35mm Film Buyer's Guide

The Editors, January, 2002

More than 100 from which to choose . . . While digital imaging is rapidly gaining popularity, film isn't dead—not by a longshot. In fact, there are more than 100 35mm films currently in production. To help you sort through them, each January we present our annual 35mm Film Buyer's Guide. The film we put in our cameras is important stuff. It determines whether our photographs will be in color or in black-and-white, and whether they'll be transparencies for projection or negatives to be printed. (Of course, slides can be made from negatives, and prints can be made from slides, but it's generally best to use slide film if you want slides, and negative film if you want prints, because you'll get better image quality that way.) The characteristics of the film help determine how grainy, sharp and contrasty our images will be; and the speed of the film partially dictates the shutter speed and lens aperture we'll use to make those images (which in turn determine the degree of sharpness or blur in action photos and the amount of depth of field). The following guide will help you choose your film(s) wisely. For each film, we list (when available) the RMS granularity rating, the resolving power in lines per millimeter, and the film identification code. The RMS granularity rating indicates the film's relative graininess. Each successive RMS number represents a doubling of the graininess. For example, a film with an RMS 5 granularity rating is twice as grainy as a film with an RMS 4 rating. Note: RMS granularity ratings of print films and slide films are not directly comparable. As a rule of thumb, you should multiply a print film's RMS number by 2.5 to approximate its graininess compared to a slide film's RMS rating. Kodak doesn't give RMS ratings for its newer print films, using its own Print Grain Index instead. There is no correlation between Print Grain Index figures and RMS numbers (and thus no way to compare graininess of Kodak films and other manufacturers' films). A PGI rating of 25 indicates the approximate visual threshold of graininess, and each change of 4 units represents a just noticeable difference in graininess. PGI figures (provided by Kodak) listed here are based on 4x6-inch prints viewed at a distance of 14 inches. A film's sharpness is a function of grain size, acutance (how distinct an edge there is between adjacent light and dark areas) and resolving power (how many line pairs per millimeter the film can separate), among other things. Sharpness is perhaps best shown via MTF (modulation transfer function) curves, which plot the accuracy with which a film reproduces a test target (in percent) against the sharpness of the original target itself. These curves take up too much space to reproduce here for more than 100 films, so we've provided resolving-power figures instead. (Some manufacturers provide only MTF curves for their films, and so the resolving-power data is not included here.) Note: Resolving power depends on the contrast of the subject. The figure before the slash in our listings is for a high-contrast (1000:1) test target; the figure after the slash is for a low-contrast (1.6:1) target. For example, "RP: 125/50" means the film resolves 125 lpm with a 1000:1 test target, and 50 lpm with a 1.6:1 test target. If only one figure is given, it's for the high-contrast target. Films are often listed by their ID code rather than by name in film-store ads, and working photographers often refer to films by these codes instead of by name. So, we've also included the code IDs where available, for your reference. We've listed the films from slowest to fastest, in the following order: color-print films, color-slide films, black-and-white films, and special-purpose films. Color-slide films come in two basic varieties: daylight-balanced "outdoor" films (the vast majority) and tungsten-balanced "indoor" films. The indoor films are listed at the end of the color-film section. For more information about these films, you can contact the manufacturers, or visit their websites: Agfa Corp.; 201/440-2500; www.agfa.com Eastman Kodak Co.; 800/242-2424; www.kodak.com Ferrania Imaging Technologies, 800/695-FILM; www.ferraniait/com Forte, c/o Omegacenter LS; 410/374-3250 Fuji Photo Film; 800/800-FUJI; www.fujifilm.com Ilford Imaging; 201/265-6000; www.ilford.com Konica Photo Imaging; 201/574-4000; www.konica.com Polaroid Corp., 800/343-5000; www.polaroid.com KEY TO LISTINGS ISO rating RMS or PGI rating Resolving power Film ID code For each film, we provide (where available) the ISO rating, the granularity rating (RMS for most manufacturers; Kodak's Print Grain Index for Kodak color-print films), resolving power (in lines per millimeter, for high- and low-contrast test targets), the film ID code, and a brief description of the film, plus a photo of the film box. Note: For B&W films, grain and resolving power depend on the developer used.