200 Speed film - why do most people use 400 and is it useable

[CMoore]

I just had two rolls of Color Plus developed by The Darkroom.
I could post some of the scans they sent to me, but i am not sure how "valuable" that will be to anybody.......

 

[Ste_S]

All images on Ultramax 400. I scanned this image at 4800 DPI recently and had it printed at 11x14 and it looks kinda blurry close up. Not sure if I didn't clean the negative properly before printing, but you can't see the grain much, just blur close up

Keep in mind you're using a couple of zoom p&s. The sharpness isn't going to be quite there, you don't have control of aperture and shutter speed and you have no way of knowing where the af has decided to focus. All of this can lead to soft blurry images

 

[Toasty]

Ultramax is a grainy film so no surprise there. Also if you are planning to shoot outdoors 100 speed film is more than enough, the only time you'll run into problems is if you either have a slow lens or want to shoot something indoors.

People shoot 400 speed color film mostly for convenience, to have the most flexible film. Portra 400 can be over exposed a lot so shooting it like a 100 or 200 speed film will have no ill effect and it gives you higher shutter speeds in darker areas.

 

[BradS]

The OP's chief complaint seems to be that an 11x14 print from a low end autof-focus, auto-exposure, zoom P&S compact camera is "blurry".

It's not the film! Kodak Max 400 is perfect for this type of camera. But, these cameras are aimed at family snap shots that would only be printed at 4x6 or perhaps, 5x7 at largest. It is unreasonable to expect much more.

In order to get an excellent 11x14 from a 35mm negative one must use much better equipment, a tripod, nail the exposure and have high quality processing and printing.

 

[MattKing]

In order to get an excellent 11x14 from a 35mm negative one must use much better equipment, a tripod, nail the exposure and have high quality processing and printing.

Emphasis on "a tripod"!
Although if you have experience and excellent hand-held technique, you may be able to get close.