Tips on Buying 35mm Film for Your Camera

A wide variety of 35mm film types and brands are available for purchase. Several factors should be taken into consideration before buying camera film at a store or online.

ISO: 35mm film with an ISO of 200 or 400 seems to be most commonly used. According to Kodak, their Kodak MAX 400 ISO film is very versatile and can be used for most purposes. However, Kodak also indicates that 800 ISO is better for some photos involving especially fast movement, as well as low light photographs. Check to see if your camera has an ISO control, if so you may want to select a type of film it is capable of being set to. If the camera has a flash and you plan on using it, an ISO of 200 or higher should be selected. 200 and 400 ISO film are often similar in price, while 100 is cheaper (but harder to find) and 800 is usually more expensive.

B&W/COLOR: While color is usually preferred for most purposes, black and white film can be useful for some effects, such as making a photograph seem "old" or giving it a different "mood", as when photographing a cemetary, for example. Black and white is available at some drug stores; it tends to be more expensive than color.

INSTRUCTIONS: Your camera's instructions may provide a recommendation on what type to use. For example, Vivitar suggests using ISO-400 color film for their "EZ Motor" camera, and the Quickshot DI-4410 recommends using ISO 200 for outdoor photos in bright sunshine, or ISO 400 for flash photography. According to the Vivitar BV-997's instructions, the range of the built-in flash is greater on films with a higher ISO. The Bell & Howell BF35's manual recommends 100, 200, or 400 ISO depending "on the light condition."