Best Film for the Fujica MPF 105X
The best film to use in your Fujica MPF 105X should be based on the lighting, lens, and type of film you want to use.
Working with an ISO 400 film or faster will enable you to skip needing to lug around a flash or tripod.
If you want to capture pictures indoors or anytime there is low light, ensure that you are using a fast lens. For lens lens ideas see my list on the 5 Best Lenses for the Fujica MPF 105X.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - An excellent selection for an array of conditions. Kodak UltraMax 400 is fast enough so that you should be able to handhold the MPF 105X in lots of circumstances.
The pictures will have very good skin tones and tend to be on the warm side.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - Depending on your location, this film may have greater availability. It’s an excellent alternative to Kodak emulsions.
Fujifilm photos appear to have cooler colors with an emphasis on greens and blues, compared to Kodak.
Lomography 800 - If you want a color film with an ISO of 800, there are not many offerings. For film stocks geared towards consumers, this is the sole choice.
Lomography 800 is available in the 120 film format, for use with a medium format camera.
Kodak Gold 200 - A staple film emulsion that started production in the mid-1980s. The film provides the look of snapshots from the 1980s and 90s. For the authentic photography experience use a flash.
Over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops to produce the best the film can achieve. This will help you achieve the stunning colors everyone loves the film for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - By far the most popular color negative film among film enthusiasts online. Overexpose Portra 400 by 1 or 2-stops to get the appearance the film is known for.
Kodak Portra is also available in ISO 160 and 800 emulsions. Portra is also offered in rolls of 120, 4x5 sheets, and 8x10 sheets.
Black and White Film
Consumer
These film emulsions have affordable costs and good quality, making them favorable to use in the Fujica MPF 105X.
The primary draw for photography students and budget minded photographers is the low price. Even if you do not put yourself in that group, it’s nice to have low cost rolls of film available for trying out recently purchased camera gear.
Kentmere 400 - It is made by the parent company of Ilford, Harmon Technology. This is notable since that allows this to be the most widely sold B&W film out of the three.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - Can be easier to obtain in Europe as the film is manufactured inside of the Czech Republic by Foma Bohemia.
A good quality film emulsion to work with for your initial few attempts at home developing or analog photography. Also a good choice if you’re looking to check out a camera to make sure that it is completely operational.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - You can get the best price on this film by getting it straight from Ultrafine.
They manufacture chemical developer kits for 35mm color film, so if you develop film at home you might have previously interacted with them.
Professional
Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford HP-5 Plus 400 are the two top selling black and white 35mm film stocks. While they both possess individual looks, they have several qualities in common that makes them popular.
Both film stocks can be pushed 1 or 2 stops and still create solid photographs. 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 less expensive in comparison to Tri-X. Minimal contrast can be good due to the fact contrast can be changed when making a print or during digital post processing.
The film emulsion still looks good when pushed 2-stops. It is also recognized for having subdued grain.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film stock features a more distinctive aesthetic to it. To reveal the classic grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it needs to be developed in Kodak D-76.
Tri-X clearly has a higher level of contrast. That’s notable if it’s the look and feel you need because it requires substantially less work when making a darkroom print or through digital post processing.
Reversal Film
Film stocks that make a positive image can be called reversal, slide, or transparency film. This allows the slides to be showcased with a projector or light box.
The colors are not required to be inverted to be seen, as opposed to the more often used negative film emulsions.
Slide films have far less dynamic range and latitude when compared to negative films and so they are regarded as challenging to use.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - This is a fine grain film known for beautiful skin tones. There’s virtually no hypersaturation of colors. It has been color balanced for daylight.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - This is a sharp color balanced for daylight film with high levels of saturation and contrast, giving photographs a distinct look. When compared to all the slide films you can buy, it has the greatest resolving power.
An ISO 100 speed is also offered.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Offers realistic and vivid colors with moderate contrast and color saturation. It has a daylight color balance and ultra fine grain.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black and white reversal film, claimed by Fomapan as having high resolving power, fine grain, and increased contrast. It is also regarded as a substitute for the long discontinued Agfa Scala slide film.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Pro film stock have better latitude, are easier to push, and bigger dynamic range, which is why they will cost more.
There is a big difference in availability. Consumer film stocks can frequently still be purchased from big-box stores and pharmacies in meager quantities. Pro film emulsions needs to be purchased from a camera store or online.
ISO
A film’s sensitivity to light is displayed by the ISO.
The bigger the ISO, the less light is necessary to expose a frame. This comes at the tradeoff of more noticeable film grain.
ISO 100 and slower films (ISO 25, ISO 50, etc) might be challenging to shoot handheld with the MPF 105X. The will probably take more time will be longer than what you could handhold without resulting in motion blur unless you are working in full sun.
A tripod, a fast lens, and/or a flash are going to help you with longer exposure times. The extra accessories might not be needed if you choose a higher speed ISO 800 or ISO 400 film.
As a quick note, the ISO knob is marked as ASA on the Fujica MPF 105X. The change to labeling ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) happened after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Latitude
Latitude is the amount of stops film can be overexposed while retaining acceptable photographs. Pro film emulsions have a larger latitude to go along with a slightly increased price.
Negative film has a greater amount of latitude compared to transparency film. That is one of the reasons why it is believed to be difficult to use.
Dynamic Range
Dynamic range is the difference between the brightest and darkest details of an image that can be recorded. Areas of a photo that do not fit in this range will be seen as totally white overexposed highlights or completely black underexposed shadows.
A bigger dynamic range is advantageous since it tends to make working in varied lighting situations easier.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
The constrained dynamic range of slide film is one more reason why it’s regarded as difficult to shoot. Golden hour is the prime time to use reversal.
Film Type
The Fujica MPF 105X takes 35mm film that is in metal canisters. It is also the most frequently used type of film and sometimes called 135 film.
120 or 220 film, used with medium format cameras, is the only other type of film you are likely to encounter}.
One of the best things about film is that you can swap the film stock you work with and get a different look to your photos.
DX Coded Film
Almost all new 35mm film offered at this point has DX encoding on the canister. This allows electronically controlled cameras to auto detect and set the ISO when the film canister is put in the camera.
DX-coding will not make a difference for the Fujica MPF 105X because ISO must be manually dialed in with the ASA knob.
Fujica MPF 105X Resources
Where to Get Film Developed?
There are a variety of possibilities for where to have film processed. For a more in depth explanation of the choices check out my guide on Where to Develop Film.
WARNING: Big box stores and pharmacies don’t develop film locally. They ship the film away to be developed by a 3rd party. This means that, 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
Shipping your film to a mail-order photo lab to be processed and scanned is the easiest option if you’re just beginning to shoot film. A disadvantage to this is that it becomes very expensive if you are regularly using film.
As long as you are using a moderate to high volume of film, there are a couple of things that can be done to limit your expenses.
Bulk Loading Film
Among the common ways to save money on film is to buy a roll of 100’ of film and load it into canisters by hand.
A 100 foot roll of film will load approximately 18 rolls of film with 36 frames each. Based on the film stock you are likely to save 20%-30%.
Bear in mind that you’re limited to bulk rolls of black & white film. This is due to the fact black and white film is less difficult and cheaper to process yourself.
Home Developing and Scanning
All film can be processed at home. In fact it’s a very good option to cut costs so that you can shoot more film with your Fujica MPF 105X.
Black & white film is significantly easier to process. Developer temperature and development times are not as vital to get correct with black and white film as temperatures and time are for color negative or transparency film.