Best Film for the Yashica 200-AF
The best film to use in the Yashica 200-AF is going to depend on your lens, available light, and if you want to shoot color or black & white.
Working with an ISO 400 film or faster will help you eliminate needing to haul around a flash and/or tripod.
If you would like to take photos indoors or anywhere there is low light, ensure you are using a fast lens. Go read my post on the 5 Best Lenses for the Yashica 200-AF for ideas.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - A very good choice for an array of lighting conditions. Kodak UltraMax 400 is fast enough so that you should be able to handhold the 200-AF in lots of circumstances.
The photos will have wonderful skin tones and leans towards the warm side.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - Depending on where you are in the world, this film may be more widely available. It’s a top quality alternative to Kodak.
In comparison to to Kodak, Fuji appears to be a bit cooler with stronger greens and blues.
Lomography 800 - You’re limited to only a small number of offerings if you want an ISO 800 speed color film. For 35mm film stocks targeted towards consumers, Lomography 800 is the only option.
Furthermore, if you own a medium format camera, it is also for sale in 120 film format.
Kodak Gold 200 - A staple film that was launched in the mid-1980s. Kodak Gold 200 produces the look of snapshots from the 1980s and 1990s. For the authentic shooting experience try a flash.
Over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops to produce the best the film can achieve. This will ensure that you get the great colors everyone loves the film for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - Among enthusiasts online, Portra 400 is hands down the most frequently used color film emulsion. Overexpose the film by 1 or 2-stops to get the look the film is known for.
Kodak Portra is also sold in ISO 160 and 800 versions. Portra is also offered in rolls of 120, 4x5 sheets, and 8x10 sheets.
Black and White Film
Consumer
With affordable costs and excellent very popular to try in the Yashica 200-AF.
The largest attraction 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 inexpensive rolls of film on hand for trying out recently purchased used gear.
Kentmere 400 - Produced by Harmon Technology, which is the owner of Ilford. This is great due to the fact that makes this the most broadly sold 35mm film of the three.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - It will probably much easier to find in Europe as the film is manufactured in the Czech Republic by Foma Bohemia.
A fine 35mm film to try for your first couple of attempts at home developing or film photography. Also a good choice if you are trying out a camera to be sure that it’s working properly.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - The cheapest place to get this film is straight from Ultrafine.
If you process color 35mm film at home, you could have used chemicals produced by them.
Professional
The 2 most frequently used black and white 35mm film stocks are Ilford HP-5 Plus 400 and Kodak Tri-X 400. They have quite a few traits that are comparable that help make them so popular, while maintaining unique styles.
Both emulsions can be pushed 2 stops and deliver great results. A 35mm roll of film can be used at ISO 400, 800, or 1600, making them very versatile.
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - The biggest differences are that HP5 Plus is cheaper and has less contrast in comparison to Tri-X. Less contrast can be good because contrast can be added when making a print or editing digitally.
The film stock has subdued grain and still appears excellent when pushed 2-stops.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film has got a stronger style. To produce the legendary grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it will need to be developed in Kodak D-76.
Tri-X 400 definitely has higher levels of contrast. That’s excellent if it is the look you are looking for because it means considerably less work when printmaking or during digital processing.
Transparency Film
Transparency film, also known as reversal film or slide film, produces a positive image. This means the photos can be showcased with a projector or light box.
The colors are not required to be inverted to be seen, contrary to the more prevalent negative film emulsions.
Slide films are viewed as difficult to shoot because slide film has less dynamic range and latitude compared to negative film.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - This is a fine grain film known for beautiful skin tones. There is not any hypersaturation of colors. It has been balanced for daylight.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - This is a very sharp daylight color balanced transparency film with high levels of saturation and contrast, giving shots a special look. Velvia has the top resolving power of any available transparency film.
An ISO 100 version is also offered.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Delivers natural and vibrant colors with medium color saturation and contrast. It has ultrafine grain with a daylight color balance.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black and white transparency film, reported by Fomapan as having very fine grain, very good resolving power, and higher levels of contrast. It is also regarded as a alternative for the long discontinued Agfa Scala film emulsion.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Professional films cost more due to the fact they have a greater dynamic range, are easier to push, and expanded latitude.
There’s a disparity in business that sell 35mm rolls of film. Consumer film emulsions can oftentimes be bought in pharmacies and big-box stores in limited amounts. Pro film usually need to be bought from a specialized camera store or online retailer.
ISO
A film’s light sensitivity is listed as the ISO.
The higher the film’s ISO, the less light will be necessary to capture a film frame. This comes at the expense of bigger film grain.
It is often hard to handhold the 200-AF with ISO 100 or slower films (ISO 25, ISO 50, etc). The might be longer might take longer than what you are able to handhold without resulting in motion blur unless you are in full sun.
A fast lens, flash, and/or tripod are going to help you with longer shutter speeds. The additional accessories may 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 Yashica 200-AF. The change to labeling ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) came after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Latitude
Film latitude is the amount of stops a film can be overexposed while holding onto good images. Pro film emulsions have a greater latitude along with a slightly increased cost.
Transparency film has less latitude compared to negative film. That is one of the reasons why it is regarded as more challenging to work with.
Dynamic Range
The difference between the shadows and highlights details of a photograph is known as dynamic range. Sections of a photo that fall out of this range will be rendered as solid white overexposed highlights or totally black underexposed shadows.
A bigger dynamic range is better since a larger range can make shooting in a variety of lighting conditions easier.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
Slide film is considered to be hard to use because of the limited dynamic range. Golden hour is the ideal time to use reversal.
Film Type
The Yashica 200-AF uses 35mm film that is sold in canisters. In addition, it’s the most widely used type of film and is on occasion described as 135 film.
The only other film format you are likely to encounter is 120 or 220 film that is used with medium format cameras}.
Switching the film stock you are using will alter the look of your photographs. This is one of the marvelous things about film.
DX Coded Film
Almost all available 35mm film offered for sale these days has DX encoding on the canister. This allows cameras to detect and set the ISO of the canister loaded.
DX-coding doesn’t make a difference for the Yashica 200-AF because ISO has to be manually set.
Yashica 200-AF Resources
Where to Get Film Developed?
There are a handful of options for where to develop film. For a more thorough discussion of the choices check my article on Where to Get Film Developed.
WARNING: Film is no longer processed on location at big box stores and pharmacies. They ship film away to be developed by a 3rd party. As a consequence, you won’t receive your negatives back.
- Develop Film at Home
- Use a Local Photography Lab
- Use a Mail Order Photo Lab
- Pharmacy or Big Box Store
The least complicated solution and what I suggest using if you are just beginning to shoot film is to send off your film to a photo lab to be processed and scanned. If you consistently use film, this may be a drawback because it can get very expensive.
There are a few activities that can be done to decrease the costs required to use film, as long as you are going through a medium to high volume of film.
Bulk Loading Film
Among the leading options to lower your expenses on film is to buy a roll of 100 feet of film and load it into canisters by hand.
After you have finished, you will end up making around 18 canisters of 36 frames. Count on cost savings of 20-30% based on your choice.
Take into account that you are going to be limited to bulk rolls of black & white film. This is in part because black and white film is easier and more cost-effective to develop yourself.
Home Developing and Scanning
Any film can be processed at home. In fact it is an intelligence way to save money so you can shoot more film with your Yashica 200-AF.
Black & white film is by far the easiest to process. Temperature and time are not as imperative to get correct with black & white film as temperatures and time are for slide or color negative.