Kentmere 100 or 400

[Rick-in-LB]

Has anyone tried Kentmere film in 400 or 100. I am looking for some times to start with. I have a project due and was planning on trying them. Maybe I will just stick to the common type film until I get some times. So just wondering about the times. Inside the box it only shows Ilford chemical times.

 

[srs5694]

I have no times, but in these situations what I do is to go to the Massive Dev Chart. Sometimes they've got times in more developers (in this case it looks like they don't, though). If I can't find times for the developer I want to use, I start searching the chart for films with similar development times in the chemicals for which I do have times and use those films as a basis for a guess. For instance, Kentmere 400 has times of 16:30 in ID-11 1+1 and 8:00 in Ilfotec HC 1+31. So looking for films with similar times in those developers, I find that Adox CHM 400 pushed to 800 and HP5+ pushed to 800 both have 16:30 times in ID-11 1+1; and FP4+ and Ilford Pan 100 (both at box speed) both have times of 8:00 in Ilfotec HC 1+31. If I wanted to develop in XTOL 1+1, I'd then look up those films, and get times of 14:15, 14:15, 10:00, and no listing, respectively. I'd tend to trust the 14:15 times more than the 10:00 time, since two films produced this result and because they were both fast films. Personally, I'd probably hedge my bets and try 13:00 or so as a first attempt, using a roll of non-critical shots to see how it goes.

Best of luck!

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

You have to try the film for yourself and see how you need to process it. The Massive Development Chart is not reliable - to you! It might get you a starting point, but you still have to test for yourself to reach a point where your negatives print the way you want them to print (and print with ease to look good).

You can get a starting point by winging it. Whatever chemistry you're using, start at the times you develop other ISO 100 and 400 films (except Foma, which seem to need less development time across the board by about 30%, so if that's what you use, increase by about 25%). Then make a judgement of film speed (shadow detail) by bracketing one roll +2 to -1 stop. Find your film speed after you process your first film. Then shoot an entire roll at that speed, cut the film in thirds and increase/decrease development until you have good density in the negs (from shadow detail to midtones to highlights). Then using the film for a while will help you tweak your processing to control your midtones and highlights in different lighting scenarios. You have to do this testing for optimum results.

All of the variations involved (your metering, your meter, weather conditions, even pH of your water) mean that the Massive Development Chart will not help you much.
Link here to 100 ISO film
Link here to 400 ISO film

 

[JMC1969]

Hi Rick, So far we have been developing these films with pretty good results using the HP5 and FP4 times. We are a last surviving lab in our city and we develop in deep tank using Kodak Tmax RS. We have had no troubles with "blooming" in the edge numbers while using these times, but have not actually run any through test rolls ourselves.

I started a thread about these films back in January that you might find to be a good read. (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Rick-in-LB]

Thanks for the info! I guess I will try it and develope it when I do some of my rolls tomorrow. I figure I just shoot a roll to get the hang of it. I saw it at Freestyle and just had to try it.

 

[steven_e007]

Excuse my ignogerance... but what is Kentmere film????

Kentmere only made paper in recent history - and now they've been taken over by Ilford the paper is all made in the Ilford factory.

I've been on the Ilford and Kentmere sites but can see no mention of film...

I notice all these posts are from the US. Is this a different Kentemere or something? Or a bit of brand re-badging?

I'm confused!

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Steve, there are threads about it here on APUG. Best way to find them is to use Google Search:
Site:www.apug.org + Kentmere film

That should get you started. They are films made by Ilford/Harman - according to them they are unique emulsions specifically for Kentmere. This is in tune with their complete withdrawal from doing any re-branded OEM film at all (like they did in the past with Jessops, Freestyle, and probably others that I don't know of).

 

[jim appleyard]

You might also try the Freestyle site. They have a film dev chart.
www.freestylephoto.biz

 

[PHOTOTONE]

Kentmere is a low-cost 35mm only range of 2 films designed to compete in the private-label student film markets. It competes with films sold by Freestyle and Ultrafine. It is a first quality film line, though. Nothing like emulsion flaws, etc. to worry about.

Since Harman owns the Kentmere name now, they could put it (the name) on hockey pucks if they wanted to.

 

[Digitaltruth]

Development times for Kentmere 100 and Kentmere 400 were added to the Massive Dev Chart earlier this year. Just select "Kentmere Films" from the pulldown menu at http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php

 

[wogster]

Kentmere is a low-cost 35mm only range of 2 films designed to compete in the private-label student film markets. It competes with films sold by Freestyle and Ultrafine. It is a first quality film line, though. Nothing like emulsion flaws, etc. to worry about.

Since Harman owns the Kentmere name now, they could put it (the name) on hockey pucks if they wanted to.

Lots of companies use different brands in different price categories, for example Cadillac had Chevrolet ...... maybe that's not such a good example

A better one is Hexanon and Hexar, Konica had two lens lines, back in the 1970's Hexanon were wonderful high quality lenses, easily equivalent to Canon's L series today. They also had the more budget minded Hexar line. Maybe that's what Ilford plans for Kentmere films.....

 

[ChrisPlatt]

I am interested in the 35mm Kentmere 100 or 400 films
Has anyone tried them yet? If so what are they like?

TIA,
Chris

 

[Tom Kershaw]

I am interested in the 35mm Kentmere 100 or 400 films
Has anyone tried them yet? If so what are they like?

TIA,
Chris

I haven't, although the new Kentmere films don't appear to be available yet in the UK.

 

[ChrisPlatt]

I haven't, although the new Kentmere films don't appear to be available yet in the UK.

They have been available here in USA for the better part of a year,
yet I haven't seen a single review from someone who actually used them.

Chris