What's a favorite film of yours and why? How are the colours (saturated? accurate? do they wash out when over or under exposed?) Lots / Little contrast?

I'm looking for film with fairly saturated colours and decent contrast, preferable 100 or 200 speed, to start shooting with. I don't feel like purchasing a variety of rolls and testing them all out, so I'm asking for your experiences. So far I've only shot with Kodak Gold 200 (pretty bland colors unless they were REALLY vibrant), and UltraMax (good saturation but it's 400 speed and a bit grainy)

I have been pleased with Kodak Portra VC and Fuji Velvia.

obligatory ektar plug.

100 speed, spoogeworthy colors, holds up well under reciprocity failure, massive exposure latitude, no grain.

Posted by digital_me obligatory ektar plug. 100 speed, spoogeworthy colors, holds up well under reciprocity failure, massive exposure latitude, no grain.

"Massive latitude", eh? I've heard a lot of "it's tricky to expose right" around the internets :/

This was already on my must-try list, btw

I love ektar 100. Underexpose by 1/3 stop.

There is also fuji 160c.

so if I meter it as ISO 130ish, it's equivalent to 1/3 stop, right? I'm still wrapping my head around this kinda stuff

Will check out that Fuji film, too

idk, i guess i mostly do much longer exposures so maybe i don't really notice things like 1/3 stop. 5 stops, now i would notice that ;)

Posted by TicTac What's a favorite film of yours and why? How are the colours (saturated? accurate? do they wash out when over or under exposed?) Lots / Little contrast?

I haven't tried Ektar 100 like some of the others here, but...
Fujichrome Astia - Decent colors with pleasant contrast and saturation and lacking the gaudy luried hues of Velvia. Very fine grain.
Fujichrome Provia - I haven't shot any in a while, but for a while it was my go-to film. The colors/contrast are a bit punchier than Astia, but not overwhelming.
Fujicolor Reala - I don't know if they're still making it (and I'm out)... this is sold as a consumer film for some reason despite being much more similar to a pro film. Nice colors and latitude.
As the others have said, Portra 160 and Fujicolor 160c are both nice films with low contrast and saturation.
I also shoot a lot of Ilford XP2 lately. It's about as low in saturation as you can get. ;)

I'm looking for film with fairly saturated colours and decent contrast, preferable 100 or 200 speed, to start shooting with. I don't feel like purchasing a variety of rolls and testing them all out, so I'm asking for your experiences. So far I've only shot with Kodak Gold 200 (pretty bland colors unless they were REALLY vibrant), and UltraMax (good saturation but it's 400 speed and a bit grainy)

Why would you do such horrible things to your camera? Gold 100 is surprisingly decent for night photography, but is crap for almost everything else and the higher speeds are even more crappy. UltraMax is better than some of their others, but is still grody. Feed your camera good film and it will reward you with better pictures.

Posted by EatsTooMuchJam Feed your camera good film and it will reward you with better pictures.

om nom nom? Well I've got 2 rolls of ultramax left to shoot, and then I'll pick up a grab-bag of film to try out.
Is astia a C-41 film, or would I have to send it off like Provia?

Posted by TicTac om nom nom? Well I've got 2 rolls of ultramax left to shoot, and then I'll pick up a grab-bag of film to try out. Is astia a C-41 film, or would I have to send it off like Provia?

Astia is E-6 like Provia.

Posted by EatsTooMuchJam As the others have said, Portra 160 and Fujicolor 160c are both nice films with low contrast and saturation.

Fuji 160C is high contrast and high saturation, you must be mistaking it with Fuji 160S, which is more natural saturation and contrast. And there are two forms of Portra, NC and VC. Neutural and vivid color, respectively, one being low contrast the other being high. I tend to shoot mostly 160S and 160NC, but if shooting nature or anything where I want it to be really colorful I shoot with 160C or 160VC. I find Fuji reproduces green way better and Kodak gets better reds so if I have the choice I'll pick accordingly based on what I'll be shooting. One word of caution is that 160VC has really bad reciprocity failure, not good for any exposures over a few minutes. 160S is my favorite for night shots.

There is an awesome group on flickr called film database. People tag their pictures with the appropriate film and add to the group so you can search by film type and see the characteristics of each film. Check it out. Scroll to the bottom to see the links for different film types.

http://www.flickr....oups/filmdatabase/

Currently I'm happy with old, out-dated Свема 100 roll film : ) I've bought it at local bazaar. It's not very good contrast B&W film, but I still like it (with best memories from childhood)