Film Format Table
| Format | Years | Frame (mm) | Exposures | Stock / notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 135 cartridge (35 mm) | 1934 - now | 24 × 36 | 24 or 36 | 35 mm double-perf; most popular format since the mid-1960s |
| 120 roll | 1901 - now | 60 × 90 / 60 × 70 / 60 × 60 / 60 × 45 | 8-16 | 2.4 in paper-backed stock; frame set by the camera gate |
| 220 roll | 1965 - now | same frames as 120 | 2x a 120 roll | no backing paper; Kodak ended Portra 2015; Shanghai Jiancheng makes stock now |
| 620 roll | 1932 - 1995 | same frames as 120 | - | 120 on a thinner spool |
| 127 (Vest Pocket) | 1912 - now | 40 × 65 / 40 × 40 / 40 × 30 | 8-16 | 46 mm stock |
| 828 roll | 1935 - 1985 | 28 × 40 | 8 | 35 mm stock, one perforation per frame |
| 110 (Pocket Instamatic) | 1972 - now | 13 × 17 | 12 / 20 / 24 | 16 mm stock; Fuji quit 2009, Lomography revived 2011 |
| 126 (Instamatic) | 1963 - 2008 | 28 × 28 | 12-24 | 35 mm stock, registration perforated |
| 240 (APS) | 1996 - 2011 | 30.2 × 16.7 | 15 / 25 / 40 | 24 mm stock; the digital-transition casualty |
Film formats are numbers, and the numbers are mostly Kodak's: 135 for the 35 mm cassette, 120 for the roll film that built medium format, 110 and 126 for the Instamatic cartridges, 620 for the thinner-spool twin of 120. The number names the packaging and the frame geometry, not the film chemistry - which is why 120 roll film quietly offers four frame sizes (6 by 9, 6 by 7, 6 by 6, 6 by 4.5) and the choice belongs to the camera, not the canister. The table lists the formats you can still buy film for, the classics that died with their cameras, and the exact years each lived.
The modern market is a story of survivors and revivals. 135 has been the most popular format in the world since the mid-1960s and never left; 120 keeps medium format alive with eight to sixteen frames a roll; and the supposedly dead consumer formats keep twitching - Fujifilm quit 110 in 2009 only for Lomography to revive it in 2011, Kodak ended 220 film (Portra) in 2015 yet a Shanghai factory now makes 220 stock, and even 127 has outlived every camera that made it famous. APS, the 1996 digital-transition casualty, is the rare format with no second act.
How to use
- Match film to camera by the number on the door, not the name on the box: a 1965 Instamatic takes 126, a Pocket Instamatic takes 110, a twin-lens reflex takes 120 - and no adapter exists between spool families.
- Pick your frame size before buying 120: the same roll yields 12 frames at 6 by 9, 10 at 6 by 7, 12 at 6 by 6 or 16 at 6 by 4.5, because the frame is whatever window the camera's gate cuts from the 2.4 inch paper-backed stock.
- Date an old camera by its film: the table's introduction and withdrawal years bracket every Kodak-numbered format, so the film a camera demands dates the camera itself within a few years.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between 135 and 120 film?
Packaging, gauge and framing culture - not chemistry. 135 is 35 mm cinema stock in a daylight-loading cassette, double-perforated, shooting 24 by 36 mm frames: 24 or 36 exposures per roll, small negatives, fast handling, and by far the most popular format since the mid-1960s. 120 is a roll of 2.4 inch (60.96 mm) film backed by opaque paper on a spool - no sprocket holes, no cassette - and because the camera's gate decides the frame, one roll shoots 6 by 9, 6 by 7, 6 by 6 or 6 by 4.5 cm, giving 8 to 16 much larger negatives: the entire reason medium format looks the way it does. Practical consequence: 135 gear is about speed and volume, 120 gear about negative size and tonality, and the two never cross - no adapter turns one into the other because the spools, paper backing and frame gates are different systems.
Why do film formats have those three-digit Kodak numbers?
The numbers are ordering codes that became the language. Eastman Kodak assigned sequential three-digit numbers to each new film format from the late 1800s on - the surviving table reads like sediment: roll films 101 through 130 in the 1890s-1910s (120 itself from 1901), the 500-series film packs, 616 and 620 as spool variants, then the cartridges 110, 126, 135 and the APS 240. The system survives because it encodes exactly what a photographer needs: a number names spool, stock width, backing paper and frame geometry as one indivisible package. So 620 is literally 120 film on a thinner spool - same frames, same 1932-1995 lifespan - and the number tells you the difference the word roll film does not. When a format has no Kodak number, that usually means it never had Kodak distribution - which is rare, because Kodak was the market.
Is 110 and 126 film still made - and what about 220?
Yes, all three survive on life support - and the stories differ. 110 (Pocket Instamatic, 13 by 17 mm on 16 mm stock) was abandoned by Fujifilm in 2009 and revived by Lomography in 2011, which still supplies it alongside new toy cameras. 126 (Instamatic, 28 by 28 mm) lost its last mass producer in 2008; remaining stock circulates among enthusiasts. 220 - the double-length 120 with no backing paper - was ended by Kodak (last Portra, 2015) after Ilford's spooling plant failure shut their line in 2004, but Shanghai Jiancheng now produces 220 stock, keeping long-roll medium format barely breathing. The pattern to notice: formats revive when a small factory can profitably serve a hobbyist niche; formats die when their tooling (like APS's cartridge line) has no second buyer. Check current stock before buying any camera for a pre-2000 cartridge format.
What was APS and why did it fail so fast?
APS (the 240 cartridge, 1996-2011) was the film industry's answer to a question digital was already answering. Launched as an industry consortium project with a smaller 30.2 by 16.7 mm negative, cartridge loading and print-format options, it aimed to make film simpler for consumers. It arrived at the worst possible moment: consumer digital cameras took the simplicity pitch and ran - buying film at all was the hassle digital removed, and a smaller negative undercut the one thing film still did better. Fifteen years of production ended with the format largely unmourned; even its parent cameras are thrift-store furniture. The cautionary contrast is 110: a format born in 1972 with the same convenience goals outlived APS by decades, because a huge installed base of cheap cameras kept demanding film until a niche producer found reviving it worthwhile. Format survival follows installed cameras, not technical merit.