So you’ve been looking into buying some new film for your camera and you keep seeing all of these different numbers written on them. 160, 200, 400, what do they mean. Film shopping isn’t meant to be a stress-inducing headache, it’s about having fun experimenting with the capabilities of your camera. If you don’t understand what these numbers mean or what their purpose is, I’m going to give you a rundown of the different film stock ISOs and what they’re for. I’ll tell you about different brands, grains, and most importantly, different films for the lighting you shoot in!
For any aspiring film photographer, this little guide can help you differentiate the different film stocks to know exactly what to be looking for for the exact style you want to be aiming at. The first thing to take a look at is different brands. Certain brands of film have their own look to their pictures, no matter the camera. 
Each image above is a different brand and yes, the differences are pretty subtle, however, for someone taking film photography pretty seriously the differences a brand’s film can make when being developed are enough to make someone want to use it for their style. The two main competitors in the film market today are Kodak and FujiFilm. Both of them produce some of the best film on the market today with clear, sharp images every time, as long as the photographer shot the film correctly. By no means am I a professional photographer, but I like to see a clean, colorful image. For this reason, I use Kodak film. Kodak produces some of the most vibrant colors of any film stock, and their Portra line, which I use shoots the sharpest film images possible.
To go along with sharpness, the next thing you may be looking for or against in your images is grain. That’s what makes Kodaks’ Porta series so successful and popular. Their images are sharp and free of heavy grain.
However, grain might be exactly what you like about film photography and what you’re shooting for. It has some way about it that gives a viewer a nostalgic feeling. It reminds people of how images all used to look before the days of clear DSLR imagery. The image to the right shows what I’m talking about. You can see the increase in grain the farther right you go. With that being said, you can see that the clearest image to the left shows features such as the crease by her nose and veins in the eye better. Something to think about depending on what you want your images to look like.
Okay so now we can talk about ISOs. Film ISOs play a huge part in the way your image looks. In fact, the ISO of your film determines the way your whole roll will look. Essentially, film ISOs or speeds determine the amount of light you should be using, meaning the faster the speed the more sensitive to light it will shoot. There are a few different film speeds out there to choose from so it’s best to know which ones you should use and where to use them.
Below 200 ISO – This film is best for those bright and sunny days. It can definitely handle some clouds, but to make it look great stick to the shiners.
400 ISO – 400 ISO is the most popular and forgiving ISO to use because it is so versatile. It can handle the bright days, the overcast days, indoor shots with lighting, and slightly handle some of the near dusk images. It is also known for producing great colors for most images.
800 ISO – Like I said earlier, the higher the speed, the more sensative the film will be to light. 800 ISO shines at indoor photography with added lighting. It can produce great images and is mainly what film photographers use when doing fashion shoots. To go along with that, the use of added light makes it possible to shoot nightime photogrpahy and have decent results.
There’s a lot to look at when deciding what film stock you may want to buy, but remember it’s about having fun and seeing what comes out of the images you’re experimenting with. If you like my post, feel free to comment on it and share it with friends or family. If you want to see more by me and stay up to date on my blog follow me for another day in the life of music and media.