Kodak Black and White +400

I tried this out filming memorial statues on a sunny day and the results were beyond bad. The details were almost completely washed on wherever the sun was shining. We're talking about old elaborate statues, not simple sculptures. Even the shots in the shade were bad, foliage etc. Kodak Max 400 would have done better than this film. The shots were not overexposed either. And you can't blame the camera, it was a Yashica T4 with its' Zeiss lens.
The second time I shot this film was on cloudy day. I think I used Pentax SLR with a normal lens, shooting mostly people pics. The results were impressive. Almost as good as Tri-X for the people and close objects. Objects further away tended to look washed out.
So for low light, cloudy or indoor shots it is good. Maybe using neutral density filters would help for sunny days.

Good for people, or B&W shots at weddings, though I miss the Trix-X grain.
Develop in 1 hour at the local lab versus send away for true B&W film.

No latitude for sunlight.

Kodak Tri-X 400.

I can't believe this awesome film has so few reviews. I had this film recommended to me by a photography teacher & instantly fell in love. The exposure latitude of this stuff is enough to make it the advised choice for street shooting or any situation where you're flying by the seat of your pants. It's grain structure is fantastic for such a fast film & has a blobby rather than spiky appearance under the enlarger focuser. In other words, it has very smooth grain & enlarges very well. I was using HP5 before this & I don’t want to go back. It does have slightly more contrast than most traditional chemistry B&W films, but this gives more pop to most peoples images. If you have a special subject that requires lower contrast, select a traditional film with smooth grain, like FP4. Some people have remarked about the sepia-like base colour. This is because the film is based on colour chemistry. In printing terms it merely extends the exposure time somewhat. Also the film tends to have a slight colour caste when printed on colour paper. 4x6 proofs are just proofs after all. For pro results you should always print B&W film onto B&W paper. For all round shooting/photojournalism this film is the best B&W film that I have ever used. It can be processed in ANY lab that does C-41 ( even if they’ve never heard of it ! which happened to me once ). The fact that you’re using a lab to process your film instead of doing it in the bathroom can only improve most peoples negatives ( haha). If you’ve never tried this film give it a whirl. If you’re a beginner & you’re disappointed it’s probably you. If you’re an expert & you’re disappointed then I didn’t write this review for you anyway !

latitude smooth grain contrast

C-41 processing ( if you have your own darkroom ) price in some places ( shop around !)

HP5 FP4 FUJI B&W

AS I was looking for film, my eyes encoutered this film, and I said to myself:"sure, why not, let's try black and white photography" I shot a roll and... when I got my pictures back, the chemicals the lab used might have been over exhausted because I had the left part of the pictures with a gray-greenish tone, and the left part with a gray-redish tone... When I sent them back and got them in black and white, I was a little disapointed by the quality. This was the moment I decided to develop my own film !

price available to anyone who wants to try out the black and white easily processed by any lab (uses the same chemicals as color fim : C41) Good grain for 400 film :)

beware of who you give it to !

I bought this film to see how good it was and I won't make that mistake twice. I did a test roll using different Canon and Tamron lenses at different focal points and different Heliopan color filters. I found the film VERY weak when used for landscapes. In all shots I used a filter on and some without a filter there was a dark band at the top of the print. It reminded me of the drawings I did in gradeschool with the blue band of sky at the top. The level of grain was good, but I can't get over the sky distortion.

Can be processed anywhere

Sky distortion, pathetic!

Ilford Delta (GREAT FILM!) Kodak HIE (Fantastic)

none needed

As a professional wedding/portrait photographer. Ive always been hell bent on my beloved Tri-X or T-Max for all my b&w images,however 1 month ago I pick up a roll of this C-41 b&w film to try thinking the the results would be terriable, boy was I wrong my shots were excellent I couldnt believe it, a 400 speed film with no grain an superior fine detail. I believe this film is actually better than the pro level T-Max & Tri-X 100 that Ive been using for years. The professional lab I use developes the film C-41 and prints the image on traditional b&w paper I couldnt be happier with the results and the enlargments are perfect with very- very fine grain as others commented.I now use this film for all my b&w photos without question.

None or very fine grain C-41 process cheaper and faster Excellent enlargments Professional results- sharp/high detail Few extra stops of exposure latatude

The whole Kodak line B&W and Color Agfa Fugi