Film Types - introduction
Your camera dictates what film format you use. Whether that's APS, 35mm or 120mm you have no choice once you've got your camera. You can, however choose between different film brands, film speeds and choosing between negative or slide film. I'll concentrate on film speeds first.

Film Speeds
Camera film can be bought according to how fast they react to light. You can get slow film and fast film. They all have there pros and cons but how do you know how fast your film is? All film is given a speed rating known as an ISO number (sometimes called ASA). The higher the ISO number, the faster the film. The speed of the film is linear with the ISO number.

So a camera with a rating of 400 ISO will be four times as quick in absorbing light as a 100 ISO film. This means the shutter on your camera needs to be open for four times as long with 100 ISO film to get the same exposure as the 400 ISO film. Great. So why don't we all get 400 ISO film so that we don't get camera shake worries in low light?

As a general rule, higher film speeds tend to be more grainy. Many also don't deliver the same colour balance as what you see through the lens where deep black colours turn out dark grey and some sharpness is compromised and 'washed out' textures often prevail. Ten years ago this problem with high ISO ratings was a big issue. They've got a lot better since then - particularly the 200 & 400 ISO speeds. The grain size is still an issue with 800 and 1600 ISO film speeds though but 400 ISO is as fast a film as you want.

Despite the improvements in high film speeds, most professionals will stick to 100 ISO film speeds or less. I've tried both 400 and 200 ISO films and I've found grain size not to be a problem for 6 inch by 4 inch prints depending on the brand you use. Larger print sizes will be grainier.

Slides vs. Negatives
Negative film is the most commonly used film. The reason is that prints are made much more cheaply than they are from slides. Slides are generally used for projectors and for Publishing. So what's the advantage with slides from a quality point of view? Colour saturation is much better with slides - what you see is what you get. The grain size is also smaller. It's little wonder that most professionals use slides.

Currently I'm using negatives. Why negatives? Despite the advantages of slides, buying, developing, printing and scanning prints from negatives is cheaper. I will switch to slides later on and get a slide scanner. It's really a question of when I can afford to.

Film Brands
Here's a crucial deciding factor with print quality. What brand do you want? There are three big names out there:

• Kodak

• Fuji Film

• Agfa

Cheap 'own brand'
film often gives poor
grain quality

Now what's the difference between them? They all claim they have the best film so where do you go from here? At the 200 ISO film speed, the sharpness and grain size of the film used is pretty comparable across the brands. The chief difference is said to lie in the colour balance. Kodak prints appear more red/orange. Fugi has a lot more green in their results while Agfa is said to have more blue.

What film you choose depends on you but ask yourself what for be best for the following situations:

• Sunsets & Sunrises, Autumn and Winter Colours

• Summer Colours

• Clear Skies

I've stuck with Fuji 400 ISO for the last year but before then, I've tried Kodak and cheaper own brand models and have found differences.

Kodak Gold Ultra (400 ISO) is quite grainy despite giving sharp results. This experience is reflected by a film review done by Practical Photography magazine.

Cheaper 'own brand' film has given variable results. Sometimes film can have small grain size but give washed out or blurred pictures. Other film has given downright awful grain quality. I've been told by an ex camera shop salesman that the own brand film that they used were repackaged rejects from Agfa. In my opinion, when quality is paramount then you should avoid own brand film like the plague!

Developing
Some photolabs are better than others! Finding a good lab requires a bit of experience and shopping around. Very often though, price isn't a good indicator of quality. I've found expensive services that are poor when cheaper shops do a good job. But why are some shops good while others are bad?

These days, film is put into a developing machine and all the operator has to do is press a button! Not all machines, even machines that are the same model, give the same results. A crucial factor is what exposure the machine decides is the right exposure for getting a print from the negative. This autoexposure exposure level is often manually configured and thus leads to differences in the result between the same models.

The paper they use often decides the quality of the final result. Kodak Royal is the best quality and gives a nice sharp picture. Cheaper paper can give sharpness that is quite variable. Be Aware!

You also have the choice between Glossy and Matt in many shops. The choice is a personal one but I prefer Matt prints - many prefer gloss and gloss is the style the shops will print to unless you ask otherwise.