My first roll of kentmere 400 was shot using the Nikon FM2 with the Nikon 50mm 1.8 Series E Lens attached. I developed the film in HC-110(1:31) for 5 minutes, 15 seconds, @20C. All the images were shot in Pacific County, Washington.
and finally at the end of the day.
Steven Lawrence Pictures 
Very nice images, Steven. While I personally like the finer grain of the 100 speed variety better, the 400 is most certainly good stuff too.
Now that you’ve shot a roll of both, which do you prefer? How do you feel about them compared to the film stocks you shoot most often, particularly TRI-X and HP5 PLUS?
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I do not know yet which I prefer. I shot a couple of more rolls of the 100, and the first roll was disappointing. I used an older lens and it was very bright out. I am going to see how the different films print in the darkroom, then I will know better. Tri-X and HP5+ will always be the films that are the most dependable. I have made HP5+ my go to film for now but both are great. They are also available in 120 which the Kentmere film is not. I am developing the second roll of Kentmere 100 today or tomorrow and am thinking of trying HC-110.
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I’m going to assume that part of your disappointment with the roll you shot in very bright conditions is with blown highlights and excessive contrast. If that’s the case, then for the other roll you’ve yet to develop you might try a compensating method to keep things under control (assuming it was also shot in bright conditions). While not typically considered a compensating developer, if you choose to use HC-110 it might work well at a higher dilution (maybe E or H) and with a reduced agitation scheme. I’ve never done this with HC-110 so I’m only speculating. What developer did you use for the disappointing roll?
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Like the series, particularly the first & last.
One or two of the others seem to have a lack of shadow detail (scanning?) so it would be nice to know how you find gelatin silver printing goes.
Never used this film: here in UK it’s sold more as a budget alternative
for HP5 plus, which I like very much in D76 1+1.
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I developed the film in D-76(1:1) for 11 minutes, 30 seconds, at @20C. I usually can get more out of the image in the darkroom. I may have made a decision on the shadows in a particular shot to let them show or not. Usually, with a shadow area I want accurate I will spot focus on it and move it to zone 3 to show it more accurately. I usually keep notes but on this roll, I did not. I was in a hurry to shoot 3 rolls that day.
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Thanks for the reply, I have always struggled with scanning B&W so tend to make a darkroom print and then try & match it on the screen. Not always successful I might add, but hay ho needs must. I should probably learn more about scanning but get distracted.
Notes, I have (had) a book full of them, not seen since I moved back to UK from Oman: keep hoping it will turn up.
But you have inspired me to try Kentmere, maybe stand or two part development.
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Let me know how that works out. I sometimes do stand development with Rodinal (1:100)
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