Another new thing to point out is this film’s exposure latitude, as well as its aforementioned dynamic range. Traditional grain films do tend to excel with wide exposure ranges, and HP5 Plus is no different. If you just look at the ISO 400 box speed, traditional yet fine grain and not overbearing contrast, it would be easy to dismiss HP5 Plus on paper as being an average film with no unique selling proposition. Judging by the results it gave me and for the price at which it did, I have to say I like it quite a bit. There’s no question I’d shoot it again.

It is probably worth mentioning but for the photos shared above I shot the film both over exposed and under exposed. Sadly from a scientific point of view I was just winging it on the day and guessed the exposure. What I can say is some images were shot in very under exposed conditions with the light being probably -2 stops under. Highlights and shadow detail

It’s wide exposure latitude makes it a great choice for beginners, those returning to film as well as the more experienced professional users. Assuming both APX 400 and Kentmere 400 are the same emulsion I chose to buy Kentmere as it was slightly cheaper online. Kentmere 400 street photography

We’ve already mentioned that HP5 Plus 400 is purported to give you fine grain and medium contrast. These are not my words but those of Ilford themselves. When you’re pushing film this far, most film developing recipes will tell you to Stand to Develop, or Semi-Stand Develop your negatives. Stand developing is when you use a highly diluted developer, and gently agitate the solution for the first minute, and then leave the solution to sit undisturbed for the remainder of the development process. Semi-stand is a similar process but with additional gentle agitation every half hour or so. Take a look at this guide to learn how agitation methods can change the look and feel of film. I think also talk of “developing at 800” might be a bit confusing. You can’t really develop at an ISO – the development process doesn’t care what ISO the film is rated at. You either develop as per the normal instructions, or you push or pull by a number of stops – regardless of the film speed. I used to be a great fan of HP4 (and then HP5) but I migrated first to Tri-X, then Plus-X, then I bought a shed-load of Kodak Tech Pan and I’ve been using it ever since, with occasional forays into T-Max 400 and T-Max 100. I’ve become a “grainophobe” and a “sharpophile” and only CMS-20 or Tech Pan gives the extreme sharpness and zero grain that I’ve come to love. Of course, working with 12-50asa means a tripod is obligatory but the results speak for themselves (and we should ask be using troops more, shouldn’t we?). One of my photos was taken with a Canon EOS 7 and a Canon 85mm F1.8 lens (possibly the highest resolving lens I own – even better than any Leica lens I have). I enlarged a CMS-20 film, Devenus in Adotech lV, from 35mm, to 5ft wide by 4ft high and (I realise nobody’s going to believe me, but that’s OK) there is zero grain at 3ft viewing distance. The pictures also have that 60s appearance too. If anyone’s seen Blow Up (1966), I can get a similar look to those type of photos. With this in mind I have been looking for excuses to use my film cameras and all the lovely rolls of Ilford HP5 I have bought over the last year or so. Hence I have come up with a project to photograph some of the bridges over the River Thames near to where I live using a maximum of one roll for one day’s shooting.

I haven’t gone down that rabbit hole myself, but people do report good results from doing so elsewhere. This is a really cool process that works to reduce the negative contrast and increase sharpness by allowing the developer to exhaust itself on the highlights while having more time to interact with and develop the shadows. The original Kentmere 400 film box branding said “Kentmere 400” on the side (white box and cassette label). The new branding reads “Pan 400” on one side and it has a pink-purple box design. (“Kentmere” is written on the other side). If Kentmere 400 becomes known as Pan 400 it is very easy to confuse this film with the Ilford Pan 400. They are different film from my own testing but no wonder people get confused! I thought I would mention it. AGFA Photo APX 400 vs Kentmere 400