What is the difference between color negative and slide / positive film?
Color negative and slide film both produce color images, however the difference is in how the image is made.
On color negative film the lightest areas appear darkest and the darkest areas appear lightest. The color negative film is then reversed during scanning to produce the final image.
Slide film (also referred to as “color positive“, “transparency“ or “reversal“ film) produces a positive image straight onto the film. The light and dark areas appear as they do in reality. When mounted on card stock, these images are the slides that you’d put in a slide projector, or the slides that your grandparents have in boxes in the attic.
Color negative film is much more common than slide film and available in a wide range of ISO Speeds. It handles a little over and under exposure very well and is therefore much more forgiving for those of us who are relaxed in our approach to “correct” metering.
Slide film tends to have a low ISO and produces results with fine grain and vivid colors. However when it comes to exposure latitude slide film is not so flexible so it’s important to nail the exposure. Slide film is also often used for cross processing.
Both types of film have their qualities and drawbacks, so choosing which to use is usually down to personal preference.
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What are the different photographic film formats?
The three main types of film format are 35 mm, medium format and large format. More unusual formats also exist such as 110 and 127.
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What is tungsten film?
Most standard films are daylight-balanced, so they tend to capture the yellow-orange cast from tungsten lights. To address this, tungsten film was created to produce color-correct images taken under artificial lighting.
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What is 126 film?
126 film was launched by Kodak in 1963 as a way to simplify the process of loading and unloading film into cameras. Its name comes from the negatives’ dimension of 26.5 mm square. Although companies ceased mass production of 126 format around 2007 to 2008, its cartridge is still known and loved today.
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What is APS film?
Advanced Photo System or APS film was introduced in 1996 as a “high-tech” or modern alternative to the 126 and 110 film formats. It was 24 mm wide and it introduced many innovations, like the ability to choose exposure lengths and print sizes. Production of new APS film was ceased in 2011.
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What is the difference between panchromatic and orthochromatic film?
Orthochromatic film is made with blue-sensitive silver halide crystals, while panchromatic film adds other chemicals to increase the film’s sensitivity into the green and red parts of the spectrum.
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What is a half-frame film camera?
Half-frame cameras shoot 18×24 mm photographs on 35 mm film. This means you can take up to 72 images on one single roll and save a lot of film!
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What are LomoChrome films?
LomoChrome is the name given to Lomography’s experimental film stocks. There are currently four LomoChrome film stocks available: LomoChrome Purple, LomoChrome Turquoise, LomoChrome Metropolis, and LomoChrome Color ‘92.
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Where to get film developed?
There are a lot of places that can process and develop your 35 mm color negative film such as local drugstores or one-hour photo labs.
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What is the processing method for Redscale and LomoChrome films?
All Lomography color films are processed using C-41 chemicals. This includes Lomography RedScale XR and our popular range of color-shifting LomoChrome films – LomoChrome Purple, LomoChrome Metropolis and LomoChrome Turquoise