Kentmere 400 is a high speed Panchromatic black & white film suitable for a wide variety of photography. It has mild contrast, subtle tones, and very good exposure latitude. Due to its affordability and broad exposure latitude it is an ideal film stock for beginners.
When metering for this film we highly recommend erring on over exposure by metering for the shadows.
I buy Kentmere 400 in 100′ rolls and self-roll it into canisters. With that, it’s the cheapest and easiest film to just have around the house (or to make short rolls when I need to test out a new camera). It’s perfect for documenting life as I see it. I like to overexpose it by a stop if possible because it creates a really pleasing highlight contrast on caucasian faces. It makes my daughter’s eyes pop from her face. The grain is pretty noticeable, but I like that it.
I like pan 400 a lot ive never had any trouble with it and it is generally half the price of hp5 in my country. it has less detail and contrast than pan 100 but its easier to shoot it as a whole because the sun is outlawed in this land so i have less light to work with. I develop my films with perceptol mostly because its the cheapest thing and its nice fine grain.
