ISO 400 b&W films to consider

lylefk · Nov 6, 2020

Aloha!

I've recently rediscovered my old love for film and have started playing with a personal project, doing underwater black and white portraits.

I think aesthetically I'd like fine grain and high sharpness. I'm going to grab some T-Max, Delta and XP2 Super, any other film suggestions to run a test roll and compare?

Thanks so much for your time!

Lyle

BrianShaw · Nov 6, 2020

You may as well try Hp-5 too

Horatio · Nov 6, 2020

I second HP5. I've gotten good results with it souped in Rodinal.

MattKing · Nov 6, 2020

Don't discount modern Tri-X.

lylefk · Nov 6, 2020

Thanks for the replies! I'm hesitant to try either of those as I understand side by side the other options are finer grained. I guess there are enough other variables to make a test roll worthwhile. I shot a lot of HP5 back in college, certainly wouldn't mind a trip down memory lane there.

MattKing · Nov 6, 2020

Depending on how long ago you were in high school, you may find yourself surprised at how fine grained modern Tri-X is.
It certainly is a lot finer grained than when I shot a lot during the 1970s.

DeletedAcct1 · Nov 6, 2020

lylefk said:
Aloha!

I've recently rediscovered my old love for film and have started playing with a personal project, doing underwater black and white portraits.

I think aesthetically I'd like fine grain and high sharpness. I'm going to grab some T-Max, Delta and XP2 Super, any other film suggestions to run a test roll and compare?

Thanks so much for your time!

Lyle

Fomapan 400

Colin Corneau · Nov 6, 2020

HP5 has many great qualities, but fine grained in Rodinal is NOT among them.

Latnemrob · Nov 6, 2020

Alessandro Serrao said:
Fomapan 400

I shoot Fomapan regularly and love how unique it is, but "fine grain and high sharpness" (OP's preferences) do not apply, IMO. He'll be happier with Delta and TMax, followed by Tri-X and maybe, depends on the developer, with HP5+

Bill Burk · Nov 6, 2020

Just to muddy the waters... I am dabbling in Kodak - 5222 Double-X and I wonder why I never really got into it before.

It's 200 (250 depending). I expect finer grain than Tri-X, but with enough speed to use in circumstances where it's dark using available light.

revdoc · Nov 6, 2020

TMax 400 is by far the sharpest out of all of them, and has the least grain; in Pyrocat it's like a good 100 ISO film. However, some people don't like the linear tonality.

Raghu Kuvempunagar · Nov 7, 2020

Orwo N74+ is a relatively cheap and excellent film. It has been superseded by N75 which should be as good as the original or better. Worth looking at if one doesn't mind spoiling the film from bulk roll.

Horatio · Nov 7, 2020

Colin Corneau said:
HP5 has many great qualities, but fine grained in Rodinal is NOT among them.

Finer grain than Fomapan 400.

foc · Nov 7, 2020

I have a soft spot for Ilford XP2 super.
Yes I know it's a C41 process B&W film but it has a look all of its own.
It is a very forgiving film for exposure mistakes and definitely worth a try.

Bill Burk · Nov 7, 2020

Right! Chromogenic B&W film has superb image quality

Donald Qualls · Nov 7, 2020

The other thing with XP2 Super is that, unlike most C-41 films, it can be processed with excellent results in B&W developers (any C-41 film will give an image, but XP2 Super was made to be darkroom printed in B&W). Ilford has a link to running it in HC-110 (even though they don't "recommend" B&W process); at box speed, its comparable to Delta 400 and pulled one stop it's back to its "virtually grainless" quality from C-41 process. Also, if you process your own C-41, you can run bleach bypass (skip the bleach step, or if you use a kit that has blix, substitute B&W rapid fixer) to keep both the dye and silver images and get a true speed of 640-800.

XP2 Super, bleach bypassed, shot at EI 800

XP2 Super in Df96 monobath, box speed.

Paul Howell · Nov 7, 2020

For price Ultrafine Xtreme 400, I've found that it shoots very close to 400 with most developers, Fomapan Action 400 also sold as Freestyle's house brand is closer to 200.

BradS · Nov 7, 2020

Kodak Tri-X or TMY

BerthaDeCool · Nov 7, 2020

No format mentioned by OP (altho' I assume underwater portraits would make LF difficult) but no love for Bergger Pancro 400?
I have yet to try it in 5x7 and hoped to read some opinions on it.
I'm TXP-320 and HP5 in Rodinal but I'm contact printing and not worried about grain.

grain elevator · Nov 7, 2020

Haha done! Now that Bergger has also been mentioned, the OP has received recommendations for nearly all iso 400 films on the market. Disinformation at its best. The OP knew better before, he was on the right track with TMY-2, Delta and XP2.

Horatio · Nov 7, 2020

Paul Howell said:
For price Ultrafine Xtreme 400, I've found that it shoots very close to 400 with most developers, Fomapan Action 400 also sold as Freestyle's house brand is closer to 200.

UF Extreme 400 is out of stock, except for 12 and 24 exposure rolls.

Alan Edward Klein · Nov 7, 2020

Are you developing your own film? Are you shooting with a strobe? What camera are you using? How deep are you diving?.

You might continue to shoot color so you have the best of both worlds if you intend to scan and print. Here are three BW that were converted from Ektachrome color slide film. The first two were with strobes. I'm not sure about the third. It might have been Ektachrome ISO 200 and only 100 ISO is available today. But my point is converting to BW allows you to consider different print options.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanklein2000/albums/72157627032961729

Paul Howell · Nov 7, 2020

I've switched from Ultrafine 400 to Foma 200, not that much difference in price. But, I still buy Ultrafine xtreme 400 for my point and shoots as Foma is not DX coded.

pentaxuser · Nov 7, 2020

Horatio said:
Finer grain than Fomapan 400.
View attachment 258798

A great shot and the look says:" You can forget about taking my portrait under water no matter how good I might look

pentaxuser

BrianShaw · Nov 7, 2020

grain elevator said:
the OP has received recommendations for nearly all iso 400 films on the market. Disinformation at its best.

Huh? The question asked was... are there others I should consider. Folks offered their suggestions of other film to consider.

ISO 400 b&W films to consider

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ISO 400 b&W films to consider

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