C41 Black and white recommendations

lxmike

lxmike

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I was brought up using Ilford HP4 and when I used to have my own darkroom back in the 1980's and 1990's I happily shot roll after roll. Today I do not have my own darkroom and having little experience of using C41 Balck and white 35mm film I need a bit of advice. I'm based in the UK and would probably use ebay as my source for film. I should add that 400 asa is my prefered film speed

regards Mike
 
lxmike said:
I was brought up using Ilford HP4 and when I used to have my own darkroom back in the 1980's and 1990's I happily shot roll after roll. Today I do not have my own darkroom and having little experience of using C41 Balck and white 35mm film I need a bit of advice. I'm based in the UK and would probably use ebay as my source for film. I should add that 400 asa is my prefered film speed

regards Mike
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Well, thats simple- there are currently only two available C41 b/w films on the market, that have a significant availability: Ilford XP2 (super) and the Kodak BW400CN.

They both have 400 ISO as speed, at least Ilford states that the XP2 has a special emulsion which is very tolerant to under/overexposure, so that you can theoretically tolerate several f/stops. So I would buy that one, thats cheaper or where the seller suits you more- but: unless real silver halide film, all C41-stuff is more sensitive to age, so you should look after the expiry date, the films should not be over this, at least not more than a few months.

The substrate base ist IIRC different between the two films, which is only relevant for those that want to scan them afterwards.
 
I've used both.. I prefer Kodak BW400CN because I think is has a tad sharper grain.. and has nice shadow detail ..But, XP2 at 250 or 320 is really great too. I found that XP2 at 100-160 is not that great in Dynamic Range.
 
I used a fair amount of BW400CN before starting home developing. It's a great film but I do remember that it wasn't too happy with under exposure ... shadow areas become very grainy and the whole image tends to become flat.

The orange mask is also a factor when scanning ... it really slowed my Epson V700 down and scans took approximately twice the time compared to conventional black and white film.
 
Both are about the same in my opinion. They both can get nasty looking with underexposure, both handle overexposure well, and both are very smooth and grainless looking. I've gotten color casts on minilab prints/scans from both. BW400CN is easier to get here in the US.

The biggest difference other than availability is that the Ilford film has a gray base, so it's easier to print in the darkroom. If you don't print in the darkroom, get the cheaper or easier to get film.
 
Since you do not have your own darkroom, an often cited main advantages of XP2, the ability to print using traditional b&w methods, doesn't really factor. I'd say buy both, try them out, and decide which you like better regarding your work flow and artistic tastes.
 
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