Hi there Recently I came across above 2 films can anybody share their experiences regarding grain quality of the same? (the other film is a T max film, to be developed in C41 color developer.) help Thanx Shreepad

-- Shreepad (shreepadjoglekar@usa.net), August 12, 1999

Answers

last week i'd shot two rolls of ilford pan 400 at EI800. i haven't processed them yet.

i'll write back to you as soon as i develop and print them.

-- hoko hoko (photoq@hotmail.com), August 12, 1999.

I've been very pleased with T400 cn, processed by my local minilab & printed by myself. The film is extremely sharp & fine grained when shot @ 400; shot at 100 or 200 actually makes the grain even finer. I haven't tried it, but I'm told it can be shot at 800, 1600, even 3200 with no change in developing, and the results are still very good. Grain does increase though. Having it printed on color paper at the minilab is usually kind of disappointing- the prints invariably have a brown or bluish tone. But that's ok, I enjoy printing but processing is boring. One thing to remember- this is really a color emulsion, and as such, is not archival like true B&W.

-- Dave Beekman (beekmand@up.lib.mi.us), August 12, 1999.

Hi I've just started using T400CN but I've had much experience with its British cousin, Ilford XP2. The advantages are convenience, and large index prints which make it a bit easier to plan your cropping for the "real" print. If you view the color paper prints as proofs only, then the tinge of color is no problem. As good as XP2 is, its tones don't compare with Tri-X (what does???). I've also been using a yellow filter with pretty much the same effect as for conventional B&W. I'll be shooting a couple of rolls of T400CN this weekend- I'll get back to you.

Asher

-- Asher Schachter (schachter@a1.tch.harvard.edu), August 20, 1999.

In continuation from my posting above- I just got back my T400CN photos. They're very sharp, minimal grain (but only 3x5 prints). They do seem somewhat sharper than XP2 although I haven't compared them side by side.

There also seems to be a bit more latitude with T400CN than with TMX400, but again this was not a formal test, just my qualitative observations. I've been using a mechanical camera for years and rely on a bit of latitude.

At first glance, I think this (T400CN) is a great C41 B&W film.

Asher

-- Asher Schachter (schachter@a1.tch.harvard.edu), August 25, 1999.

finally my tests are done and here's the report of pushing ilford 400 to EI800. developed @24c for 10 mins, with two rolls in 650 ml of D76 1+1, 15 secs of vigorous agitation every minute. this gave me the maximum shadow detail without blocking the highlights much, and i could print it straight on sterling grade 1 paper. there was a bit of grain, but nothing alarming to turn me off. for that, i must compare shooting on a higher speed film. hope this helps.

-- hoko hoko (photoq@hotmail.com), August 30, 1999.