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salad
I’ve been nerding out on b&w film over the last two years mostly processing in Xtol and Rodinal and these are my brief thoughts on some of the films out there.
Kentmere 100/400, FP4/HP5 - baseline films. Push and pull just fine. You just get larger apparent grain with the Kentmere film and not quite the insane latitude. TriX behaves exactly as HP5 as far as I can tell.
Ilford Pan 100 - A smidge more contrast than the above. Therefore a little less suitable to push (I still shoot it at EI 200 all the time but wouldn’t go further). Poor man’s FP4.
Pan F 50 - A bit slower than box. A bit more contrast again and just kinda beautiful. Process straight after shooting essential.
Adox HR-50 - High detail. Low lattitude. High contrast. A bit of red sensitivity built-in but looks good with a yellow filter too (requires a bit more care shooting and processing than the films above). Thin negs are best. Clear base. Benefits from a prewash. Easy to scan. Cheap.
Rollei Retro 400 - very similar characteristics to HR-50 (and nothing like other ‘400’ speed films such as HP5 or TriX). Some grain. Moody shot at 400. Benefits from a prewash. Very cheap.
Tmax 100 - very, very fine grain. High detail. Pretty high contrast. Red sensitive (which I really don’t like for portraits but is good for landscapes). Needs lots of fixing and washing. For some reason is like it in 120 but in 35mm I’m not sure maybe I need to hone my times for Xtol for this to get the tonality I see others get. It’s also really expensive in 35mm.
Tmax 3200 and Ilford Delta 3200. I’ve not shot enough to say anything other than … I liked both best @EI 1000 and it didn’t look any better than HP5. Mad grain.
Foma 400 … I have 61 metres of this in my fridge but haven’t shot any yet.
Sorry for the long effortpost.