It can be confusing buying your first few rolls of film.
There are 4 things to know when buying your film, and we put all of them in our product titles to make it easy for you.
Brand/Model | The size | the ISO | The number of photos you can take
Let's take one product as an example.
Kodak Gold 200 | 35mm Film | ISO 200 | 36 exp.
I'll explain each of these and describe what they mean, and help you decide what's right for you.
Brand/Model:
First things first, the brand of film you choose can be any brand, regardless of the brand of your camera. So any brand or model, whether it's Kodak, Fuji, Lomography, Cinestill, etc., will work in any camera brand, including Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, etc.
It's like buying a shoe, you can buy any Nike, Adidas, or Puma shoe, and they will all fit your foot. The brand and model are just personal preferences to get your desired look.
The Size:
Film cameras mainly come in 2 sizes, 35mm and 120. 99% of people reading this guide will be looking for 35mm since that's what most cameras use. As you can see, 35mm film is half the size of 120.
Therefore if you have a 120 camera, it'll generally be massive.
This is a handy guide, if your camera looks like one on the left, you need 35mm film, and if its like one on the right, you need 120.
The ISO:
The ISO is how sensitive the light is to film. So the higher the number, the darker conditions you can shoot it in.
Here's a guide to help you decide what you need:
- 100-200 ISO films - sunny days
- 200-400 ISO films - semi-cloudy days and indoor flash photography
- 400-800 ISO films - cloudy days, indoor flash, and low light photography
- 800-3200 ISO films - low light situations, sports, fast-moving subjects
If you want the most regular film, choose 200 or 400 ISO. This number you can shoot indoors and outdoors and get great results.
The number of photos you can take:
Another name for photos is exposures. Film comes in rolls of 24 exposures (24 exp.) or 36 exposures (36 exp.). It doesn't matter which you buy; both will fit in your camera the exact same. The only difference is on a 24 exp. roll, you only get 24 photos, but on a 36 exp. roll, you get 12 more photos. While the 36 exp. roll is more expensive to buy, it is the better choice, as when you develop them, it costs the same amount to develop a 24 exp. roll and a 36 exp. roll. This means you get 12 more photos for only a euro or two more.