Kodak has me baffled

John Galt said:

"I'm guessing you are joking."

no Mark, I am serious as a f**king heart attack.

I am returning to analog photography after my recent retirement . . . a 40+ year hiatus. My question is and remains Valid.

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Whoa dude, might be time for a chill pill.

Yeah, things have changed, maybe even you. Not all things change for the worse.

BTW, welcome back.

MattKing said:

The Kodak films are way better now than 1960-1970s Tri-X.
Finer grain, better highlight retention, excellent speed in a wider variety of developers.
You will have to go to another manufacturer if you want to go back a half century or so. I doubt you will find that in anything as modern as the Ilford products.

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Thank you MattKing . . . I am starting to realize that, sigh.

I have a couple dozen rolls of freezer stored PXP (1990s) that came with my Hasselblad 500c, have shot a roll and the negs look great . . I recently purchased 6 rolls of new Tri-X 400 120. I reluctantly agree that I cannot just pick up where I left off 40 years ago.

markbarendt said:

Whoa dude, might be time for a chill pill.

Yeah, things have changed, maybe even you. Not all things change for the worse.

BTW, welcome back.

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Sincere apologies Mark, was not meant as a personal jab. Just realizing I can't just pick up where I left off 40 years ago . . I'm a retired Engineer. . . change is tough for us eggheads.

John:
There are a few things you can do to achieve results that are atypical. Things like developer and technique choices that will accentuate grain (and acutance), printing choices that will lead to different sorts of "moods" and presentation choices that will result in particular "looks".
So there may be ways to achieves something that looks more like what you were used to.
But before you go there, I would suggest you experiment with the newer stuff. See if you can find something that you like even better than what you were getting back in the 1960s and 1970s.
After all, would you want to go back to the clothes and hairstyles you thought were "fab" back in 1968?

John Galt said:

Sincere apologies Mark, was not meant as a personal jab. Just realizing I can't just pick up where I left off 40 years ago . . I'm a retired Engineer. . . change is tough for us eggheads.

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Giggle, no offense taken.

The physics involved haven't changed.

Just buy some play a bit. I think you'll find it's just fine.

Ilford HP5, the choice of the masters.