Trends are certainly a thing within the photographic community, and many of you have been picking up an old film camera and shooting 36 frames of nostalgia, or 120 for the film aficionados.
Film photography has become so popular again that there is now an official list from the online camera store B&H Photo Video, which has showcased the most purchased film stocks in 2022 – something I'm not sure we thought that we'd be writing about even 5 years ago.
The best film on our expert list is largely for 35mm cameras, but you'll find some 120 in there too. How does B&H Photo Video compare? Well there are the usual suspects that you would expect, and some that might have you either questioning other photographers' choices or highlighting a film you have never tried before! Scroll down below and see if your next roll of film is on this list.
Ilford's latest version of its classic fast film, which can be developed in traditional black-and-white chemistry. It is a great all-round film, suitable to those who just want to try monochrome – or for those who are looking for a film that will respond well to push processing for lowlight use.
What can you say about Kodak Tri-X? Made famous by a generation of documentary and war photographers, it's pretty tolerant of exposure variations and push/pull processing and produces strong gritty images with good detail rendition. Maybe a bit rough-and-ready for today's tastes, but it still has 'the look'.
CineStill 800T is a re-formatted movie stock that has been prepared and packaged for use in still cameras. Utilizing a unique "Premoval" stage, the traditional anti-halation rem-jet layer has been removed from this film, enabling its development in C-41 chemistry as well as the motion picture standard ECN-2 process.
Benefitting from the distinct qualities of a high-speed motion picture stock, this color negative film is balanced for tungsten, incandescent, and fluorescent light and exhibits a nominal sensitivity of ISO 800/30°. If exposing under daylight conditions, an 85B filter is recommended along with exposing the film at ISO 500 for normal results. The high film speed is ideal for working in difficult, low-lighting conditions and well-suited to push processing by up to 3 stops.
Ilford's latest version of its classic fast film, which can be developed in traditional black-and-white chemistry. It is a great all-round film, suitable to those who just want to try monochrome – or for those who are looking for a film that will respond well to push processing for lowlight use.
Portra 800 film has gained a passionate following amongst the film community thanks to its flexibility when shooting in different lighting conditions and its beautifully rendered grain and colors. The only downside with Kodak Portra 800 is that it's only sold in packs of five, so you can't officially buy a single roll to experiment with (although you might be able to find single rolls on eBay, be warned that they will have been taken out of their official packaging). However, it's such a good quality film that we can almost guarantee you won't be disappointed.
Kodak claims the world's finest grain for a color negative film, thanks to its T-Grain technology. This film also boasts high saturation and sharpness, and Kodak says it's ideal for scanning and enlarging. Its rendition looks ideal for commercial and landscape photography, and it's cheaper than shooting transparency film.
Kentmere Pan 400 is a flexible and high-speed black and white negative film offering a nominal sensitivity of ISO 400/27°, making it suitable for use in available light and action photography, as well as general use. The film is characterized by a fine grain structure and good sharpness, as well as a broad tonal range and wide exposure latitude.
Portra 400 film has gained a passionate following amongst the film community thanks to its flexibility when shooting in different lighting conditions and its beautifully rendered grain and colors. The only downside with Kodak Portra 400 is that it's only sold in packs of three or five, so you can't officially buy a single roll to experiment with (although you might be able to find single rolls on eBay, be warned that they will have been taken out of their official packaging). However, it's such a good quality film that we can almost guarantee you won't be disappointed.
Fujifilm 200 Color Negative Film is a medium-speed daylight-balanced film offering a vivid color palette and excellent sharpness. It features a nominal sensitivity of ISO 200/24° along with a wide exposure latitude for use in a variety of lighting conditions. The film offers beautiful and natural skin tones for portraits and group settings, and its fine-grain structure enables high-quality results for prints and enlargements. Greens are also enriched by this film making it the perfect 35mm candidate for landscape work.
So no matter what your interest or skill level it goes to show that any film can become popular, who would of thought 5 years ago that we would be even talking about film again, let alone having a best film sold in 2022! The best thing about this list from B&H is that all of them are in stock and ready to ship, so if you have been wanting a film on this list, maybe now is the time to buy before its too late!
If you're feeling inspired, check out the best film cameras to see if you can find a model online. Is film photography better than digital?
