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Kentmere 400 VS Tri-X 400

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retina_restoration said:
Harman is not going to produce the Kentmere films in sheet sizes — there's no motivating reason to do so. They'd only be cannibalizing the demand for FP4 and HP5.
Click to expand...

Yup. Same reason why they won't bring back D400 in sheets sizes, too.
 
Andy this may or may not be relevant because we are talking about 120 film here but shoot some trix
320 in sheet film and it will blow you away. I've used them all and the Kodak product ; which is not the same as the older version is outstanding.
 
Peter Schrager said:
Andy this may or may not be relevant because we are talking about 120 film here but shoot some trix
320 in sheet film and it will blow you away. I've used them all and the Kodak product ; which is not the same as the older version is outstanding.
Click to expand...

I'm not criticising Tri-X. I've shot it in sheet film. It's lovely... I just can't afford it, now that I'm on a teacher pension... 😁
 
K400 has become my go to 120 film as well. Love the price and results. Using L110 I get negatives with great shadow detail when shot at 200.
For 35mm I'm still with Tri-X. Especially after the K400 price increase in 35mm earlier this year. That was unfortunate to see.
 
By the way, regarding price: a roll of Tri-X 120 here in the US is $9.00 and the Kentmere 400 is $7.00, so it's a very different pricing scenario for us here in the USA vs Canadia.
 
retina_restoration said:
By the way, regarding price: a roll of Tri-X 120 here in the US is $9.00 and the Kentmere 400 is $7.00, so it's a very different pricing scenario for us here in the USA vs Canadia.
Click to expand...

That is quite different. I believe we get gouged on the Tri-X as there is no official distributor for Kodak up here. Amplis is our distributor for Ilford, hence the affordable price for Ilford films...
 
retina_restoration said:
Harman is not going to produce the Kentmere films in sheet sizes — there's no motivating reason to do so. They'd only be cannibalizing the demand for FP4 and HP5.
Click to expand...

Can you say why this makes sense for sheet film when they presumably are cannibalising the demand for FP4+ and HP5+ in 135 and 120?

Thanks

pentaxuser
 
Love Kentmere 400 for medium format pushed to 800 to give it a little more bite. The quality control is so much better than any other budget B&W film.

For 35mm, I'm usually shooting 50 or 100 speed films.
 
retina_restoration said:
I'm not sure who can afford Tri-X in sheet film sizes. It's double the price of most anything else on the market.
Click to expand...

I would bet that not one of us "regular folk" here shoot 8x10 color, but Tri-X 8x10 is less than half the price of, say, Portra 400. But, yeah, it's pretty expensive compared to the Ilford. Oh, how I miss those days back in the early '80's when I bought 50 sheet boxes of 8x10 Tri-X for $50! Those were the days...
 
pentaxuser said:
Can you say why this makes sense for sheet film when they presumably are cannibalising the demand for FP4+ and HP5+ in 135 and 120?
Click to expand...
Compare the volumes for sheet film and roll film. You'll find that it goes something like this:
135>>>>>>>>120>>>>>>>>>>>>>>4x5>>>>>>>>>8x10>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>5x7>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>special formats

The result is that there's a lot more room for diversification in brands and product types in the 135 & 120 range. For sheet film, the numbers get so low that you end up with very unattractive manufacturing parameters: i.e. inefficiently small production runs and/or very long shelf life, and either way a significantly higher price, which in turn pushes down demand, only exacerbating the situation.

@Andrew O'Neill the music, is that a free spin on/cover of the Floyd's 'Us and Them'? Sorry for the offtopic; just wondering...
 
koraks said:
Compare the volumes for sheet film and roll film. You'll find that it goes something like this:
135>>>>>>>>120>>>>>>>>>>>>>>4x5>>>>>>>>>8x10>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>5x7>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>special formats

The result is that there's a lot more room for diversification in brands and product types in the 135 & 120 range. For sheet film, the numbers get so low that you end up with very unattractive manufacturing parameters: i.e. inefficiently small production runs and/or very long shelf life, and either way a significantly higher price, which in turn pushes down demand, only exacerbating the situation.

@Andrew O'Neill the music, is that a free spin on/cover of the Floyd's 'Us and Them'? Sorry for the offtopic; just wondering...
Click to expand...

Yes, it's a cover of Us and Them. From Youtube music library... Ordinary Men
 
I'm having trouble getting over $7 a roll as a budget film—but I guess that's where we are in 2025!
 
Andrew O'Neill said:
That is quite different. I believe we get gouged on the Tri-X as there is no official distributor for Kodak up here. Amplis is our distributor for Ilford, hence the affordable price for Ilford films...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that things like Tri-X (and Tmax, I'm sure) cost so much more for Canadians (I was born in Ontario) in 2025.

Funny thing is that 3 years ago, the premium Ilford 120 films were all under $9.00 a roll here in the States but the Kodak films were all $11.00 or more! Now, it's the complete opposite — a roll of Delta 400 is now $12.50 (even HP5 is $9.95 or more), whereas Tmax 400 is $8.80 per roll.
I have a cache of 120 Ilford films in the fridge right now, so I'm good. But I'm no longer buying Ilford as long as it's $10 or more per 120 roll. Ten bucks a roll is my limit, at least until they're all priced over ten.

But more importantly, Andrew — thank you for that test/review you did. Information like that is extremely valuable and greatly appreciated.
 
Andrew O'Neill said:
That is quite different. I believe we get gouged on the Tri-X as there is no official distributor for Kodak up here. Amplis is our distributor for Ilford, hence the affordable price for Ilford films...
Click to expand...

There is no "official" Kodak local distributor anywhere in the world.
Kodak still film goes from Eastman Kodak through Kodak Alaris into each country.
And then existing distributors, who are already set up to serve existing retail distribution chains for products of all sorts - groceries, clothing, appliances, retail pharmacy supplies, etc. take it from there and get it to the retailers.
Beau Photo has in the past bought their Kodak "amateur" film from distributors that serve the grocery and retail pharmacy markets, because the minimum order quantities are more favorable for Beau.
There really isn't enough of a Canadian market for a dedicated supplier like Amplis to take it on, because Amplis isn't set up to service places that aren't specialty photo outlets.
In the USA, the market is big enough to support general purpose distribution entities also supporting specialized retail.
 
Regarding the old price of Tri-X in the US:

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1756726569588.png
 
Reading posts, I often wonder if I am in an economics or a photo forum…
 
Thanks for your informative video.

Around six years ago I stumbled into Kentmere films via Photo Warehouse’s (disappeared but now returned) Ultrafine series films. I don’t want to sidetrack us, but let’s say that for me the differences between Ultrafine and Kentmere are negligible. These are such good films it is hard to justify using anything else as your standard roll film.

I like the grain of Kentmere 400 when it supports the image (same with the 100 and 200). It will be interesting to see your HP5 comparison. For me, grain “character” or whatever is the only area where I don’t prefer HP5 over Kentmere or Tri-X (speaking 35mm here). I otherwise like HP5 enough to have used many bulk rolls. Somehow HP5 grain seems, Idunno, maybe more clumpy, or has more dead grains, or something, than either Kentmere or Tri-X. Looking forward to it.

Just confirming my bias (always helpful to have an enabler) I recently had a camera shop conversation with a clerk with access to everything in the store, who stated his preference for Kentmere. It’s good stuff for sure.
 
"Fixed income" In other words it has been fixed so that we don't have much income.
 
Just to put a wrench into the fire the price of silver is going up and that does not bode well for our hobby
currently about $37/gram. BOO!!!
 
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