Couple of questions please.

Is there a particular brand of film I should use while on holiday in the UK? (Or a brand I should stay away from)

I've gone through the pros and cons of compact/slr v's digital and have decided on purchasing a (compact) Minolta Riva zoom 75W.

Now, I don't what to blow my once in a life time pictures by having a 'less' superior film for the sake of saving a few $$ on film.

Is there much difference between Kodak & Fuji (based on quality of the print of the photo)?

And based on the 200 range (sorry can't think of the proper term) Kodak is around $NZ6.24/film and Fuji is $NZ4.24/film (buying bulk, 8 at a time). I could buy around 3 extra rolls of Fuji film with the price difference.

And finally, (yes I am new to this photo thing) could someone give me guildlines to when I should use 200 and when I should use 400.

Appreciate your help and I thank you in advance.

Regards
Tammy

TJC-Hi
This question has been covered very well. Go to search, type in film, make sure you are in the photography forum, any date and do the search. You will come up with 20-30 topics, many of which cover your exact question.
Good luck

charbabe, thank you for that.

The search certainly helped (I keep forgetting about the search option)

I'm trying not to feel foolish ......... dah

Regards
Tammy

Hi Tammy,

The "rule" is that the higher the "number" (which is called the "ASA rating") of the film, the more sensitive it is, but also the more "grainy" it is. ie 100 ASA film will take slightly "sharper" pictures than 400 ASA film, but it needs brighter light to do it.

As a rough "rule of thumb" you could say:

100 ASA = bright sunshine.
200 ASA = overcast daylight, or well-lit indoor scenes.
400 ASA = not so well-lit indoor use.

Modern films, however, are hugely better than they were 20 or 30 years ago, and really you can now safely use 400 ASA film as a general purpose "use anywhere" film with perfectly good results, especially with a modern automatic compact camera. Unless you really "blow up" the resulting pictures, which I doubt you'll be doing with a compact camera, the quality difference between 100 and 400 ASA film is insignificant. I'd recommend, therefore, that you stick with 400 ASA film.

As far as brands go, that's really a "religious" matter. There are people who will swear that Kodak film is better, and there are people who swear by Fuji film. Personally I'd say that they are _both_ excellent, and suggest that you buy whichever is on "special offer" at the time that you buy.

Hope that's of some help to you.

Regards,

Chris

Thank you Chris for the helpful guildlines.

I feel a lot more comfortable (& knowledgeable) when I go to buy the film.


Regards
Tammy

Having shot 35mm for more than 20 years, I agree wholeheartedly with Chris.

A couple of additional thoughts:

1) For shooting indoors, get the "fastest" (highest number) film you can find. If your regular film is ISO 400, get a few rolls of ISO1600. It's grainier but you will get images that you won't get with the ISO400. There is not much advantage to only going up one "stop", 200 to 400 or 400 to 800.

2) Buy rolls in 36 frame length instead of 12 or 24-the cost per frame is less and you have fewer rolls to tote around.

3) Carry more film than you think you will ever use, because you will use it. If you should have some unused rolls left over, throw them in the freezer (not the refrigerator) and they will last forever. You can also use this technique to buy film when it is on special and freeze it for when you need it. It seems there is never a "special offer" when you need it.

Most important, enjoy the holiday.

Glenn

Thank you for the handy tips Glenn.

Regards
Tammy

Tammy,

The film you use isn't the only variable in how well your prints will look. Does your photo lab recommend any particular brand of film? If not, find out what kind of paper the lab prints on. (The back of the print will usually answer that question, but you might double check to be sure the lab hasn't changed papers since the print was made.) A general rule is that Kodak films look better printed on Kodak paper, Fuji on Fuji paper, etc. The skill of the lab is definitely involved, but (particularly if you're going low cost on developing and printing) I would keep the film & paper brands the same. For what it's worth, my personal color print film preferences are:

100 speed - Fuji Reala
400 speed - Agfa Vista
800 speed - Fuji Press

Most of the time, I use the Agfa Vista 400. I'm not sure how it would look printed on non-Agfa paper. One of my cameras I use is the Minolta Riva 70W, the model that the Riva 75W replaced. Get to know your Riva 75W before your trip & you should get some fine shots.

Mike

Mike, thanks for the hint on the paper I will certainly bare this in mind when I get the films developed.

Just to let you know, from searching past posts (as suggested by charbabe) I had come across the topic �compact zoom cameras� dated 20 July 2002 started by ClareS, which you and others had some great impute towards.

It helped me understand the various terminologies of cameras and their bits and pieces.. To put in bluntly I didn�t even now there was such a difference between a SRL camera and a compact (P&S) camera, to me they were all cameras�� (how nieve was that!!)

This thread (and others) helped me make a decision on purchasing the Minolta Riva Zoom 75W.

I would have merrily gone out and purchased the most affordable, latest camera around (be it a SLR or P&S), thinking that is what I needed��.. I would have been a salesman delight.

Thank you again Mike (and many others) for your valuable information you seem freely and happily to pass on. Much appreciated.

Happy snapping
Tammy

A key is what you will do with the final prints. If you are going to make them 8X10, the grain size will make a difference. If you are going to just keep snapshot size, it becomes a lot less important. I used to use mostly higher speed film to make up for an unsteady hand in lower light plus be able to catch faster action, and I never had much trouble (sometimes over ASA 1000). Right now the bigger factor is protection of your film and you can find some good threads on this BB about film protection (my opinion would be to wait buy film locally on arrival and if possible either mail it home for processing or see if you can get it processed before you leave then you could look at memories on the plane ride back home).

Hi TJC,

You bought the same camera as I did last year prior to my OS holiday. I took Fuji film - 400speed only. I figured that it was a good all-round speed. It can cope with varying lighting situations, & if you're taking photos from a moving bus, than 400speed film will most probably shoot sharper photos than a lower speed.
I bought my film duty-free to take OS last year - I would think that you should be able to do that in NZ as well.

One thing about the Minolta Riva Zoom 75W. Just in case you haven't had a chance to play around with it yet (ie. if you bought it duty-free so it's in a sealed bag), there's one thing you should know & keep in mind when you're taking piccy's on the move with this camera.
If you set the camera to infinity mode (so that you can take pictures thru' windows), the camera will revert automatically to auto mode after you've taken the picture, even if you keep the camera on for the next picture. So if you're taking pictures thru' the bus window on tour eg., you'll have to remember to reset the camera to infinity mode each time.

If you're somewhere that you're not allowed to use the flash & it's fairly low light, your picture could turn out blurry (unless you're using a higher speed film than 400), so keep that in mind as you might want to get a postcard to cover those sort of shots (mind you, that could just be me having camera shake!).

Also, remember to use red-eye reduction when taking piccy's of people. I kept forgetting to put it on, because I can keep that feature on all the time with my other camera.

Remember to keep your film in your carry-on bag when you're flying (rather than in your checked-thru' luggage). The x-rays aren't as damaging for checking carry-on bags as they are for check-thru' luggage (or so I've heard). I just kept all my used film in a see-thru' ziplock bag in my carry-on bag (& the unused in the packs they came in).
Have a good holiday & happy snapping!!

ClareS

ClareS, now that you've had a 'tour' under the belt with the Minolta 75W camera? What are you thoughts on it? ie no regrets? should have gotten something else? etc etc.

Regards
Tammy

TJC- I've used many different films for many different purposes(personal and semi-professional), but always seem to find that the Kodak series(no matter what quality or ASA) come out as prints with a slightly warmer feel to those shot on Fuji. Fuji is wonderful for "greens". I always have my photos developed at the same place- a high quality lab, but it always seems to happen. I know about film and developing- I have my own black and white lab, so I am a little fussy.I also know my lab use Kodak chemicals-maybe there is something about the composition of Fuji film that affects things slightly. Who knows. Most people would never pick up the differences and be completely happy with their prints, but I do notice it and if I have a particular subject in mind, I choose my film accordingly. A slightly "warm" filter can overcome any Fuji problems usually.
Linda

Hi Tammy,

No I don't have any regrets about buying the Minolta 75W camera. There were a few times where I wished it had a bit more zoom range in the telescopic end for close-ups (my other camera goes up to 105mm so I did notice the difference on occasion).

That said, I was really glad that the camera had a wide-angle of 28mm. A lot of my shots were shot on wide-angle & 28mm does fit in a lot more than the usual 38mm (on other zoom compact cameras).

The camera is small (admittedly you can get smaller compacts, but it was definitely smaller than my older compact camera), & lightweight & easy to handle & that's what I wanted. I will definitely take it OS again. I think you will be happy with it (I hope! ).
I was happy with most of my shots (I had camera shake for a small no. of them), & as I'd got it duty-free in a sealed bag (I didn't get the chance to play with it until I was past that point in the international airport), I think they turned out pretty well. Other people that looked at the photos commented that they turned out well, so it can't just be my biased opinion!

Have a good trip,
ClareS