Best Film for the Nikon Nikkorex Auto 35
The best film to use in the Nikon Nikkorex Auto 35 will have to be based on your lens, lighting conditions, and if you want to use color or black & white.
To avoid having to haul around a flash and/or tripod, go with a 35mm film that has an ISO of 400 or faster.
Make sure you have a fast lens if you want to capture images in low light, conditions that are often found indoors. Read my post on the 5 Best Lenses for the Nikon Nikkorex Auto 35 for ideas.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - A very good choice for a plethora of conditions. Kodak UltraMax 400 is fast enough so that you should be able to handhold the Nikkorex Auto 35 in the vast majority of scenarios.
Expect photos to look slightly warm with wonderful colors.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - An alternative to Kodak that might have far better availability depending on what country you are in.
Fuji photographs appear to have cooler colors with stronger greens and blues, compared to Kodak.
Lomography 800 - You’re limited to a small number of choices if you want an ISO 800 speed color film. For film geared towards consumers, this is the single choice.
Furthermore, if you have a medium format camera, it’s also sold in 120 film format.
Kodak Gold 200 - A staple film emulsion that was launched in the mid-1980s. It has the look of home snapshots from the 80s and 1990s. Use a flash to get the “authentic” film look.
To bring the best out of this film, you will need to over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops. This will give you the stunning colors everyone loves the film for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - Among film enthusiasts online, Portra 400 is hands down the most widely used color film. Overexpose it by 1 or 2-stops to get the appearance the film is known for.
Plus, ISO 800 and 160 versions of Kodak Portra. 8x10 sheets, 4x5 sheets, and rolls of 120 film are also available.
Black and White Film
Consumer
With reasonable prices and good very popular to try in the Nikon Nikkorex Auto 35.
The main attraction for photography students and budget minded photographers is the low cost. Even if you don’t put yourself in that group, it’s great to have affordable rolls of film around for testing newly delivered used cameras.
Kentmere 400 - It’s manufactured by the parent company of Ilford, Harmon Technology. This is notable considering that allows this to be the most commonly sold B&W film out of the 3.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - Will be easier to purchase in Europe as the film is manufactured by Foma Bohemia out of the Czech Republic.
An appropriate film to employ for your first few attempts at developing film at home or film photography. Also a good option if you’re attempting to test out a camera to confirm that it’s operating correctly.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - The best store to get this film is straight from Ultrafine.
They sell developer kits for film, so if you develop film at home you might have previously done business with them.
Professional
The two most widely used black and white film stocks are Ilford HP-5 Plus 400 and Kodak Tri-X 400. They have several qualities that are comparable that make them so popular, while keeping different rendering.
You can achieve good 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 - The primary differences are that HP5 Plus has lower levels of contrast and is less expensive compared to Tri-X. Less contrast can be an advantage because of the fact contrast can be added when making a print or editing digitally.
The film has subtle grain and still looks great when pushed 2-stops.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film has got a stronger aesthetic to it. To reveal the classic grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it will need to be developed in Kodak D-76.
Kodak Tri-X definitely has considerably more contrast. That’s perfect if it’s the look and feel you will want because it means a great deal less work when editing digitially or making a print in the darkroom.
Reversal Film
Films that create a positive image are often referred to as slide, transparency, or reversal film. That means a lightbox or projector can be used to showcase the photographs.
The colors are not required to be inverted to be viewable, contrary to the more often used negative film emulsions.
Slide films have less dynamic range and latitude compared to negative film and so they are regarded as more challenging to shoot.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - This is a fine grain film known for beautiful skin tones. There is not any hypersaturation of colors. Ektachrome has been balanced for daylight.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - This is a unbelievably sharp daylight color balanced transparency film with high levels of saturation and contrast, giving images a distinctive look. Out of all the transparency films available for purchase, it has the best resolving power.
An ISO 100 emulsion is also available.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Offers realistic and vivid colors with moderate contrast and color saturation. It is a film balanced for daylight with ultra fine grain.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black and white reversal film, noted by Fomapan as having elevated contrast, very fine grain, and very good resolving power. It is also mentioned as a replacement for the long discontinued Agfa Scala film emulsion.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Professional film stock have greater latitude, are easier to push, and expanded dynamic range, this is why pro-film costs more.
There is a disparity in business that sell 35mm rolls of film. Consumer film emulsions can oftentimes still be seen in pharmacies and big-box stores in limited amounts. Pro film stocks has to be bought from a online retailer or specialized camera store.
ISO
A film’s light sensitivity is listed as the ISO.
The bigger the ISO, the less light is needed to get a frame. This comes at the tradeoff of larger film grain.
ISO 100 and slower speed films (ISO 25, ISO 50, etc) can be frustrating to shoot handheld in the Nikkorex Auto 35. The will likely be longer will take more time than what you can handhold without producing motion blur unless you’re shooting in full sun.
A flash, tripod, and/or fast lens are going to help you with longer exposure times. Using a fast ISO 800 or ISO 400 film will make the additional equipment unnecessary.
The ISO selection knob is labeled as ASA on the Nikon Nikkorex Auto 35. The shift to labeling ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) came after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Latitude
Latitude is the number of stops film can be overexposed while still producing acceptable images. Professional films have a greater latitude to go along with a slightly higher price.
Negative film has a greater amount of latitude compared to transparency film. That is one of the reasons it’s believed to be challenging to shoot.
Dynamic Range
The range between the highlights and shadows parts of an image is known as dynamic range. Areas of an image that do not fit in this range will be seen as white overexposed highlights or black underexposed shadows.
When shooting in a wide variety or quickly shifting lighting situations, film stocks with a bigger dynamic range is better.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
Slide film is considered to be difficult to use as a consequence of the limited dynamic range. An ideal time to give it a try would be during the golden hour.
Film Type
The Nikon Nikkorex Auto 35 uses 35mm film that is in canisters. It is also the most commonly used type of film and occasionally called 135 film.
The only other type of film you are likely to encounter is 120 or 220 film that is used by medium format cameras}.
Swapping the film stock you are working with will transform the look of your photos. This is an example of the fantastic things about film.
DX Coded Film
Virtually all available 35mm film for sale at this time has a DX code. This enables cameras to detect and set the ISO when the canister is loaded into the camera.
DX-coding is not going to matter for the Nikon Nikkorex Auto 35 because ISO is required to be dialed in manually.
Nikon Nikkorex Auto 35 Resources
Where to Get Film Developed?
There are a range of possible choices for where to get 35mm film processed. For a more detailed discussion of the possible choices look at my article on Where to Develop Film.
WARNING: Film doesn’t get developed locally at big box stores and pharmacies. They send the film off to be processed by a third party. That is why, you will not get 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 most convenient option and the method I would suggest doing if you are just getting started using film is to send off your film to a lab to be processed and scanned. If you regularly shoot film, this could be a disadvantage since it can get expensive.
There are a few actions that can be done to lower the costs involved in shooting film, provided that you are shooting a moderate to high volume of film.
Bulk Loading Film
Considered one of the best options to save some money on film is to buy a roll of 100’ of film and manually load it into canisters yourself.
A 100 foot bulk roll of film will load around 18 canisters of film with 36 exposures each. Based on the film stock you will probably save 20%-30%.
Keep in mind that you’re going to be limited to rolls of black & white film. This is in part because black & white film is much easier and more affordable to process at home.
Home Developing and Scanning
It’s possible to process and scan film at home. It is an excellent option to save money so you can shoot more film with your Nikon Nikkorex Auto 35.
Black and white film is by far the least difficult to develop at home. Temperature and time are not as vital to do correctly with black & white films as they are for transparency or color negative.