Best Film for the Sears TLS 1000 MX
The best film to use in the Sears TLS 1000 MX is going to depend on the lens, lighting, and type of film you want to use.
To prevent having to haul around a tripod and/or flash, opt for a 35mm film that has an ISO of 400 or higher.
If you want to take photographs indoors or anywhere there is low light, ensure that you are using a fast lens. For lens recommendations go to my blog post on the 5 Best Lenses for the Sears TLS 1000 MX.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - The film can be used in a multitude of lighting conditions and is a great pick for a 35mm color film. Kodak UltraMax 400 is fast enough so that you should be able to handhold the TLS 1000 MX in the vast majority of circumstances.
The pictures will have wonderful colors and leans towards the warm side.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - Depending on where you are in the world, this film can have greater availability. It’s an excellent alternative to Kodak film.
Fuji photographs tend to have cooler colors with notable greens and blues, compared to Kodak.
Lomography 800 - There are only a few offerings if you want a color ISO 800 35mm film. For film stocks focused on consumers, Lomography 800 is the only choice.
Furthermore, if you own a medium format camera, Lomography 800 is also available in 120 film format.
Kodak Gold 200 - A great option to achieve that mid-80s through 90s rendering. For the authentic shooting experience try a flash.
To bring the best look out of the film, over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops. This will provide the beautiful colors people love Gold 200 for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - By far the most popular color negative film among film shooting enthusiasts online. Overexpose it by 1 or 2-stops to get the appearance the film is well known for.
Portra is also for sale in ISO 800 and ISO 160 emulsions. 8x10 sheets, 4x5 sheets, and rolls of 120 film are also available to purchase.
Black and White Film
Consumer
With low costs and very good quite popular to be used in the Sears TLS 1000 MX.
The major appeal for photography students and budget minded photographers is the competitive price. Even if you don’t put yourself in that group, it’s nice to have relatively cheap rolls of 35 film on hand for trying out recently purchased camera gear.
Kentmere 400 - Produced by Harmon Technology, which is also the parent company of Ilford. This is notable due to the fact that makes this the most commonly available 35mm film of the three.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - Will be easier to buy in Europe as the film is produced inside of the Czech Republic by Foma Bohemia.
A very good film stock to try for your initial few attempts at developing film at home or analog photography. Also a good option if you are trying out a camera to guarantee that it’s fully functional.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - You can get the cheapest price by buying it directly from Ultrafine.
If you process color film yourself, you may have used developer produced by them to develop your film.
Professional
The 2 top selling black and white 35mm films are Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford HP-5 Plus 400. They possess quite a few characteristics that are comparable that make them so well received, while preserving individual appearances.
You can create professional photographs after pushing both emulsions 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 less contrast and is cheaper. Minimal amounts of contrast can be helpful because of the fact contrast can be adjusted when making a print in the darkroom or editing digitally.
The film still looks excellent when pushed 2-stops. It is also notable for having subtle grain.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film possesses a stronger rendering to it. To create the traditional grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it will need to be developed in Kodak D-76.
Tri-X 400 unquestionably has far more contrast. That is ideal if that is the look you want because it requires considerably less work when making a print in the darkroom or editing digitially.
Transparency Film
Films that create a positive image can be called slide, reversal, or transparency film. This means the photographs can be viewed with a projector or light box.
This is distinct from the more widespread negative film emulsions that make photos that require the colors to be inverted for the image to be viewed.
Slide films are believed to be tricky to shoot because slide film has substantially less latitude and dynamic range when compared to negative film.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - The film is known for terrific skin tones and fine grain. The colors will not seem oversaturated. Ektachrome is daylight balanced.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - This is a sharp color balanced for daylight slide film with lots of saturation and contrast, giving photos a unique rendering. When compared to all the slide films that are available, it has the top resolving power.
You can also get it in an ISO 100 emulsion.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Produces vivid and natural colors with moderate color saturation and contrast. It’s a film balanced for daylight with ultra fine grain.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black & white reversal film, reported by Fomapan as having increased contrast, very good resolving power, and fine grain. It is also mentioned as a replacement for the long discontinued Agfa Scala slide film.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Pro film stocks cost more due to the fact they have a greater dynamic range, are easier to push, and increased latitude.
There is a significant difference in supply. Consumer film stocks can quite often still be bought in big-box stores and pharmacies in meager amounts. Professional film emulsions usually need to be bought from a specialized photography store or online.
ISO
The ISO signifies the speed of the film, that can also be regarded as the film’s sensitivity to light.
The higher the ISO, the less light is necessary to expose a picture. This comes at the expense of larger sized film grain.
ISO 100 and slower films (ISO 25, ISO 50, etc) might be tricky to use handheld in the TLS 1000 MX. The will probably be longer can be longer than what you can handhold without producing motion blur unless you are shooting in full sun.
To stop this you will need to use a flash, fast lens, and/or tripod. Using a fast ISO 400 or ISO 800 film will likely make the extra gear unnecessary.
The ISO knob is marked as ASA on the Sears TLS 1000 MX. The change to labeling ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) happened after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Latitude
Film latitude is the amount of stops film can be overexposed while having adequate quality. Pro film emulsions have a larger latitude along with a slightly increased cost.
Slide film has a smaller amount of latitude in comparison with negative film. That is a reason why it’s viewed as more challenging to use.
Dynamic Range
Dynamic range is the range between the darkest and brightest details of an image that can be captured. Areas of an image that fall out of this range will be rendered as white overexposed highlights or black underexposed shadows.
When working in a variety or quickly shifting lighting situations, films with a larger dynamic range is better.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
The limited dynamic range of slide film is a second factor it’s regarded as challenging to shoot. Golden hour is the best time to shoot reversal.
Film Type
35mm film that is sold in canisters is used by the Sears TLS 1000 MX. It can also be called 135 film, and it’s the most widely used type of film.
The only other film format you are going to encounter is 120 or 220 film that is used by medium format cameras}.
Changing the film you are working with will transform the look of your shots. This is one of the excellent things about using film.
DX Coded Film
Most commercially available 35mm film offered today has DX encoding on the canister. This allows cameras to automatically detect and set the ISO of the film put in the camera.
The ASA (ISO) on the Sears TLS 1000 MX needs to be selected manually. Which means that DX-coding isn’t going to matter.
Sears TLS 1000 MX Resources
Where to Get 35mm Film Developed?
There are a variety of possible choices for where to have 35mm film developed. For a more extensive explanation of the possible choices go look at my article on Where to Get Film Developed.
WARNING: Big box stores and pharmacies have ended processing film at the store. They ship film away to be developed by a third party. Because of that, you won’t receive 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 solution and what I would suggest doing if you are just getting started shooting film is to ship your film to a lab to be developed and scanned. If you consistently use film, this can be a drawback because it can get really expensive.
So long as you are shooting a moderate to high volume of film, there are a couple of things that you can do to greatly reduce your costs.
Bulk Loading Film
Getting a roll of 100 feet of film and manually loading in into canisters yourself is among the most popular ways to get a better price.
A 100 foot roll of film can fill up around 18 canisters of film containing 36 frames. Depending on the film stock you are likely to save 20%-30%.
Bear in mind that you are going to be limited to bulk rolls of black & white film. This is in part because black and white film is quite a bit easier and more cost-effective to develop at home.
Home Developing and Scanning
You can process and digitize any film at home. In fact it’s an excellent way to reduce costs so you can use more film with your Sears TLS 1000 MX.
Black & white film is much less complicated to process. Temperature and development times are both not as vital to do correctly with black & white films as time and temperatures are for slide or color negative.