The Wall of Inspiration: Choose Your Next Film

This kit was exactly what I needed to get me started in home developing. I loved being able to develop at home, and seeing my negatives come out perfectly was great and exciting. Looking forward to investing in more chemicals to develop my next batch of film with the equipment from this kit. I highly recommend it!

I left my first impressions of Pancro 400 on my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/Q3kDbkoYMMs

Really like the highlight glow.

I had been curious about this film for quite some time, so when it came back in stock I soon ordered some. The film was shot with a half frame Koroll 24s so I got 24 exposures. The picture quality is amazing and you can really see the paper. However the problems came once I had developed, the film very quickly crinkled up and was then wouldn't fit into the scanner mount, however with perseverance I managed to get it to scan in.

Although this film is good value, it has very low contrast. However, developed in Rodinal it is acceptable. Good film for general purpose, or for students and newcomers to film developing.

I've used Kodak Portra 400 previously so this was my first try with 160. I used it for two documentary portrait shoots in my Mamiya C330, which I use for all my project work. I found to be a fine grain film with a beautiful pastel effect to the negs, good skin tones and great for working on location on a bright day. I was really pleased with the outcome.

I haven't used Portra for a while but bought a batch just before the price rise. And now I'm remembering just why I've always loved it so much in the past. The colours are just FANTASTIC. And the latitude is great too.

It's sharp, detailed but still with a lovely natural look. If you scan it and want to push the saturation or knock it back a bit then that's fine too. It adapts well to all lighting conditions and captures exactly how you remember it.

It's not the cheapest. But it is definitely worth it!

Great dynamic range and very forgiving. I started with this film when I wanted to learn how to photograph without a light meter, and even though many times the exposure was way off I always had great results with it. Highly recommended film to try out.

I was given this as a gift and shot a roll over a year. A novelty and the film provided was good, but the gels were more of a gimmick as the small flash has limited range. Due to the small flash and low ISO there can be a lot of grain even in moderate lighting. I also found the flash range was likely to trigger red-eye in the subjects. I'm sure some people will enjoy it, but it's not a camera I would use again.

I like to shoot with natural light and it can be tricky to shoot on overcast days and avoid grain. Not a problem with Portra 800, which provides beautiful shots with natural looking colours and fine grain.

I left my review on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/ZQEOhOOIB2o

I like the extra grain and speed boost but on scans, colours are nice but I had to spend some time getting rid of the colour cast, even though I use silverfast and it has a profile for this film. Development error? Maybe.

This has become one of my favourite films.
I love the strong contrast that this film has while having a nice grain quality.

I've only used it on landscapes but will be trying it on portraits at some point.

Despite all of the wonderful diversity of monochrome emulsions available today, I still always find myself coming back to FP4 Plus in the circa 100 speed bracket. With sufficient light, this film yields very consistent results. The tonal range is beautiful and the contrast is moderate, allowing for excellent flexibility whether printing traditionally or scanning. The grain pattern is smooth but present, representing the very best of the traditional cubic grain emulsion aesthetic. It also has good latatude, allowing for some forgiveness for suboptimal exposure. This latitude can be put to good use when utilising the zone system, as well. Overall an excellent film, and it's difficult to see how it could be improved.

After seeing the results which other people were getting from this particular film I thought I had to give it a try for myself. I was a little unsure as to whether I’d be able to get the high contrast look that I like my images to have, but this certainly didn’t let me down!

My first roll of B&W ever. This is an amazing film; grain and contrast are all exactly how I imagined. Forgiving to the beginner with good exposure latitude. I am delighted with my shots and have ordered 4 more rolls!

Wanted to shoot this indoors but ended up using it in bright sunlight. Very grainy and contrasty which I am a big fan of. From the few pics I shot indoors it looks really nice in subdued light.

I'm amazed at the amount of detail this film captures, particularly in the shadows. It makes slightly soft pictures, and therefore really excels at taking subjects with a shallow depth of field. I can see why this would be a great choice for portraits. I tested it on landscapes. It's not ideal if you want everything to be sharp in focus and it's not very contrasty, but like I said, for subjects where the background is allowed to melt away it looks great. I think the ideal pairing for this film would be a vintage lens that will complement its softness. I shot mine on a Lubitel 166B and am delighted with how it looks. My sample photos were developed in Rodinal 1:25 for 20 minutes and I'm really happy with the uniform grain.

Great contrast and perfect for traveling. Shot mostly in sunny conditions. Doesn't handle under exposure so well as you can end up with muddy shadows, but great for general/street photography. Not a bad film to take on holiday

Shot this film through my Minolta X-300 in very sunny conditions. The film handles overexposure very well produces great color

Cheaper films are usually cheap for a reason, but this one is an exception. Kentmere 100 provides sharp pictures, smooth grain, and wonderful tones that aren't too overpowering.
With some other black and white films I find the contrast can be a little too overpowering and difficult to work with in certain light, but with this film its well controlled and perfect for my needs. I find it extremely good for street photography in the day time and a great all rounder for everything else. It might not have a distinctive "character" like Tri-x or JCH Streetpan, but sometimes I just don't want that. I want a black and white film that does what it's supposed to do and does it well, and Kentmere 100 suits that perfectly.
I buy it because I like it. The low price is merely a bonus.

I love the grain and contrast of this film, it copes really well with the different lighting conditions that I put it up against. It is a great all rounder film perfect for street photography.

A nice warm and cheap film, great for beginners but I actually prefer Colorplus. I pushed it to 400 and had some pleasing results.

I don’t shoot too much Fujifilm because it can have a green tint to it but I shot this on a sunny day in Aberdeen and loved it.

Although I bought a roll of 135 and 120 in December 2019, I wasn't able to finish the 135 until last week due to the appalling grey, wet and windy winter weather in the UK!
However, I loaded the 135 in my Leica M6 using a 35mm f1.7 Summicron lens, and headed into my home town Cambridge, where I shoot very frequently, especially for high contrast and deep black shadows, so I used a few locations as a reference from using other B&W films.
The promise of fine grain, controlled contrast and deep blacks did not disappoint, whether I was shooting abstract or architectural features.
I look forward to trying the 120 film in the studio where I photograph models and fashion work.
This film is quite expensive, but I wouldn't hesitate to use it again, now I know its characteristics.