Film Types

Color

Color film is both sensitive to and records both value (dark and light) and hue (colors). Color film comes in both negative (to make prints) and positive (to make transparencies, or slides).

An important characteristic of color film is it’s color balance. This is the temperature or color of light the film is designed to use under/with. The two major types are daylight (5000° Kelvin) and tungsten (3200° K). Daylight film is by far the most common. It is for use under (surprise!) daylight, and also most strobe or flash. Tungsten film is used under studio lights, known as hot lights (because they get real hot), which use tungsten filaments. These are similar to, but not the same as regular incandescent light. Using daylight film under tungsten lamps will give you a heavy gold cast. Using tungsten film under daylight gives you a heavy cyan (blue) cast. Using either under flourescent light generally gives you some version of sickly green. (You need to use a filter for flourescents).

Black and White

Black and white is sensitive to most of the visible spectrum of light (panchromatic), along with some ultraviolet. It is more sensitive to blues, which means skies tend to get overexposed.

Infrared

Infrared film comes in both color and black and white variations. The black and white takes some special handling, and requires the use of a 25A dark red filter. It is unrated as far as speed, but I’ve found about 200 ASA works pretty well. The coolest effects are from plants that are growing, during the height of spring. With infrared, pretty much everything looks a bit strange. Black and white infrared does not pick up heat signatures. The color version is supposed to, but I’ve personally never used any.

The Kodak version has long been the standby, and now Konica makes a version (infrared 750). Ilford SFX 200 is a film with extended sensitivity that doesn’t require as careful handling.

All yield a specialized effect, and are great to play with, and should be tried. Seeing an entire exhibit done with infrared film gets a bit old.

Chromogenic

Chromogenic film is a hybrid of sorts. It is essentially balck and white film designed to be processed in standard color chemistry (C41 process). These films can be printed with regular balck and white materials. Ilford XP2 is a chromogenic film, as well as Kodak Black & White. Take care that you don’t process these films in balack and white chemistry: it doesn’t work.

Orthochromatic

Orthochromatic film, traditionally used for graphics, records either black or clear. Extremely high contrast. It is available in rolls and sheets.

Ortho film is used in many alternative photographic processes, invariably in sheet form. It is an inexpensive, practical way to create the large positive and negatives needed for many of these processes. (It can also be processed to produce a greyscale, using Dektol 1:10).

Instant

Polaroid pretty much controls the market in instant films, so much so that the term “Polaroid” has become synonymous with instant films. Instant is available in a wide variety of types, particularly at the medium format and larger, in both color and black and white. Many are ‘matched’ to regular films (color balance and ASA) as they are used for proofing.