Scans very well, good exposure lattitude

none

I purchased my first pro-pack of Portra 400B&W after reviewing my options as a Fuji Frontier 330 minilab system became available in my neighborhood. Great combination for my existing light B&W portraiture. Clean whites with dense blacks and very satisfying tonality. Almost grainless and wide exposure lattitude to boot. A great all around film.

Enlarges almost as good as T-Max 100!

Don't let your lab print on colorpaper! Development is fine, but enlargement on colorpaper very unpredictible!

As everyone else who's written a review on this film, my main purpose when buying this film was to save money on development. What convinced me to keep using it was the qualities! I still believe T-Max 100 ist the greatest BW film ever, but Kodak now has the runner-up as well. This film can without a doubt fulfill serious professional desires for BW photos! It takes a lot of experience to tell that it has been developed in C-41 when looking at a BW enlargement. Nice grain, and great enlargement capabilities!

Customer Service

Your regular photolab knows what to do with this film! But as I said, tell them you want handmade enlargements on BW paper for best results.

Similar Products Used:

Agfapan 50, T-Max 100/400, Tri-X, Agfa Scala 200

Great skin tones and displays full tonal range. Saves one hell of a lot of time over darkroom processing. For a 400 speed film, I was surprised by how much detail was captured by the negatives. Portraits with flash really pop and stand out from the background.

Not cheap, hard to find locally.

I really like this film as an alternative to traditional b&w in a darkroom. I just finished taking a photography course and afterwards realized that I would not be able to maintain a darkroom at home, due to cost and space. I've only shot one roll, so this may be a premature review, but here goes....This film really handles outdoor portraits well, with or without flash. I had it printed on matte surface paper (Kodak Endura) by a local pro lab. Looks great, no color cast that I can see. Full tonal scale is apparent in the prints. When I look at the prints compared to some of the prints I made in the darkroom, I must say that they hold up very well. I did take the portrait shots in early evening light which were all great. Had a few frames left over that I burned in midday light which didn't turn out as well. Harsh shadows didn't have much detail, but were still acceptable. Sharp film too.

Similar Products Used:

Kodak T-max 100

Can be developed at a lab as quickly and no more expensively than color film. Wide exposure latitude, no perceptable grain.

None so far.

I have had trouble finding a reliable and affordable way to get Tri-X processed, as I don't have my own darkroom. I tried tihs film and was very pleased. I couldn't tell any difference in the prints from Tri-X, and found a remarkably wide exposure latitude. I used the 120 version in my Hasselblad and bracketed a test photo by a full two stops up and down. It was hard seeing any difference in the three photos, despite the four stop exposure range.

Customer Service

Available in NYC at most pro shops, online at B&H and Adorama.

Similar Products Used:

Tri-X

-Sharp -No grain -Smooth gradiation of tones

None

I have been nothing short of impressed by this film. I use it mainly for candid type work along with my 120 color jobs and it never ceases to surprise me. Rarely do I ever see grain, even if it is underexposed and the tonal range is smooth and deep. My result are even better when I use it in my 645.

Customer Service

NA

Similar Products Used:

other Kodak "true" B/W's

Excellent range and tones . Very neutral .

Comes only in 5-pack . Can be found only at pro stores .

This film has excellent range of grayscale as long as you expose it in lattitude no bigger then +2 to -1 EV , otherwise it becomes contrasty & grainy . Very nice skin tones and dark hues . Lookes very neutral when proceced & printed in Fuji's digital minilab . Suprisingly simillar to "real" BW results .

Similar Products Used:

Kodak 400CN , Ilford XP2