In recent years, the film industry has been suffering greatly and many manufacturers have been cutting down their stocks and supplies. But many of us still love the look, feel, and rendering that film can give us. It’s also a wonderful learning tool for the photographer just getting into the art.
We’ve tearfully parted ways with many famous and wonderful films: Kodachrome, Astia, Ektachrome, and loads more. But there are some staples that we absolutely never want to part ways with. Here are just five of those films that still tug at our hearts.
Kodak Portra 400
When Kodak announced the new Portra a couple of years ago, many high end photographers were thrilled. The film was designed with scanning in mind, and because of this is gives the most fine grained scans we’ve seen so far. There’s a lot more to Portra than that though. It has gone through lots of changes and at times being called VC or NC depending in their emulsion renderings. But our favorite has to be the current Portra 400. Though its 160 cousin will also give us very fine grained scans, the 400 emulsion allows us to work in trickier lighting situations with less of a hassel.
Personally, I’ve got lots of things with Portra and many people like to do so. However, I also feel that it is specialized for just portraits and working with skin tones–and I’m not really a fan of how it renders for general street photography or anything else.
Buy Now: B&H Photo
Fujifilm Velvia 50
The day that Fujifilm Velvia is totally gone will be perhaps one of the saddest days in the photo industry. The company has already announced cutbacks on lots of their emulsions, but 50 is the one that many photographers stick to. Velvia 50 is a film that has one of the lowest ISOs currently available and some of the most vivid colors one could possibly ask for. It’s a staple for many landscape photographers and if that’s something that you want to get into, then Velvia is your go to film.
Buy Now: B&H Photo
Kodak Tri-X 400
If you ask a Kodak Tri-X shooter what they would do if their film disappeared, they’d probably be alright with it because they probably have loads and loads of it stored in their freezer. But if not, they’ll probably hold a factory hostage to keep making them. Tri-X has always had a big following because of its gritty feel thanks to its large grain. It’s loved by street photographers everywhere and it perhaps the most popular film on this list right now.
Buy Now: B&H Photo
Fujifilm 100-C Instant
Sure, the Impossible Project has tried to save loads of Polaroid’s film and also has successfully done so to a point; but Fujifilm 100-C is significantly more affordable. 100-C is an instant film can be slated as medium format or large format depending on which size you get. If you’re wondering how your image might come out before you take the picture, then you might want to use instant film first via an instant back–followed by transferring to a negative film back afterwards. And depending on the environmental conditions, it can take a couple of minutes or seconds to produce an image.
It’s still seriously one of my favorite films out there.
Buy Now: B&H Photo
Lomography Lomochrome Purple
Lomochrome Purple is a resurrection (sort of) of Kodak Aerochrome. We’ve got a whole article on what that is here, but we’ll give you the SparkNotes version. Aerochrome was an infrared film that was used by the military. It turns all greens into purples, red, and pinks. When not being used for warfare, it was used by many photographers for artistic reasons–like Richard Mosse has.
It’s super interesting to work with, and if you manage to get your hands on some (which will ship soon after the publishing of this article) you can create some extremely surreal scenes with it.
Buy Now: Lomography
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