CHEAP!!!
C41 so can process any where.
Fine grain.
Good tonal gradation.
Can blow up to 10"x8" with minimal grain.
Nice for portraits.
Inherent in all B/W: Colour temperature doesn't matter anymore ;-)

Not true B/W so don't use for 50+ year archival work
Not great for architecture

I am happy I used this film before reading any of the reviews of it as some of them may have put me off.
Firstly, it is incredibly cheap if you factor in print costs. In Malaysia I pay about US$0.15 for a C41 "colour" 4R print, and US$1.31 for the same size B/W. Therefore, leaving processing aside since both are similar in price, a 36 exposure C41 roll is going to hit me for US$5.40, compared to a pure black and white roll which comes to US$47.16!!!!! This makes T400 an incredible deal!
GRAIN: I have had several shots blown up to 8x10's and the grain is negligible.
SEPIA: When present there has been very minor sepia tinting, VERY minor. I see it, no one else does. People who have seen my shots have told me how much they like B/W. Note that I use it exclusively for people shots, so the softness, fine grain lack of hard contrast and smooth tones work well for me.
I have not used this film for architecture or shots where I want contrasty results. I don't have B/W filters and iusually shoot with natural light only.
In conclusion, I think Kodak are targeting photographers who want to get their feet wet in B/W and who don't have access to dark rooms, mature photography clubs, or the money to get pro labs to produce quality results for them. Right now it is all the B/W I need. A year from now? ...maybe not, however it will always be close by for when the client wants it fast and cheap.

I hope someone posts the results they get with this film when using flash, and with red/green/yellow filters

Customer Service

Not needed

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I usually shoot Fuji NPS and NPH colour film as B/W is horrendously expensive in Malaysia.

C41 processing,
Good contrast,fine grain, good enlargments

none visiable for general photography

I have been told and pleased with the result with rating the 400 speed film to 320, grain and contrast seem more distinct. I couldn't see a professional using this, but but for picutures in a hurry its great.

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most all c41 processable black and white film.

Fantastic tonal range, C41 processing, fine grain for such a fast film, printable as true b&w

The "tone" of the prints varies from place to place but most of them I've seen are actually quite nice.

This seems to be a film that you either love or hate. I read all the bad reviews here and pre-judged it. However when I saw some portraits that a friend of mine had done using this film, I was very impressed. So I tried it. And it's brilliant. The tone of the prints does vary, depending on who prints it. They sort of vary about a sepia-like colour, but I think it's very nice. The tonal range is great. I've been very impressed with the sweep from highlights to jetblacks. And the grain is excellent compared to traditional 400 films. I'd recommend it for portrait or fine-art-type outdoor photography.

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None

In a nutshell... C-41 processing. Which means that you don't have to wait 7 to 10 days for prints to come back. (One hour processing). Once the negitive is developed you can have a true B/W print made from it. Yes on true B/W paper.

Depending on who does processing you end up with cyan prints

I have shot may rolls of this film and depending on who processes the film, you get different results. I have a new Meijer's by me that has all new digital equipment that produces the best print I have found. Believe me I tried them all! I have also had a true B/W reprint from this film (8x10) and was very impressed with the results. As good as real B/W film I have tried.
One thing to remember is that if you only us a one hours processing for proofs you can always have a true B/W reprint of your favorite picture.

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TMAX, Tri-X, 400+

Cheap

Inconsistent results

I read a review here where someone complained about it not being sharp. I thought the very same thing and was disgusted by this film and it's pinkish hues and fuzzy look. Then I learned that unless you have someone who really knows what they are doing during the processing and especially the printing, the film will make you look as if you have no photography experience at all.
I work for a studio and we use this film. I had a roll sent out to a very good lab and was surprised when I got it back. It was very different than the results from our in-house lab. It was very sharp, fine grained, and nothing like what I had seen before. It was a big improvement. Still, I do not like this film because of the inconsistent results. If you are a printer doing your own, fine. But when you have to hope and trust that someone else will know what they are doing or your pictures will look like crap, that's not good. I guess our studio likes the cheapness of it and the c-41 process, but when clients are paying out their butts, I think they deserve the best, and this just isn't it. This film has angered me on more than one occasion, and I keep swearing I'll never use it again.
And if someone thinks dropping it off at a one hour lab is a benefit, your results will outweigh that and I'm sure you won't mind waiting that extra week once you see how awful your pictures will look. I know that if I paid a professional photographer to do black and white at MY wedding and they chose that film, I would be absolutely furious. It's almost fraud.
I'm giving it a value rating of 2 stars because I know some people prefer the easy process.

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Kodak Tri-X 400 speed
color films

Easily available
Great exposure latitude
Fine grain
Easily processed

low contrast when printed in B&W paper
Not all labs do a good job

When you find the right lab that processes and prints the film you should be happy. The majority of the labs I have been to DO NOT do a good job.
Printing with the computer is easy but very hard to get the right contrast with b&w papers, usually going over grade #3. I understand that Kodak just came out with a chromogenic Portra film
and a new paper that promises to be more neutral(?) I have not been able to try it. In 120 film I have the lab that does a good job and on regard to enlargements from 120 film all I can say is that it is hard to see the grain in 16x20 enlargements. This film plays very well the zone system game. I you give me a choice on regard to using chromogenics, I go with Ilford and if you ask me for excellent black and white prints I select T-Max 100.

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Ilford XP-2

C-41 process Black & White film. Very fine grain.

Processing errors are easy to make with this film. But that's more of a human weakness.

I use both 120 and 35mm sizes of this film on a regular basis. Not entirely because it's a C-41 film and I can have proofs in my hands in an hour (35mm only). But also because of it's sharpness and fine grain for a 400 speed film. In fact it has been said in popular publications, and I agree, that this film is as sharp as T-Max 100 which is really important if you shoot mainly 35mm.

I have gotten bad results with this film before however. If you take it to a 1 hour lab in a drugstore, you can pretty much count on getting anywhere from brown and black to blue and black prints. This is an effect of printing the negatives (which to me look like true B&W negs.) on color paper in combination with a machine operator that doesn't know how to adjust for the film.

However I have found consistent results with a chain of 1 hour labs that make true black and white prints on color paper from this film, at least here in Minneapolis and the surrounding area. Proex a.k.a. Wolf Camera (they are, after all, Kodak labs... go figure!) has a well trained staff. Again, at least here in Minneapolis and no I don't work for them. I don't ever worry that my proofs are going to come back brown or blue or green no matter which one I take the film to.

When I want enlargments of 8x10 and 11x14 or to get processing and proofs for the 120 size of this film though, I go to a Kodak Q-lab (It's not a pain in butt if you really care about your photographs and/or your clients.). It's where any other local place is going to send it anyway. And all I can say about the results from 120 is WOW!

So if you are looking for a black and white film that is sharp (provided you use it in combination with a decent lens) and fast, this is it. Some people seem to have something against it though and I think they should be channeling their frustration not at the film but at their lab or their crappy 28-200mm zoom lens.

One more thing, if the lab you go to tells you up front that the prints are going to look funny, don't let them process it. It means that they don't know how to use their machine and they'll probably screw up your color film too.

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Kodak Black and White Plus (consumer version).
Ilford XP-2 Super in 35mm and 120.

Sharp, very fine grain

A bit hard to get neutral tones with prints on color paper

I used this film as my first B/W film, and i must say that i'm quite impressed, it's sharp, has a very very fine grain. A while ago i had to order a 15x21 cm print for a friend of mine that really liked the photo. When i received the print from the lab, i was amazed, a very large print, with almost invisible grain, very sharp. I recommend.

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Ilford XP2 (still in my camera)