ISO 400 BW negative film recommendation?

[deadrangefinder76]

For budget I will do B&W ISO 100 or 400 Fomapan/Ultrapan.

During developing process I will add like 15 to 18ml-ish of Blazinal/Rodinal per roll 35mm.

Works okey for me, for the start.

If I have extra budget go Ilford HP5.

I always do bulking, cheaper, and do my own processing.

 

[kxl]

HP5+ developed in HC-110, Dilution B has been my go-to for a long time at ISO 400.

 

[Godfrey]

I have used HP5+ in 35mm.
I wasn't pleased with my negatives, which were a bit muddy.

I liked the look of old HP5 (pre-1989, no "Plus") better than Tri-X...

Chris

It's all in how you process it. I use HP5+ in both 35mm and 120 formats. Expose at ISO 320, process in HC-110 @ 1:49 dilution, 68-70°F for 9.5 min, with constant gentle agitation (Agfa Rondix 35 or Rondinax 60 (120) daylight loading tank). Perfect negatives.

Sapling Against The Hedge
Voigtländer Perkeo II, Ilford HP5+​

G

 

[Godfrey]

Tri-X is a bit coarse grained, HP5+ is smoother, TMY is smoother yet with higher acutance.
How you expose and process the film is the key.

 

[Ray Kilby]

Ilford C41 process b/w film. It rates at 400 but you can shift it even on the same roll, and it gives you slightly differing affects. More grain, less grain etc… and it’s a very flat even densitiy neg, so it scans beautifully and you can up the contrast in post. I love this film.

 

[wlewisiii]

Ilford C41 process b/w film. It rates at 400 but you can shift it even on the same roll, and it gives you slightly differing affects. More grain, less grain etc… and it’s a very flat even densitiy neg, so it scans beautifully and you can up the contrast in post. I love this film.

It's my standard in 35 & 120. The local lab can do the processing & scanning & on the rare occasion I want a print, they can do a better job than I ever could. 👍

 

[Godfrey]

Ilford C41 process b/w film. It rates at 400 but you can shift it even on the same roll, and it gives you slightly differing affects. More grain, less grain etc… and it’s a very flat even densitiy neg, so it scans beautifully and you can up the contrast in post. I love this film.

I forgot Ilford XP2 Super ... excellent film. C41 processing is the standard way to process it, but you can also process it in standard B&W chemistry at EI from 200 to 1200.

After Lunch with Don K. - Morro Bay 2019
Fuji GS645S Wide 60 Professional
Ilford XP2 Super exposed ISO 320
Agfa Rondinax 60, HC-110 1:49 @ 10 minutes​

It's a very low grain film, no matter which way you process it, with beautiful tonal transitions. The C41 process method is lower grain than standard development, but acutance is about the same for either.

G

(This photo allows me a moment to reminisce: That's my dear friend Don whom I met in the middle 1990s in pursuit of Minox subminiature lore. I was about 40 when we met, he was about 66. Don was a master printer and a brilliant photographer, and a great all around guy who had a storied past working in the military, in private industry doing programming in the era before the modern world, and then went on to be a professor and school administrator. I used to go visit and we'd go out shooting Minox submini, developing procedures for processing and scanning the itty-bitty format and making presentation quality prints from it. He passed away in 2022, after giving me a huge stack of his prints, the three books he custom-created by hand, and a bunch of his Minox gear to hand on to others interested in Minox subminiature photography. I miss him still; a wonderful guy and a soul mate whom I could click with and dive in on any topic that came up. A thinker and a brilliant photographer. Godspeed, Don!)

 

[skahde]

XP2 if you want to avoid any hustle, excellent stuff albeit with a little less edge-sharpness than you can tweek out of conventional b+w.
Delta 400 as a middle of the ground solution with excellent sharpness and fine grain with developers like D76/ID11and relatives
HP5+ if you want something flexible to play with but it also needs some taming to show its potential. Works very well with Rodinal and I developed tons of it in Ilfotec HC dilution 1+31 pushed to 3200 ISO (empty shadows were accepted but max highlight-separation was asked for and achieved).

 

[Alpsman]

Actually in the 120 format
I'm using Ilford HP5, either in Ilford Ilfosol 3 or in Rollei Supergrain. When I prewash for 2 x 1 Minute there will be no foam in the drum. It will dry flat.

In the past I've used Ilford Delta 100 & 400, Tri-X, expired AGFA 400 (works very well), Rollei Retro 80S and 400S.

The only one which rolls like a spiral spring and after 30 years still does was a Lucky.

I think the secret of flat drying is a not to dry environment and a not to high surrounding temperature so that the wet film have enough time to dry without stress.

In the future, after my stored HP5 is used, I'll change to Foma 400, just because of the price.
And if the film will have some spots or other negligible disturbances - ah - dont give a sh...
In the digital world they make an afford to try to fake em 🤣

 

[Sanug]

If the price of HP5 is an issue, I would strongly prefer Kentmere 400 and not Fomapan. Kentmere reaches the box speed and can be pushed very well, and it has no issues. Fomapan 400 has ISO 250 only and comes with defects quite often (in 120). The lowside of the Kentmere is the lacking antihalation layer.

 

[ChrisPlatt]

Frankly nothing I've seen here looks to me like Tri-X, so I bought a five roll pack in 120; I'll try that first.
If I experience any of the problems I had in the past I will refer to the recommendations in this thread.

Chris