Best Film for the Yashica FX-7
The best film to use in the Yashica FX-7 will have to depend on the lens, available light, and type of film you want to use.
To avoid having to lug around a tripod and/or flash, opt for a 35mm film that has an ISO of 400 or higher.
If you intend to shoot photographs in low light, such as inside, make sure you are using a fast lens. Read my brief article on the 5 Best Lenses for the Yashica FX-7 for suggestions.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - An excellent choice for a wide range of lighting conditions. Using this film you should be able to handhold the FX-7 in the majority of circumstances.
Expect photos to look a little warm with beautiful colors.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - Another option that may have greater availability based on what country you are in.
Fuji photographs appear to have cooler tones with an emphasis on blues and greens, when compared to Kodak.
Lomography 800 - If you want a color 35mm film with an ISO of 800, there aren’t many offerings. This is the only 35mm film targeted towards consumers.
Lomography 800 is also sold in the 120 film format, to be used in medium format cameras.
Kodak Gold 200 - A staple film stock that debuted in the mid-1980s. The film has the look and feel of home snapshots from the 1980s and 90s. Use an on-camera flash to get the “classic” look.
To bring the best out of the film, make sure to over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops. This will give you the wonderful colors everyone loves the film for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - By far the most popular color negative film among enthusiasts online. Overexpose Portra 400 by 1 or 2-stops to get the appearance the film is known for.
Portra is also available in ISO 160 and ISO 800 emulsions. 8x10 sheets, 4x5 sheets, and rolls of 120 are also available.
Black and White Film
Consumer
With low costs and good quite popular for use in the Yashica FX-7.
The largest draw for budget minded photographers and photography students is the very affordable price. Even if you do not put yourself in those groups, it is great to have affordable rolls of 35 film readily available for trying out newly acquired used gear.
Kentmere 400 - It’s made by the parent company of Ilford, Harmon Technology. This is notable because that allows this to be the most broadly sold B&W film out of the 3.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - Is likely to be less difficult to purchase in Europe as the film is manufactured by Foma Bohemia inside of the Czech Republic.
An appropriate 35mm film to employ for your first few attempts at developing film at home or analog photography. Also a good selection if you’re looking to try out a camera to confirm that it is operating properly.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - The best store to get this film is directly from Ultrafine.
If you develop 35mm color film at home, you may have used developer produced by them to develop your film.
Professional
Ilford HP-5 Plus 400 and Kodak Tri-X 400 are the 2 most commonly used black & white 35mm film stocks. They do have quite a few attributes that are equivalent that make them so well liked, while keeping distinctive looks.
You can achieve good photos after pushing both emulsions 2-stops. A roll of film can be shot at ISO 400, 800, or 1600, making them quite useful.
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - The primary differences are that HP5 Plus has lower levels of contrast and is less expensive when compared to Tri-X. Low amounts of contrast can be beneficial because of the fact contrast can be added when making a print in the darkroom or editing digitally.
The film stock has subdued grain and still looks good when pushed 2-stops.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film possesses a stronger style. To create the traditional grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it should be processed in Kodak D-76.
Tri-X undoubtedly has a higher level of contrast. That is very good if that is the look you would you like because it means much less work when printmaking or during digital processing.
Reversal Film
Transparency film, also known as slide or reversal film, creates a positive image. That means a projector or lightbox can be used to showcase the photographs.
Colors do not need to be inverted to be seen, in contrast to the more often used negative films.
Slide films are perceived as very hard to use because slide film has much less latitude and dynamic range when compared with negative film.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - This is a film known for wonderful skin tones and fine grain. There is virtually no hypersaturation of colors. The film has a daylight color balance.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - This is a very sharp daylight color balanced film with high levels of contrast and saturation, giving images a unique appearance. Velvia has the highest resolving power of any elevated increased.
It is also available in an ISO 100 emulsion.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Offers realistic and vivid colors with medium color saturation and contrast. It’s a ultra fine grain film balanced for daylight.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black & white reversal film, claimed by Fomapan as having increased contrast, very fine grain, and high resolving power. It is also billed as a replacement for the long discontinued Agfa Scala film emulsion.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Pro films cost more due to the fact they have improved latitude, are easier to push, and bigger dynamic range.
There is a difference in business that sell 35mm rolls of film. Consumer film stocks can commonly be purchased from pharmacies and big-box stores in meager quantities. Professional quality film stocks should really be bought from a online retailer or specialized photography store.
ISO
The filml speed is shown as ISO, which may also be thought of as the film’s sensitivity to light.
The less light there is available to capture an image, the bigger the film’s ISO will need to be. This comes at the tradeoff of more noticeable film grain.
It may be tricky to handhold the FX-7 with ISO 100 or slower speed films (ISO 50, ISO 25, etc). This is because if you do not have full sun, the shutter speeds will most likely take more time than what you’re able to handhold without producing motion blur.
To get around motion blur you’ll need to use a tripod, flash, and/or fast lens. The extra accessories may not be needed if you go with a faster ISO 800 or ISO 400 film.
The ISO dial is listed as ASA on the Yashica FX-7. The switch to using ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) happened after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Latitude
Latitude is the number of stops a film can be overexposed while maintaining tolerable photographs. Professional film stocks have a larger latitude paired with a slightly higher cost.
Negative film has a greater amount of latitude compared to slide film. That is one of the reasons why it is considered more difficult to work with.
Dynamic Range
The range between the darkest and brightest details of a photo is referred to as dynamic range. Areas of a photo that fall out of this range will be seen as solid black underexposed shadows or solid white overexposed highlights.
A larger dynamic range is ideal given that it 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
The small dynamic range of reversal film is another reason why it’s viewed as challenging to shoot. Golden hour is the best time to use reversal.
Film Type
35mm film that comes in canisters is used by the Yashica FX-7. 35mm film can also be referred to as 135 film, and it is the best-selling film format.
120 or 220 film, used in medium format cameras, is the only other film format you are going to encounter}.
One of the terrific things about film is that you can swap the film stock you use and get a completely different look to your photographs.
DX Coded Film
Most available 35mm film on the market at this time has a DX code. This enables cameras to detect and set the ISO when the film is loaded.
DX-coding doesn’t make a difference for the Yashica FX-7 because ISO needs to be set manually.
Yashica FX-7 Resources
Where to Get Film Developed?
You will find limited options for where to process 35mm film. For a more complete explanation of the options check my guide on Where to Develop Film.
WARNING: Pharmacies and big box stores do not develop film locally. They send film off to be developed by a third party. As a result, you will not be given your negatives back.
- Develop Film at Home
- Use a Local Photography Lab
- Use a Mail Order Photo Lab
- Pharmacy or Big Box Store
Sending film to a mail-order photo lab to be developed and scanned is the most convenient choice if you’re new to using film. If you regularly shoot film, this may be a drawback because it can get expensive.
There are two things that can be done to reduce the costs involved in using film, provided that you are using a medium to high volume of film.
Bulk Loading Film
Purchasing a roll of 100 feet of film and manually loading in into canisters yourself is considered one of the leading ways to lower your expenses.
Once you have finished, you will have typically around 18 canisters of 36 exposures each. Depending on the film stock you are likely to save 20%-30%.
Be aware that you are limited to bulk rolls of black & white film. This is in part because black & white film is a lot easier and more affordable to process at home.
Home Developing and Scanning
Any film can be processed at home. In fact it is a great option to save money so you can shoot more film with your Yashica FX-7.
Black & white film is by far the easiest to process. Temperature and development times are not as important to get correct with black and white film as temperatures and time are for color negative or transparency film.