There have been many advances in film technology over recent years and now you can be assured that all the major brands are absolutely first class.

The three main types of film are colour negative, colour slide and black and white. Nearly all Australian want to shoot colour prints, and that is best done with a colour negative film. Colour slide is now mostly used by professionals for magazine reproduction or by serious photographers who like to project their images on a screen.

As so few people use black and white, processing can be more expensive than an ordinary colour film. However, there are now black and white films that can be processed in a colour minilab with more or less the same speed and price.

The speed of film is measured in ISO. The usual choice is between 100, 200, 400 and 800 ISO. The higher the number, the faster the film speed, but the faster the film the grainer the print. For general use, use either 200 or 400 ISO. For action, or low light photography, use 800 or more ISO.

SINGLE-USE CAMERAS
If you wish to introduce a young child to photography, or if you only have a very rare interest in taking a picture, then you can buy a single-use camera. Made by all the major manufacturers these cost around $15 but are limited to just the one roll of film.

INSTANT PHOTOGRAPHY
Instant photography is great fun as you can see full colour or black and white pictures develop in seconds right before your eyes. For amateur use, a special camera is required, but these are inexpensive.

VIDEO
If moving pictures with full sound is your game, then today's crop of video cameras are very compact and easy to use. Prices begin at under a $1000 and it is a very simple matter to show your videos on the home television screen. New digital video cameras are now available which also allow you to easily capture stills from your movies.

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