Kodak Gold 200
ISO 200 · Color neg
Warm, golden, classic “summer evening” palette.
- Best for
- Bright daylight street, travel, family snapshots, gentle skin tones.
- Pair with
- P · 3 m group zone
Section 05
Exposure & film guide
The Pentax 17 has automatic exposure but it still asks you for one number: the film’s ISO. Pick a stock that fits how you shoot, set the dial, and the rest of this page tells you what the camera will do for you in different light.
Pick by style
If you only remember one row from this page, pick yours and buy that film.
Sunny travel days
Kodak Gold 200 or CineStill 50D
Slower stocks reward bright light with finer grain and richer color.
Portraits
Portra 400
Soft tones that flatter skin and forgive a half‑stop of over‑exposure.
Street, fast
HP5 Plus or Tri‑X 400
Push‑friendly, contrasty, classic monochrome reportage.
Night & neon
CineStill 800T
Tungsten balance + halation = the cinematic night look.
Cloudy / overcast
HP5 Plus, pushed +1
Boosts contrast that flat light kills. B&W also dodges color cast.
Indoor available
Portra 800 or HP5 +1
Speed without huge grain penalty in half‑frame.
Architecture / fine
T‑MAX 100 or Ektachrome E100
Slow, sharp, low grain — half‑frame benefits visibly from finer films.
What ±1 stop actually looks like
The same scene, exposed at −1, 0, and +1 EV — bracketed and shot by Kapitel (Wikimedia, CC BY‑SA 4.0). Use it to calibrate your eye for what the Pentax 17’s meter should be giving you.
Half the light of metered. Shadows go to black, midtones darken, highlights keep more detail. On color negative this looks muddy and grainy; on slide film it can look intentional and saturated.
When to push it this way Tame harsh sun, protect a bright sky, or push later in development.
What the Pentax 17’s meter chooses for the film speed you set. The reference exposure — balanced midtones, clean shadows on most negative film, recognizable highlights.
When to push it this way Default. Trust the meter unless you have a specific reason not to.
Twice the light of metered. Shadows lift and gain detail, midtones brighten, highlights get hot. Color negative loves this — Portra and Gold look creamier and finer‑grained when overexposed by ⅔ to 1 stop.
When to push it this way Portraits on Portra/Gold; gloomy days; anywhere you want lifted shadows and that “overexposed‑film” look.
Tonal response, simplified
Color negative film has more headroom than shadows — it likes being overexposed by a stop. Slide film is the opposite: protect the highlights, even if shadows go black. B&W lives in the middle.
Film stocks
Half‑frame magnifies grain a little — a 35 mm frame is sliced in two. Stocks at ISO 100–400 look the cleanest. Above 400, embrace the texture.
Kodak ColorPlus 200
ISO 200 · Color neg
Punchier than Gold — slightly higher saturation, clean blues.
- Best for
- Holiday rolls, the “cheap good film” for everyday shooting.
- Pair with
- P · 3 m group zone
Kodak Portra 400
ISO 400 · Color neg
Soft, low‑contrast, beautiful skin. The portrait benchmark.
- Best for
- Portraits, weddings, overcast days, mixed light. Forgiving of over‑exposure.
- Pair with
- P‑Flash or Bokeh · 1.2 m / 1.7 m
Kodak UltraMax 400
ISO 400 · Color neg
The bundle film. Saturated, slightly contrasty, fine for general use.
- Best for
- Your first roll. All‑purpose daytime to early dusk.
- Pair with
- P · whichever zone
CineStill 800T
ISO 800 · Cinematic
Tungsten‑balanced, halo highlights around bright lights, moody.
- Best for
- Neon streets, blue hour, indoor warm light, night cinema look.
- Pair with
- Slow or Slow‑Sync · brace.
- Watch out
- Daylight requires an 85B filter to avoid heavy blue cast.
CineStill 50D
ISO 50 · Cinematic
Daylight cinema stock, fine grain, cinematic gradients.
- Best for
- Bright sun, beach, snow, landscapes you want to look filmic.
- Pair with
- Bokeh in shade · P in sun
- Watch out
- Slow — no good in low light without a tripod.
Lomo 400
ISO 400 · Color neg
Saturated, slightly nostalgic, contrast that pops.
- Best for
- Travel, festivals, anything you want to feel a bit louder.
- Pair with
- P · group / casual
Ilford HP5 Plus
ISO 400 · B&W
Classic medium‑contrast B&W. Versatile, push‑friendly to 1600.
- Best for
- Street, reportage, indoor available light. Pushes well.
- Pair with
- P or Slow · whatever zone
Kodak Tri‑X 400
ISO 400 · B&W
High‑silver, gritty, signature street‑photography grain.
- Best for
- Documentary, harsh contrast, urban texture.
- Pair with
- P · group zone
Ilford Delta 100
ISO 100 · B&W
Tight grain, smooth tonality. Rewards good light.
- Best for
- Architecture, landscape, anything you’ll print large.
- Pair with
- P · ∞
- Watch out
- Slow — needs sun or tripod indoors.
Kodak Ektachrome E100
ISO 100 · Slide
Crisp, clean color slide film. Project it; scan it; love it.
- Best for
- Landscapes, sunny days, color you want to preserve faithfully.
- Pair with
- P · ∞ or group
- Watch out
- Slide film is unforgiving — meter for highlights and don’t over‑expose.
Fujifilm 400
ISO 400 · Color neg
Cool, slightly green palette — “Fuji” signature.
- Best for
- Foliage, urban scenes, anything where you want cooler tones than Kodak.
- Pair with
- P · group / casual
Sunny 16 — manual eye check
The Pentax 17’s meter is reliable, but it helps to know what the camera should be picking in different light. Set the table for ISO 400 (your most likely film), and use it to spot‑check when an exposure looks suspect through the viewfinder.
| Lighting | Shutter (ISO 400) | Aperture |
|---|---|---|
| Bright sun, beach/snow | 1/500 | f/16 |
| Bright sun | 1/500 | f/11 |
| Hazy sun, soft shadows | 1/500 | f/8 |
| Cloudy bright | 1/500 | f/5.6 |
| Overcast / open shade | 1/500 | f/4 |
| Heavy overcast | 1/250 | f/4 |
For ISO 200, open one stop. For ISO 100, open two stops. For ISO 800, close one stop. The Pentax 17 will pick its own combination — this is the sanity check.
Setting ISO right
- The camera has no DX code reader — set the ISO dial yourself. Forgetting this is the most common cause of bad rolls.
- Push processing? If you’re going to push HP5 to 1600, set the dial to 1600, not 400.
- Over‑exposure trick. For Portra and Gold, rate the film one stop slower than the box (Portra 400 → ISO 200) for that creamy, lifted‑shadows look.
- Slide film: rate at exact box speed and meter for highlights. The latitude is narrow.