Hi, Carson! - Firstly, great camera choice!! I’ve used several kinds of film with my AE-1 (all 35mm of course), my favorite being Kodak Portra 400 color negative film but it is near impossible to find anymore, so I’ve switched to Ilford or anything else I can get my hands on. Black&white or color is really an artist’s preference. I tend to switch off every other roll just to keep myself inspired. As far as the film speed (which is kinda like the ISO in digital terms), I generally gear towards something versatile like 400 or sometimes 100 if I expect to mostly be in bright sunlight. I’m fortunate enough to have a mom&pop type shop near by that still develops both black&white and color film, and the best part is instead of printing the photos and then scanning them, I ask to have them scanned and burned directly on a disk for me! Hope that helps. Enjoy!! - Aliona