When processed C-41 Contrasts and depth are great. Fine grain for a film of this speed. Prints up to 20x24 still sharp.

Finding a good lab to process and print to photographers specs.
Watch out for "HACKS"

The work I do with this film has received many praises from customers and associates.
Why switch to anything else

Customer Service

Fast,reliable and knowledgable

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Kodak "CN400" does not have the "ILFORD" edge

Superior latitude, excellent shadows and highlights

negatives are fragile, and exposures should be exactly on. if you have perfect exposure, the prints are magnificent

This is a very exciting film to use. I get excellent black and white prints on fiber based papers and even rc. Skin tones are smooth and creamy, and make very satisfying portraits. I use this film exclusively now for all my black and white work. I like the C41 process and the speed, and use the prints as proofs for my clients. The sepia tone is more pronounced on the XP2 than the TCN. If you get a professional commercial print processor that knows what he/she is doing, you can obtain excellent prints.

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Kodak TCN

C-41 process. Can do anywhere. Great if you travel and want to see quick results without dragging your developing and printing stuff along and don't want to wait for B&W turnaround.

You end up at the mercy of whoever develops and prints the stuff.

I shot my brother's engagement photos with XP2 super, T400CN, B&W+. We were on the outer banks and I didn't have room to bring along my darkroom stuff, but he wanted B&W photos. All these films fit the bill nicely. The biggest difference I noticed was that XP2 super does not have an orange base like T400CN and B&W+. The lab operator hadn't seen it before and was caught by surprise and had to reprint the negs again correcting for the different base color. The same lab did the film at the same time. The Kodak stuff came out more like B&W, but with a slight tint. The Ilford came out sepia. I haven't printed any by had yet, but I'm sure it will print nicely. I have some landscapes by my father-in-law using this film and they're gorgeous.

It's a great film with wide exposure latitude. Shoot a roll of all three and see which you like best.

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Kodak T400CN and B&W+

C-41 Processing at any Photo Lab. Bright hilites, and strong shadows, give excelent B&W quality. Since it's actually a color film I had good results with color filters (circular polarizer, neutral Density)
Fine Grain

None

Sharp high contrast prints. Good enlargement results.

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Kodak B+W 400

Standard C-41 Processing.
Versatile ASA Choices even in Mid-Role.
Images can be printed on both color and black & white paper.
Amazing overall negative controll possible.

Unless you currently do your own c-41 processing at home, you are left at the mercy of the local photo shop to do a decent job and not scratch your negatives

If you are looking for a black and white film that is versitile, in almost all shooting conditions, give Ilford's XP2 Super film and go. This film is actually a color black and white film and the images are formed on the negative through the use of dyes, not silver. This makes developing a snap for your trusted local 1 hour lab. While this is a color film, prints can be made using standard black and white papers and chemicals. The real genius of this product is its ASA versatility. Believe it or not you can use ASA 50 through 800, even in mid-role, with out having to make any adjustments in development time! So if you are shooting indoors, outdoors, high or low light, sporting events, etc. your ability to adjust to the shooting environment is almost unstopable. This adjustment also allows for control of grain. At slower speeds, ASA 50, it is suggested to increase exposure by 1 stop. The images produced have a fantastic tonal range and even elargements to 16x20 have a minimal of noticable grain.
Overall, this is a fantastic product and worth a try for around $5 for a 36 frame roll.
Happy Shooting!

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Kodak Black & White Film 400

Exelent grain and nice exposure latitude. Shoot it at 50!

This is not a true B&W, But I still yeild very good results.

I have really enjoyed using this film and produced some exelent prints. One thing to watch out for though is where you get it printed. An unexperienced printer will destroy your prints and make them look like crap,If there is too much color tone take them back! I recently had a very bad experience with a young employee at my local ritz who told me I was an idiot to buy it, Actually,he just had so much trouble that he could not admit that he did not know what he was doing. I brought them back and had them redone by another employee. Guess what.They were great! Also they fired that kid. Kudos to ritz! Also I had enlargments done on B&W paper and yeilded much better results than T-400cn.

Customer Service

Well... just a very rude Employee at Ritz.

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T-400 cn

Compared to Kodak's chromogenic film, XP2 Super offers finer grain and nicer highlights.

C-41 process yields interestingly toned prints when printed on color paper. For true b&w results, print it on b&w paper. Wow!

Almost any lab can print it, and do a decent job. XP-2 Super seems more forgiving than T 400 CN.

None to speak of. It doesn't push too well, but that seems to be inherent in C-41 chromogenic films.

I prefer XP-2 Super to Kodak's offering. Try it!

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Kodak T400CN

Convenient and inexpensive. Yields very attractive images when printed correctly.

Having used it often and had it developed at several labs, I've seen it printed in many different tones, the least of attractive of those was a mute green.

Once I turned it in at a local pharamacy for 2nd day service. The lab they sent it to took 8 days to print it because it was technically black and white. (But the prints looked beautiful--great contrast, very attractive tonal transitions.)

As I work for a college student newspaper, it works for me. The paper is black and white and not demanding in terms of photo quality, so I use this inexpensive, chromogenic film.

Customer Service

never necessary

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Traditional black and white films. They consistently yield true black and white prints, of course, because they are printed on black and white papers. Still, XP2 can be printed (repritned) on black and white paper.

Clean and smooth with tight grain for a 400.

nothing wrong with the film itself but, as stated here previously, the prints can come back tainted by unwanted hints of colour due to the processing. A set of mine recently came back from Max Spielman with a blueish cast; nothing too dramatic obviously but not what you really want.

An adaptable and consistant film with good results but you need to find a lab that develops it correctly.

Customer Service

not needed

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various

Convenient, wide exposure latitude,
fine grain, set of proofs from lab.

Doesn't have that gritty bite of trad fast black and white films. no contrast/dev options for zone system followers.

Responds to light in a different way to anything else that I have used. Fills out the mid tones without flattening them out, unlike something like Delta that pulls toward highlights and shadows. Works well in "available light". Minilabs print the stuff in all sorts of odd ways, but the negs are consistent and of unique tonal character.

Customer Service

The web site's quite usefull.

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Tri X Neopan 400 HP5