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Chapter Three

35mm Films and ISO's

Color Negative Film for Color Prints

Available from many different film manufacturers, color negative film is what most people use in their cameras. You t

your exposed film to the local photofinisher, wait an hour or day and you receive prints back from your processed film

fairly common exercise. Your negatives, along with your processed prints, come back in storage sleeves or containe

depending on the film format you used, and can be reprinted or enlarged at a later date. However, proper care of your fi

should be taken if you ever want to have more, or larger, prints made from your cherished film.

Taking care of your film involves leaving your negatives in the sleeve or container in which they were returned to y

refrain from touching them with your fingers unless you are trained in the proper handling of this sensitive medium.

the trained photofinisher handle your negatives for you, as they are familiar with the safe practices of film handling a

preservation. Do not leave your processed film exposed to direct sunlight and keep them from high humidity aexcessive moisture. If your negatives get sticky and will not easily slide out of their protective sleeves have someo

trained in their handling remove them or repair the damage for you especially if you cannot retake the original picture

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These two examples show exactly what c

happen when your negatives are mishand

or damaged. The left picture is a disas

because the negative from which it was prin

was damaged in a flood and dried stuck to

protective paper sleeve. The original 3 1/2

color print on the right was scanned in lieubeing able to print a good image from

damaged negative. While technology mi

be trying to save us from these mishaps

sharpness and color of the original negativ

evident when compared to the scanned ima

of the print. Careful handling and storage w

afford you many preserved memories laterlife. Take care of your film or electronica

backup your images to CD-ROM. This w

our mistake along with the help of a hurric

named Andrew.

The manner in which you store your print

also important. Keep them from humidity and moisture and store them in an album of archival quality, i.e. an album m

for long-term storage of prints; the albums descriptive label will state as such on its wrapper or packaging. As w

negative film, photographic prints have their sensitive emulsion layer (the picture) right on top of the backing paper a

can be ruined by being scratched, fingerprinted by childrens hands, or dampened. Placing your pictures in an album

simple precaution that will also reward you in the years to come. No one should ever have to touch your negatives exc

for the person making the reprints or enlargements.

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Many people choose to use color negative film for its exposure versatility and its basis for use with several other finish

photoproducts. If you want Black & White prints, color prints, or even B&W or color slides, all these choices for finish

images can be achieved from the same original color negative. And all four of these choices can produce great image

processed by a good photofinishing lab. We discuss more about these versatilities in our Advanced Book.

Color film has a wonderful reputation for saving the day with its exposure versatility, or latitude. Unlike slide f

(mentioned next) negative film is able to capture a wider range of light intensities from the darkest dark in a scene to brightest bright. We call this exposure versatility latitude. You will soon find out that negative film has the advanta

over slide film in exposure latitude. You can usually miss your exposure mark with negative film by as much as +/-1 sto

and still get a good print whereas slide film will only allow you about +/-1/3 stop of exposure error.

Color Positive Films for Color Slides (transparencies)

Slide film, compared to negative film, is a whole other story.

Slides were not designed for printing; they were initially intended to

be viewed from a projector onto a reflective screen. While there are

several products on the market specifically designed for making prints

from slides we recommend that while you are learning photographic

technique you use color negative film for making prints and use slide

film for viewing your images with a projector. Later, we encourage you to experiment with your own personal techniqu

that is where you will learn the most about your personal talents and develop your own photographic style. Remembe

is not the camera; it is the lens and your eye!

So, you want to shoot slides; it is probably best to mention the Do's and Don'ts first. Slide film can be very unforgiv

in harsh, contrasty lighting conditions such as brightly lit scenes with dark shadows. When using color negative film

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said you have +/-1 stops of exposure latitude; your exposure can be off by that much and still

safely capture the moment to a useable print; this is not the case with slide film. To get the same

amount of exposure change in a slide only requires your exposure to be off by 1/3 of a stop in eitherexposure direction of what is actually correct for the overall scene. +/-1/3 of a stop does not sound

like very much exposure latitude to me, and it is not.

You should be certain you have metered the light in your scene correctly and taken into considerationEVERYTHING we have talked about. If you do not, your slide film will bite you where it hurts; your

wallet. So, especially with slide film, bracketyour shots if there is the slightest doubt about thescenes lighting and the correct exposure.

By bracketingwe mean for you to vary the exposure settings (Exposure Value, i.e.EV) for the scene and expose the sce

at these varying exposure settings. Many cameras offer a feature that allows you to slightly over- or underexpose y

scene to compensate for mixed lighting situations by taking from three to five different pictures of the same scene w

slightly different exposure settings. After developing your film you can select which exposure looks the best to you aseparate the rest into the rejection bin.

Let's look at a set of comparative examples of what overexposure and underexposure will do to our slide film...

2/3 stop overexposed 1/3 overexposed Properly exposed 1/3 underexposed 2/3 underexposed

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While these images might display differently on your monitor the things to notice are the loss of detailed definition in

water's highlights and how they diminish towards overexposure. On the underexposed end you will notice how the det

in the shadows are absorbed by darkness and lack shadow detail. We call both of these losses Blocking-up. Their ran

of colors, or shades, becomes a singular shade lacking in detail as they block-up. Being able to capture both highli

detail and shadow detail makes for a great exposure. That is Paradise, Washington in the background.

Film Brands

We say this with a little trepidation, but for most of your images you will not see many image quality differences betw

manufactured brands of film. Some brands advertise warmer skin tones, while others say they produce better renditio

of natures color tones; we suggest using whichever brand best compliments your photographs. We also sugg

experimenting with the various brands until you find one or more that produces the quality and color of images you like

best. Finding a photofinisher that gives you consistent results will also aid you in making any decisions about film bran

and speeds. And speaking of film speeds

ISOis the abbreviation for the International Standards Organization; a group of photo engineers and professionals w

establish standards by which most film manufacturers produce their various films. Differing films of the same ISO sho

react to light equally, regardless of brand or type; only the specific coloring rendition and image grain quality should dif

based on copyrighted chemical/grain design and market zeal.

The photofinisher you use will normally be the cause of any variations you might see in the processing of your negati

and prints. Minor and correctable variations are due to acceptable tolerances in the photochemistry used in their processo

Choose your photofinisher very carefully. Becoming friends with your photofinisher can be the deciding point betwe

having your film processed poorly and being forewarned to come back later when the photochemistry is more stable.

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You will rarely see much difference in image quality in your 4x6 inch prints regardless of the films ISO. If you know y

are going to be taking pictures in bright daylight, you might want to load ISO 100 film into your camera, as it is about

slowest color negative film that is readily available. You will be able to have 35mm negatives of this speed enlarged

11x14 inches without any apparent loss in image quality (16x20 if you need to cover that stain on the wall).

ISO 200 speed film is great as a multi-purpose film as it is one Exposure Value (EV) more light sensitive than ISO 100 a

therefore a better choice to use in lower light situations. ISO200 is also an acceptable choice for use in bright scebecause you will be able to use a smaller f/stop for more Depth of Field or you get to stop more Action by increasing

shutter speed by one stop. ISO 200 film can also be enlarged to 11x14. The difference in appearance compared to ISO

will be hard to detect without closely scrutinizing the image. This is a great all-around 'vacation' film speed and can be u

both indoors and outside.

ISO 400 is generally used for indoor and low-light situations. Its color sensitivity is tuned more for the different type

lighting you might find inside people's homes. Besides being two EVs faster than ISO 100, you can also photograph sooutdoor situations, but not necessarily the beach on a bright day. Using ISO 400 or ISO 800 indoors without the assistan

of a flashgun can be easily color corrected by your photofinisher in order to produce great photos, including those tak

inside arenas, stages, and stadiums. Using a fast ISO film outdoors will result in an obvious increase in your photograp

contrast; be careful unless you are trying to achieve this effect.

Films rated higher than ISO 400 have been designed for more specific purposes that usually do not interest the avera

photographer. Remember, as the ISO number of your film doubles, the films sensitivity to light doubles, as well. Compar

ISO 400 to ISO 800 is a +1EV increase in exposure sensitivity. ISO 400 to 1600 is a +2EV increase. Also, the faster the film

ISO speed, the larger the images grain size will be resulting in a lowering of image quality in your finished enlargemen

Do you remember when we mentioned the type of film that will give great exposure results in any lighting situation? Y

have seen these films advertised on TV just before any special holiday occasion. We encourage you to try these mu

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purpose films to see if they meet your standards of quality and purpose. At The Photo Collegewe are so attuned to us

the correct speed of film for each particular situation we cannot tell you what to expect from these new multi-purpose film

we do not use them other than to report the results you might find. We appreciate any feedback from our students w

have used these multi-purpose films. All we will say is that one of the manufacturers of these types of film has yet to

us down concerning quality and truth in advertising, even when they gave us pre-release test rolls and discs to evalu

for them in the past. Try them; they might be the films for which your camera has been pining.