’re testing out a camera to ensure that it is fully operational.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - The cheapest place to purchase this film is online directly from Ultrafine.
They distribute chemical developer kits for 35mm color film, so if you process film at home you may have previously done business with them.
Professional
The two best black & white 35mm films are Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford HP-5 Plus 400. While they both have unique looks, they possess a number of attributes that are comparable that makes them a favorite.
You can create good quality images after pushing both films 2-stops. This makes the film versatile as a roll can be shot at ISO 400, 800, or 1600.
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - Between the two films, HP5 Plus has lower levels of contrast and is more affordable. Low amounts of contrast can be good due to the fact contrast can be increased when making a print in the darkroom or during digital post processing.
The film has subtle grain and still looks excellent when pushed 2-stops.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film emulsion has a stronger style to it. To create the old-school grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it will need to be developed in D-76.
You are going to unquestionably see higher levels of contrast with this film. That’s ideal if it is the style you want to have because it results in considerably less work when through digital post processing or making a darkroom print.
Reversal Film
Films that produce a positive image are known as transparency, reversal, or slide film. That means a projector or lightbox can be used to exhibit the photographs.
This is unique from the more often used negative film emulsions that result in photos that need inverting the colors in order to be viewable.
Slide films have a smaller amount of latitude and dynamic range compared to negative film and so they are viewed as challenging to shoot.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - The film is known for fine grain and stunning skin tones. The colors do not show up oversaturated. The film is daylight color balanced.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - This is a amazingly sharp daylight balanced film with lots of contrast and saturation, giving shots a appealing appearance. When compared with all the slide films you can buy, it has the highest resolving power.
You can also get it in an ISO 100 speed.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Offers realistic and vibrant colors with moderate color saturation and contrast. It has a daylight color balance and ultra fine grain.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black and white transparency film, claimed by Fomapan as having elevated contrast, excellent resolving power, and very fine grain. It’s also billed as a substitute for the discontinued Agfa Scala film emulsion.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Professional films cost more due to the fact that they can more easily be pushed, have larger dynamic range, and latitude.
There is a significant difference in availability. Consumer film emulsions can quite often still be purchased from pharmacies and big-box stores in meager quantities. Pro film often need to be bought from a online retailer or photography store.
ISO
Film speed is represented by ISO, that can also be thought of as the film’s sensitivity to light.
The less light there is available to expose an image, the higher the ISO of the film will have to be. This comes at the expense of bigger film grain.
It might be problematic to handhold the N8008s with ISO 100 or slower films (ISO 50, ISO 25, etc). This is because in the absence of full sun, the exposure times will probably take more time than what you are able to handhold without resulting in motion blur.
To get around motion blur you’ll need to use a flash, fast lens, and/or tripod. Using a fast ISO 800 or ISO 400 film will likely make the extra equipment not needed.
The ISO knob is labeled as ASA on the Nikon N8008s. The switch to using ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) happened after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Film Latitude
Latitude is the number of stops film can be overexposed while still having adequate images. Professional film stocks have a greater latitude to go along with a somewhat increased cost.
Negative film has a larger amount of latitude than transparency film. That is a reason it’s deemed to be more challenging to work with.
Dynamic Range
Dynamic range represents the range between the shadows and highlights parts of a picture that can be captured. Sections of a photograph that don’t fit within this range will appear as solid black underexposed shadows or solid white overexposed highlights.
When working in a variety or quickly changing lighting situations, film stocks with a bigger dynamic range are a superior choice.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
The small dynamic range of transparency film is a further reason why it’s regarded as challenging to shoot. A fantastic time to test it out would be during the golden hour.
Film Type
35mm film that comes in canisters is used by the Nikon N8008s. 35mm film can also be called 135 film, and it’s the most popular type of film.
120 or 220 film, used with medium format cameras, is the only other type of film you are probably going to notice}.
One of the excellent properties of film is that you can change the film emulsion you use and get a fresh look to your shots.
DX Coded Film
Just about all available 35mm film offered for sale at this time has a DX code. This enables electronically controlled cameras to automatically detect and set the ISO of the canister loaded.
The ASA (ISO) on the Nikon N8008s has to be dialed in manually. For that reason DX-coding does not matter.
Nikon N8008s Resources
Where to Get Film Developed?
There are only a few choices for where to process film. For a more thorough explanation of the choices take a look at my article on Where to Get Film Developed.
WARNING: Big box stores and pharmacies don’t process film at the store. They send film away to be processed by a 3rd party. That is why, you won’t get 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 convenient method and the method I would suggest using if you’re just beginning to use film is to ship your film to a lab to be processed and scanned. If you consistently use film, this can be a disadvantage since it can get pricey.
There are two actions that can be done to minimize the expenses required to use film, assuming that you’re going through a moderate to high volume of film.
Bulk Loading Film
Considered one of the common methods to save some money on film is to buy a roll of 100’ of film and manually load it into canisters by hand.
A 100’ roll should fill roughly 18 rolls of film containing 36 exposures each. Based on the film stock you will probably save 20%-30%.
Take into account that you’re going to be limited to 100 foot rolls of black and white film. This is in part because black and white film is less difficult and less expensive to process at home.
Home Developing and Scanning
Any film can be developed at home. It’s an excellent way to cut costs so that you can shoot more film with your Nikon N8008s.
Black and white film is significantly less difficult to develop. Chemical temperature and development times are both not as imperative to get correct with black & white films as temperatures and time are for transparency or color negative.