Newbie film question.

GigiX · Mar 12, 2012

Hi everyone.

So I've been snapping away for around six years now using my digital, but have only recently began shooting film too. I recently had a film developed at my local super market (groan of regret) and have been disappointed with the results, which are veryy grainy and contain a lot of noise. The film I used was Fuji colour 200, which I've seen from other photographer's work is capable of producing much clearer, better quality photos. I tend to shoot most of my photos spontaneously, and so my question as a newbie to film is which type of film should I use with my 35mm to get clear, sharp results with less grain? Since I usually don't use a tripod, I thought using film with a higher iso might be the answer, but as far as I'm aware due to the speed, that's even grainier!

Attatched is a test-run-is-the-camera-gonna-work shot, which in itself is very noisy, but is by far one of the least noisy shots of this set.

Any help is much appreciated, thanks!

Josh66 · Mar 12, 2012

I think you will see a big improvement if you get a film scanner.

That said, slower film (low ISO) usually equals less grain - but you said you'll be shooting without a tripod, so you'll need good light for slow film.

Fuji 200 or 400 can both give pretty sharp photos without much grain...

Your attachment looks like it was underexposed and tweaked in PP. (The lab would have done that to try to 'save' it.) Look at the blacks - they shouldn't look like that, they should be black. This looks like PP noise to me - it's a result of the lab trying to boost the blacks/mid tones to give you an 'acceptable' exposure.

Color negative film is pretty hard to overexpose, so a lot of people overexpose it on purpose to ensure that there is shadow detail. To do that, you would just set the ISO on the camera lower than the box speed of the film. Half is normal. So, for 200 ISO film, try shooting it at 100 (and process it normally).

GigiX · Mar 12, 2012

Thanks for replying. Absolutely yes on the film scanner. Like I said, these are the first shots I've ever scanned, but I'll look into a film scanner for sure. I won't be taking it to the same place to be developed again, that's for sure.

Just wondering, when you said I'd need a good light to shoot with slower film without a tripod, do you mean it should probably be an outdoor shots only thing? I've only ever used 200 film so I'm not experienced with the ins and outs of slower film speeds.
I will also try the ISO thing, too. Thanks for your advice.

Josh66 · Mar 12, 2012

Outdoors on a sunny day, you should be fine with slow film (by slow film, I mean less than 100 - like 50). Indoors, you'll probably want 400 or 800 ISO, but 200 will work too if you have enough light. Just watch your shutter speeds if you are shooting moving subjects.

The place that developed it may not be the issue... Shoot another roll at 100 and see if it looks better.

Also - what camera are you using and how are you metering?

bhop · Mar 12, 2012

Curious what digital you're using? DSLR? P&S? If you're using a dslr, film cameras work the same, you're just stuck with one ISO until you change film. I agree with O|||||||O though.. probably underexposed and bad scan. If you have a loupe, or magnifying glass you can check your negative to see if it's actually that grainy, in which case, if it is just as grainy, it'd probably be the supermarket's bad chemicals or something..

GigiX · Mar 12, 2012

Okay, thanks.

I'll definitely try shooting it at 100.
The camera I used here is an Olympus om20. And to be honest I wasn't paying much attention with regards to metering with this shot, it was just a test shot to make sure the advance would work properly, and was shot on auto mode if I remember correctly.

Helen B · Mar 12, 2012

Underexposed colour negative film does look grainy, even when properly developed, and without it being emphasised by digital post processing. It's a common property - as the film approaches its lower sensitivity limit it gets more and more grainy, particularly in the blue-sensitive layer. Kodak produce graininess-exposure curves for some of their films that demonstrate this.

GigiX · Mar 12, 2012

bhop said:
Curious what digital you're using? DSLR? P&S? If you're using a dslr, film cameras work the same, you're just stuck with one ISO until you change film. I agree with O|||||||O though.. probably underexposed and bad scan. If you have a loupe, or magnifying glass you can check your negative to see if it's actually that grainy, in which case, if it is just as grainy, it'd probably be the supermarket's bad chemicals or something..

I'm using a fuji finepix s6500.

The best I could afford at the time for my first 'real' camera haha. I'd love to upgrade soon, but it's a question of funds.
Also, my sister developed photos from the same place and wasn't too happy with the results, the photos tend to be very dull and the prints just aren't fantastic quality. I'll try somewhere else next time and check out the differences.