The best film to use in your Sears TLS 1000 MX should be based on the available light, your lens, and type of film you want to use.
Taking advantage of an ISO 400 35mm or faster will help you avoid needing to carry around a tripod or flash.
If you want to take pictures inside or anytime there is low light, make sure that you are using a fast lens.
Table of Contents
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - This film handles a multitude of lighting conditions well and is a terrific pick for a 35mm color film. Using Kodak UltraMax 400 you should be able to handhold the TLS 1000 MX in almost all circumstances.
Expect photographs to look slightly warm with pleasant skin tones.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - Based on your location, this film might be more widely available. It's an excellent alternative to Kodak.
Fujifilm pictures appear to have cooler tones with notable blues and greens when compared to Kodak.
Lomography 800 - You're limited to a small number of possibilities if you want a color ISO 800 film. This is literally the only 35mm film emulsion focused on consumers.
In addition, if you own a medium format camera, it's also for sale in 120 film format.
Kodak Gold 200 - A staple film emulsion that started production in the mid-1980s. Kodak Gold 200 provides the look and feel of family snapshots from the 80s and 90s. Use an on-camera flash to get the "authentic" look.
Over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops to produce the most popular look the film has to offer. This will give you the fantastic colors everyone loves Kodak Gold 200 for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - By far the most popular color negative film among enthusiasts online. Overexpose the film by 1 or 2-stops to get the rendering the film is known for.
Plus, ISO 800 and ISO 160 emulsions of Kodak Portra. 8x10 sheets, 4x5 sheets, and rolls of 120 film are also manufactured.
Fujifilm Fujicolor Pro 400H - The Fujifilm equal to Kodak Portra 400, but with a distinctive color profile. Expect stronger blues and greens.
4x5 or 8x10 sheets of film aren't produced, but 120 film is available.
Black and White Film
Consumer
With reasonable prices and very good very popular to use in the Sears TLS 1000 MX.
The major attraction for budget-minded photographers and photography students is the reasonable price. Even if you don't put yourself in those groups, it's nice to have comparatively cheap rolls of film on hand for evaluating recently acquired camera gear.
Kentmere 400 - Made by Harmon Technology, which is also the owner of Ilford. This is great considering that makes this the most broadly available 35mm film of the 3.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - It will probably less difficult to buy in Europe as the film is produced out of the Czech Republic by Foma Bohemia.
An excellent film stock to choose for your initial couple of attempts at film photography or home developing. Additionally, a good selection if you are trying out a camera to guarantee that it is working correctly.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - You can get the lowest price on this film by getting it from Ultrafine.
They distribute developer kits for 35mm film, so if you process film at home you might have previously interacted with them.
Professional
The 2 most commonly used black and white 35mm films are Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford HP-5 Plus 400. They possess a number of qualities that are similar that helps make them a favorite while preserving individual styles.
You can obtain excellent results after pushing both films 2-stops. A roll of film can be shot at ISO 400, 800, or 1600, making them quite flexible.
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - The major differences are that HP5 Plus is less expensive and has lower levels of contrast when compared to Tri-X. A lack of contrast can be helpful because of the fact that contrast can be adjusted when making a print or through digital processing.
The film has subdued grain and still looks outstanding when pushed 2-stops.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film features a stronger aesthetic. To produce the traditional grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it needs to be processed in D-76.
Kodak Tri-X undeniably has far more contrast. That's good if it happens to be the style you would prefer because it results in substantially less work when during digital post-processing or making a print.
Transparency Film
Films that create a positive image are referred to as slide, transparency, or reversal film. This means the slides can be exhibited with a projector or lightbox.
Colors do not need to be inverted to be viewable, contrary to the more commonly available negative film stocks.
Slide films have substantially less dynamic range and latitude compared to negative film and so they are viewed as difficult to use.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - This is a fine grain film known for beautiful skin tones. The colors do not appear oversaturated. It is daylight color balanced.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - Creates appealing looking shots that have significantly increased levels of contrast and saturation. It is remarkably sharp and color balanced for daylight. Velvia has the best resolving power of any available slide film emulsion.
An ISO 100 speed is also available.
Fujifilm Provia 100F - Delivers realistic and vivid colors with moderate contrast and color saturation. It's a film balanced for daylight with an ultra-fine grain.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black & white transparency film, described by Fomapan as having very good resolving power, fine grain, and higher levels of contrast. It is also regarded as a substitute for the discontinued Agfa Scala reversal film.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Professional films cost more because they are easier to push, have better dynamic range, and latitude.
There may be a difference in where it can be purchased. Consumer film stocks can often still be seen in big-box stores and pharmacies in limited quantities. Pro film stocks often need to be ordered from an online or camera store.
Film ISO
The film speed is listed as ISO, which may also be thought of as the film's sensitivity to light.
The less light there is available to get an image, the bigger the ISO will need to be. Additionally, be prepared for more film grain.
ISO 100 and slower films (ISO 25, ISO 50, etc) are often tricky to shoot handheld in the TLS 1000 MX. They will be longer than what you are able to handhold without resulting in motion blur unless you are out in full sun.
A fast lens, flash, and/or tripod will help you with longer shutter speeds. The additional accessories might not be needed if you decide to use a faster ISO 400 or ISO 800 film.
As a quick note, the ISO dial is labeled as ASA on the Sears TLS 1000 MX. The change to labeling ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) came after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Film Latitude
Film latitude is the amount of stops a film can be overexposed while retaining usable quality. Pro film emulsions have a greater latitude to go along with a somewhat increased cost.
Negative film has more latitude compared to transparency film. That is a reason why it's thought of as more difficult to work with.
Dynamic Range
Dynamic range is the range between the brightest and darkest parts of a photo that can be recorded. Parts of a picture that do not fit within this range will appear as solid black underexposed shadows or totally white overexposed highlights.
When shooting in a variety of quickly shifting lighting conditions, film stocks with a larger dynamic range is preferable.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
Reversal film is viewed as difficult to use as a consequence of the constrained dynamic range. The golden hour is the best time to shoot transparency film.
Film Type
35mm film that is sold in canisters is used by the Sears TLS 1000 MX. The film can also be described as 135 film, and it is the most widely used film format.
120 or 220 film, used by medium format cameras, is the only other film format you are likely to see.
Changing the film you are working with will alter the look of your shots. This is one of the wonderful things about shooting film.
DX Coded Film
Nearly all new 35mm film for sale today has a DX code. This allows cameras to automatically detect and set the ISO when the film canister is put in the camera.
DX-coding is not going to change anything for the Sears TLS 1000 MX because ISO is required to be dialed in manually with the ASA knob.
Sears TLS 1000 MX Resources
Where to Get Film Developed?
There are just a few possibilities for where to have 35mm film processed. For a more complete explanation of the choices, see my article on Where to Get Film Developed.
WARNING: Film doesn't get processed on location at pharmacies and big box stores. They mail film off-site to be processed by a 3rd party. Because of that, you will not get your processed negatives back.
- Develop Film at Home
- Use a Local Photography Lab
- Use a Mail Order Photo Lab
- Pharmacy or Big Box Store
Shipping film to a mail-order lab to be processed and scanned is the least complicated option if you are just beginning to shoot film. If you frequently use film, this could be a disadvantage since it can get pricey.
There are a couple of actions that can be done to help reduce the costs required to shoot film, assuming that you are going through a medium to high-volume of film.
Bulk Loading Film
One of the ideal options to save some money on film is to buy a roll of 100 feet of film and manually load canisters by hand.
Once you have finished, you will get about 18 rolls of 36 exposures. Based on the film you are likely to save 20%-30%.
Take into account that you are limited to 100-foot rolls of black and white film. This is due to black and white film is less difficult and more cost-effective to process yourself.
Home Developing and Scanning
All film can be processed by hand. It's a very good option to lower your costs so you can use more film with your Sears TLS 1000 MX.
Black and white film is by far the least difficult to process yourself. Temperature and time are not as imperative to do correctly with black and white films as they are for transparency or color negative.
