What's the difference between positive and negative film?

What's the difference between positive and negative film?

Mark Comon (Vice President, Paul's Photo, Torrance, CA) gives expert video advice on: What's the difference between a film camera and a digital camera?; Why are some people still buying film cameras? and more...

With film technology you have a choice of two different types of film, positive film and negative film. Negative film is what most people use, which means it produces a negative that we then shine through an enlarging machine to make a print. You shoot negative film when your end product is a print or a photograph. You shoot positive film when your end product is a slide or a transparency. Now why do we use a slide? We use a slide or transparency to make a slide show. We use a slide or transparency when making color separations for a magazine or printing. Or that's the way we used to do it. We use slides or transparencies because it is easier to edit slides and transparencies as opposed to negatives. The bottom line is you choose what kind of film, what kind of output, depending on what kind of pictures you want to produce in the end.