Bill Silliker, Jr.

The Camera Hunter

Film Choice for the Outdoors

The question folks ask most at my wildlife slide talks or at the wildlife and nature photography courses I teach for L. L. Bean's Outdoor Discovery Program is: "What kind of film should I use?”   It's easy to understand why they're confused by the wide variety of films available to choose from today.  What isn't so easy to do is to answer their question with just a few words. 

The best short answer may be that the type of film you should use depends on your purpose when you push the shutter.  While that doesn't satisfy most people, it really is the best answer.  That’s because all of those film choices offer a photographer more than a flavor selection.  The manufacturers design films for different purposes.  Match the purpose intended by the manufacturer with yours, and you've got the right film. 

 Does that also mean that there are wrong films to use?  Perhaps.  Once again, it all depends on your purpose.  Consider this example.  You're hiking the Appalachian Trail in search of scenic shots of the Maine woods with the hopes of selling one to a magazine.  You load your camera with 1000 ISO speed color print film - a very fast film - so that you can use a fast shutter speed to freeze the trees in case it's windy and still be able to set the lens at a small aperture opening, or f stop, to get the maximum depth of field.  While your efforts to do all of that are admirable, your choice of film is all wrong.  Magazines don't often publish from color prints, and will always avoid the often grainy look of images shot on that high a speed film.

So why do they make fast color print film?  Probably for amateur photographers who want to shoot scenes indoors without a flash.  And maybe for photographers shooting for newspapers that don't mind the grain because the newsprint that the image will be reproduced on can't offer the sharpness that the shiny surfaced paper of most magazines does.  For a press shooter working in low light, that fast film can make the difference in capturing an image.   

 Let's look at the film choices that we have and try to make some sense of them.  First consider the names.  Films whose names end in the word chrome are slide films. Kodachrome, Afgachrome, and Fujichrome - these are slide films.  Films whose name ends in the word color are print film.  Kodacolor, Fujicolor and so on, are color print films.  The lesser-used black and white films generally have trade names and are labeled as black and white on the box. 

 Most magazines publish from slide films.  Calendar, post card, brochure, poster and most other publishers of quality color images do as well.  So if your goal is to collect a file of publishable images, you had better start shooting slide films. 

If you try shooting color slide film, you'll soon find out that these films are much less forgiving of errors in setting exposures than are the color print film.  That will make you learn more about setting exposures – not a bad thing, no matter your interest in photography.

Now let's look at film speeds.  A film’s speed refers to how quickly it can record light.  The higher numbers can be used at faster shutter speeds. 

Color negative films all have very fine grain, even up to high film speeds of ISO 800.  After that, it pays to be careful and test that really fast film before using it for an important shoot. 

The slow slide films, Kodachrome 25 and 64, and more recently Fujicrome Velvia 50 - offer very fine grain.  Because these films allow very high quality reproduction they have long been the films of choice for many professional landscape photographers.

Moderate speed slide films, those at ISO 100, offer fine grain as well, and because you can get a shutter speed or more out of them, are often the films used by many professional wildlife photographers.   A new film in the past year, Fuji Provia 100F, is now my primary wildlife film, as it actually has finer grain than either Velvia or Kodachroem 64! 

Faster speed slide films historically have been too grainy for most pros, with the possible exception of Kodachrome 200.  Pros used to prefer to "push" their 100 speed film – expose it at a higher speed rating, and have it specially processed.  How to push slide film is another whole subject in itself.  But the latest film advances, including a new ISO 400 speed slide film that has very fine grain for its speed, Fuji Provia 400F, make the need to push film less likely. 

Disclaimer: Fujifilm Professional sponsors me for slide talks on occasion.  But as I tell camera club audiences, this is no commercial: you owe it to yourself to try those films if you shoot slides.

So which film should you choose?  I don’t know.  It all depends on what you want the pictures for, doesn’t it?  But whatever your choice, catch yours in the good light. 

Bill Silliker, Jr. teaches wildlife & nature photography for L.L. Bean's Outdoor Discovery Schools and has done the photography for 5 books, several of which he also wrote. He is editor of the website www.wildlifewatcher.com as well as for his own website at www.camerahunter.com

© Copyright 2000 Bill Silliker, Jr. all rights reserved.