>>> Kodak produces on variety, BW400CN, which is designed to be printed on >>> colour paper, they stopped making Portra BW (their other variety) a >>> long time ago.. Ilford produces XP2 Plus which is designed to be >>> printed on B&W paper. >> >> Anyone know what the difference is between BW400CN and this: >> >> http://www.camerastore.com.au/Kodak+Select+400+ISO+24+exp+C+41+B%26W+Film_707_details.htm >> >> - Kodak Select Black and White + 400 ? >> >> I can see both advertised at different places here, though Kodak only >> mentions the one on their site... is it the same thing in a different box, >> or what? > > That's the consumer version of BW400CN. essentially the same, just > tweaked for a longer shelf life.
The two films are TMax 400CN and Select Black & White 400. I used both quite a lot. - T400CN has a lighter crossover mask and lower contrast. It has more latitude on the over-exposure side and can reproduce a broader tonal scale. - Select B&W 400 was reformulated with a bit more contrast and a stronger crossover mask to improve its printing performance on color paper in photofinishing machines. It blocks up highlights a bit faster as a result and produces a punchier image. Either works well, but I generally prefer T400CN since I do all my image rendering through scanning, not via a photofinishing machine. BTW: I processed the latest roll of Minox film I shot over the past week or two. It was a roll of Agfa Copex RAPID microfilm that a friend had spooled for me to try about 13 years ago. Really didn't know what to do with it, so I read around on the web for specs ... most people using recommended an ASA from 12 to 50, so I set the camera at 25 and had at it. Processing such a high-contrast film ... I mixed my more-than-a-year-old-since-mixed XTOL developer to 1:4 dilution and ran the film for 30 minutes with one little "jiggle" agitation every 5 minutes. Trying to tame the contrast curve of this high-contrast film ... To my astonishment, most of the negatives look *perfect*, with a reasonable continuous tone curve, but I can see whereever there's spot of contrast in the original WHAM the negative blocks up nearly instantly. it should prove quite amusing to pull a couple of photos out of this interesting film. It's the last of it I have spooled. -- Godfrey godfreydigiorgi.posterous.com -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
