The Darkroom is arguably one of the leading mail order labs in the country at the moment. Their team has been very proactive in engaging with the film community, eager to interact with photographers on social media, and working to meaningfully contribute to the community with information and education through their occasional blog posts. But the company recently launched a new project that I’ve found quite helpful: their Film Index.
While I am doing some of my developing at home now, I’ve used The Darkroom many times. They’ll process and/or scan and/or print just about anything, they’ll happily handle push or pull processing for a modest additional charge, and they offer an array of value-added services to make the most of your film photography.
But getting film processed means shooting film, and shooting film means selecting film to shoot. And while the selection of films available to is perhaps smaller than it has ever been, there are still myriad choices, and it can be a bit overwhelming.
Part of the reason is that it’s still quite difficult to find objective information that compares any given Film A to any given Film B. That’s the exact problem that The Darkroom is trying to address in a simple, easy-to-understand format.
Divided into C-41 (color negative), E-6 (color positive) and B&W films, the Film Index’s table provides a quick, accessible, easy-to-understand overview of the key things you need to know:
Granted, I think some of this information is subjective, but the company seems quite committed to getting this right, soliciting feedback and input from the community along the way.
From my point of view, the focus of the Film Index is understanding your choices, not steering you this direction or that. My mission is to shoot pretty much everything I can get my hands on, and the Film Index is helpful to grasp what I need to know before I jump into a new film. It’s also a great resource to give me ideas on other films to try.
When The Darkroom first launched the Film Index, I was a bit disappointed; it seemed that so many of my favorites were missing, including CatLABS X FILM 80, and all the Fomapan films. Slowly but surely, they’re addressing this, filling gaps, and refining things along the way. It’s a work-in-progress, and I can appreciate the amount of effort that’s being put into it.
In any case, if you’re looking for useful, practical information on choosing and understanding films, definitely check-out The Darkroom’s Film Index.
Happy shooting!
