Best Film for the Fujica ST701
The best film to use in your Fujica ST701 is going to be based on the lens, lighting conditions, and if you want to use color or black & white.
Getting an ISO 400 35mm or higher speed will enable you to avoid having to carry around a tripod or flash.
If you want to take images in low light, such as indoors, make sure that you have a fast lens. For lens recommendations take a look at my short article on the 5 Best Lenses for the Fujica ST701.
Color Film
Consumer
Kodak UltraMax 400 - This film handles a variety of lighting conditions well and is a terrific pick for a 35mm color film. The film is fast enough so that you should be able to handhold the ST701 in just about all circumstances.
The pictures will have fantastic skin tones and tend to be on the warm side.
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA ISO 400 - An alternative to Kodak that may have far better availability based on what country you are in.
In comparison to to Kodak, Fuji tends to be a bit cooler with an emphasis on blues and greens.
Lomography 800 - If you want a color film with an ISO of 800, there aren’t many options. This is the only 35mm film stock geared towards consumers.
Furthermore, if you have a medium format camera, Lomography 800 is also sold in 120 film format.
Kodak Gold 200 - An outstanding solution to get that mid-1980s through 90s feeling. For the classic photography experience take advantage of a flash.
To really bring the ideal look out of the film, make sure to over-expose it by 1 or 2-stops. This will ensure that you get the wonderful colors people love Kodak Gold for.
Professional
Kodak Portra 400 - Among the photography enthusiasts online, Portra 400 is the most frequently used color negative film. Overexpose Portra 400 by 1 or 2-stops to get the style the film is well known for.
Kodak Portra is also available in ISO 800 and 160 emulsions. 8x10 sheets, 4x5 sheets, and rolls of 120 film are also available.
Black and White Film
Consumer
With reasonable prices and excellent very popular to use in the Fujica ST701.
The biggest appeal for budget minded photographers and photography students is the reasonable cost. Even if you do not put yourself in that group, it’s nice to have low cost rolls of film on hand for testing recently delivered used gear.
Kentmere 400 - It’s produced by the parent company of Ilford, Harmon Technology. This is notable since that allows this to be the most broadly available B&W film out of the three.
Foma Fomapan 400 Action - Is likely to be less difficult to obtain in Europe as the film is manufactured out of the Czech Republic by Foma Bohemia.
A solid film emulsion to choose for your initial few attempts at home developing or analog photography. Also a good selection if you’re trying out a camera to be sure that it is totally operational.
Ultrafine eXtreme 400 - The cheapest store to purchase this film is straight from Ultrafine.
If you process color 35mm film at home, you might have used chemicals produced by them.
Professional
Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford HP-5+ 400 are the 2 most popular black & white 35mm films. They possess a lot of qualities that are comparable that help make them a favourite, while maintaining individual rendering.
Both film stocks can be pushed 1 or 2 stops and still deliver solid images. This makes the film versatile as a roll can be shot at ISO 400, 800, or 1600.
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - The most significant differences are that HP5 Plus has lower levels of contrast and is less expensive compared to Tri-X. Lower levels of contrast can be a benefit due to the fact contrast can be changed when making a print or through digital processing.
The film emulsion has subdued grain and still looks excellent when pushed 2-stops.
Kodak Tri-X 400 - This film emulsion has got a stronger look to it. To create the traditional grain structure, contrast, and look of the film, it will need to be processed in Kodak D-76.
The film emulsion undoubtedly has a higher level of contrast. That’s very good if it is the look you want because it requires a great deal less work when making a print in the darkroom or during digital processing.
Transparency Film
Reversal film, also known as slide film or transparency film, generates a positive image. That means a lightbox or projector can be used to show the pictures.
Colors do not need to be inverted to be seen, as opposed to the more often used negative film stocks.
Slide films are regarded as very hard to shoot due to the fact slide film has far less dynamic range and latitude when compared with negative film.
Kodak Ektachrome 100 - This is a fine grain film known for beautiful skin tones. The colors don’t show up oversaturated. Ektachrome is daylight color balanced.
Fujifilm Velvia 50 - Offers special looking photos that have considerably elevated levels of saturation and contrast. It is very sharp with a daylight color balance. When compared with all the slide films you can get, it has the highest resolving power.
An ISO 100 emulsion is also offered.
Fujichrome Provia 100F - Creates natural and vivid colors with medium contrast and color saturation. It has ultra fine grain with a daylight color balance.
Foma Fomapan R100 - This is a black and white transparency film, reported by Fomapan as having elevated contrast, very good resolving power, and very fine grain. It’s also regarded as a replacement for the discontinued Agfa Scala.
Film Basics
Consumer vs Professional Film
Pro film stocks cost more due to the fact that they have increased latitude, are easier to push, and larger dynamic range.
There’s a difference in where it can be purchased. Consumer films can oftentimes be purchased from big-box stores and pharmacies in meager amounts. Professional level film stocks has to be ordered from a online or camera store.
ISO
The filml speed is represented by ISO, which may also be thought of as the film’s light sensitivity.
The higher the ISO of the film, the less light is necessary to capture a frame. In addition, expect to see bigger film grain.
ISO 100 and slower speed films (ISO 25, ISO 50, etc) can be difficult to use handheld with the ST701. The will likely be longer are going to be longer than what you’re able to handhold without resulting in motion blur unless you are working in full sun.
To avoid this you will need to use a flash, tripod, and/or fast lens. Using a high speed ISO 800 or ISO 400 film will make the extra accessories not needed.
As a quick note, the ISO knob is labeled as ASA on the Fujica ST701. The shift to using ISO from ASA (American Standards Association) happened after the creation of the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Film Latitude
Film latitude is the amount of stops film can be overexposed while still keeping good images. Professional film stocks have a larger latitude paired with a slightly increased price.
Negative film has more latitude compared to slide film. That is a reason why it’s regarded as harder to shoot.
Dynamic Range
Dynamic range represents the difference between the highlights and shadows details of a photo that can be recorded. Areas of a photo that are not in this range will appear as black underexposed shadows or totally white overexposed highlights.
When working in a variety or quickly changing lighting situations, films with a larger dynamic range are a better choice.
- Digital cameras 14+ stops
- Negative film up to 13 stops
- Slide film 6-8 stops
The limited dynamic range of slide film is a second reason why it’s viewed as difficult to shoot. Golden hour is the best time to shoot slide.
Film Type
35mm film that is in canisters is used by the Fujica ST701. 35mm film can also be called 135 film, and it is the most widely used type of film.
The only other film format you are likely to notice is 120 or 220 film that is used by medium format cameras}.
One of the best properties of film is that you can swap the film emulsion you work with and get a unique look to your photos.
DX Coded Film
Nearly all new 35mm film on the market currently has a DX code. This enables cameras to automatically detect and set the ISO when the film canister is loaded into the camera.
ASA (ISO) on the Fujica ST701 must be manually set. Which means DX-coding doesn’t do anything.
Fujica ST701 Resources
Where to Get 35mm Film Developed?
There are several possible choices for where to have 35mm film processed. For a more comprehensive explanation of the possibilities look at my guide on Where to Develop Film.
WARNING: Pharmacies and big box stores have ended developing film locally. They ship film off-site to be processed by a separate company. Because of this, you won’t get your processed negatives back.
- Develop Film at Home
- Use a Local Photography Lab
- Use a Mail Order Photo Lab
- Pharmacy or Big Box Store
The least difficult method and what I suggest doing if you are just starting to use film is to ship your film to a photo lab to be processed and scanned. A downside to this is that it will get pricey if you consistently shoot film.
So long as you’re shooting a medium to high volume of film, there are a few actions that can be done to reduce your costs.
Bulk Loading Film
Certainly one of the ideal methods to save some money on film is to buy a bulk roll of 100 feet of film and load canisters yourself.
All said and done, you will end up making roughly 18 rolls of 36 frames. You should expect to save 20-30% based on the film you purchase.
Take into account that you’re going to be limited to bulk rolls of black and white film. This is due to black and white film is easier and cheaper to process at home.
Home Developing and Scanning
All film can be processed at home. In fact it’s a smart option to spend less so that you can shoot more film with your Fujica ST701.
Black & white film is by far the least difficult to develop. Chemical temperature and time are both not as essential to get correct with black and white films as they are for color negative or transparency film.