Method. All 68 entries in the Openfilm film stock database (September 2026), grouped by the editorial fields described on the open data page. Price tiers are relative — 1 budget, 2 mid, 3 premium — not live prices. Every number here is reproducible from the dataset: JSON or CSV. This is a curated catalogue of what is currently sold and what photographers still shoot, not a census of every emulsion ever made.
1. Black and white is the majority — and it is never the premium option
39 of 68 stocks (57%) are black and white, against 25 colour negative and only 4 colour slide. More striking than the headcount is the price structure: not one of the 39 black and white stocks sits in the premium tier, while 8 of 25 colour negative stocks do.
The practical reading: if you are paying for film on a budget, black and white is where the cheap quality is. The premium you pay for colour is not grain or format — it is the chemistry.
2. Two speeds are 63% of the market
ISO 100 (21 stocks) and ISO 400 (22 stocks) account for 63% of everything in the database. Everything else — ISO 50, 125, 160, 200, 250, 500, 800, 1600, 3200 — shares the remaining 37%. Photographers are not choosing between many speeds; they are choosing between two, and occasionally leaving the reservation.
3. Colour slide is a premium niche with no entry point
There are 4 slide stocks in the database, and 4 of 4 are premium tier. That is the opposite of every other category: you cannot start shooting slide film cheaply, because there is no cheap slide film. It also explains the format pattern below — slide film survives where large, deliberate images are the point.
4. Emulsion choice is a 35mm and 120 story
64 of 68 stocks are available in 35mm and 50 in 120 — so medium format shooters give up only 14 stocks out of 68. Sheet film is the real filter: only 20 stocks are cut for it.
The rest of the picture
Check it yourself
The dataset is free and versioned: JSON, CSV, and a citable snapshot on GitHub (CC BY 4.0). Browse the full table in the film stock database, or pick a stock by intent with the film finder. Spotted a wrong spec? The open data page explains provenance and how to send a correction.