The New Kentmere 200
It has been a bit since I have been able to try a true new film emulsion. When I first heard that Kentmere had a new film out I wasn’t super excited. Their other offerings at 100 and 400 ISO are not my favourite black and white films, though they are likely the cheapest you can get, so have resorted to them in the past. I even did a cheap shots challenge with the Sunny 16 podcast using Kentmere 400 (they are the top two submissions here). Still, I find the outcome a little mushy and I prefer a little more contrast in my pictures. Would the 200 be any different?
It turned out yes, while still not the most contrasty film I have ever used, it is significantly more so than its siblings and has a quite nice output. For those that don’t know, Kentmere is the budget film brand produced by the film giant Ilford Photo. I have reviewed Ilford’s other sub-brand Harman’s Phoenix 100 here. While Ilflord’s other black and white film come in a large assortment of sizes and film types, Kentmere is really just limited to one line of film. To get it down in prices, the Kentmere films use a cheaper chemical process and some say a slightly thinner film.
Based on all of this, I went into using it with some pretty low expectations, though I had heard some positive things from the company about it on the Sunny 16 podcast (you can listen to that article here). With some expectation of greater contrast I took a roll out shooting. I needed something that would produce some good shadows as I was taking pictures for an upcoming magazine that the photography collective I am part of was putting together with a shadowy theme (there will be more on this in the coming weeks). I have to say that in the end I was really pleased with the results, the pictures definitely have more detail and contrast than the other two Kentmere options. I have included a number of them below.
For those that develop film, as there was really nothing online about the development process, here is what I did. I use the Flic Film Black White and Green Developer. I did a 13.5 minute development at the standard solution amounts for that developer. I don’t use a stop bath but just do a thorough wash and then do 6 minutes with the Ilford Rapid Fixer before a final wash with some of the Flic Film wetting agent. It seemed to turn out quite well.
I have already picked up another roll as I would like to get a little more familiar with using it. You can pick up some of the Kentmere 200 and all of the developing stuff I use at Camera Traders in Market Square. I would love to know what you think of the photos and whether you are going to pick some up. Let me know if the comments!
