Economical way to shoot this sleeper stock.
Labelled as budget / student film but pushes really well.

Attached photo shot at 1600

This really is the best way to learn and enjoy black and white film. By committing to this film for ~20 rolls, you can really get used to how it works in different conditions and development techniques. And it works out at less than £4 per roll!

I think this is the cheapest way to shoot film and I'm happy with the results. Just keep it in the fridge and ask your local film shop for old canisters to reload. Knowing that the film is cheap allows you to be a bit looser and more experimental. Developed with Ilfosol 3. Combined with a half frame camera this could be dirt cheap. Just ordered another roll.

Kentmere's marketing bills it as a beginner film, but its flexibility is astonishing. It's cheaper and has a lower silver content than HP5 or Delta films, but it is nicely sharp and has a great tonal range. I also found it to respond to pushing INCREDIBLY well, and performed excellently up to 3200. Pulled, it can look a bit flat, but in the right conditions, this can be just what you need. I would say the only style it doesn't suit is landscapes - no matter what you do it does have a ceiling in terms of resolving power and doesn't suit the fine detail required for landscape photography.

Buying a bulk roll of Kentmere was a great decision - the cost per roll is truly minuscule, and I found myself experimenting a lot more than I would with a more expensive film. If you shoot with a Y2 yellow filter and push to 800, it adds a little bit of contrast which suits the film very well, and the grain is almost unchanged.

Give it a try, you won't regret it

Really pleased with this bulk roll. I wanted HP5 initially but it was sold out so I went for the next best roll of 400 ASA film at a reasonable price. First few rolls have been developed in different developers, including caffenol, and it's delivered every time. Latitude is very good, having used it In a Fed 2 and relied on 'sunny 16'. Contrast appears fractionally less than HP5 but I can live with that. Overall very happy with this film.

buying in bulk really gives you more freedom to experiment & get creative!

A great film and a very viable alternative to some of the more expensive and maybe higher profile 400 speed films.
Highlights seem to take a lot of light before they burn out and the shadows seem to take minimal light to capture detail. I've found it hard to crush blacks completely.
If youre just starting out this would be where i recommend you start, if nothing else because of the price!
In the bulk roll option its even better value for money, but remember that you will need a loader, some empty 35mm cartridges and a lot of darkness in some form to use it.
Absolutely a 5 star product. I've just bought a roll of the 100 speed, and i only bought that because the 400 was out of stock!

Great contrast film with a bit more grit than HP5, but not as much as JCH street pan 400. Great a very day film with a lot of flex ability and at a great price to not worry about the cost, plus can get in 100ft roll making it even better on the cost front.

The film behaves just like Kentmere 400 in ready made cassettes. But there are advantages to bulk loading.

Once you've decided you will use lots of a particular film (or films), and have got a bulk loader and reloadable cassettes, you can save 25-35% on your ongoing film costs by rolling your own. You get 19 or 20 36 exposure rolls from a 100 foot bulk roll. Another advantage is that you can custom roll any length you want....need a short roll to test a camera or for a specific project? Roll 8 exposures, or 12. Need to squeeze 39 onto one roll? You can do that isntead.

Kentmere 400 is a great all rounder. Not quite as refined as HP5+ and cannot be pushed to 6400 like HP5 can, but it can still be pushed as far as 1600 successfully in ordinary developers such as ID-11. Unless you're intending to shoot in very low light conditions without a flash then this will work in pretty much all situations. Pleasing traditional grain structure, it has that familiar B&W look to it and isn't tricky or difficult to shoot and develop. It's cheap price means it's good for photographers on a budget too, it really doesn't get much cheaper than this.