And My Favourite Black And White Film Is...

When I first starting getting into black and white film photography a couple of years ago I found it very confusing trying to choose which films I should shoot.

There are a plethora of different emulsions to try and sort through, and not only do Kodak, Ilford and Fujifilm offer different speeds of films, you can also shoot them at different settings, develop them with different chemicals and scan them in various ways...

Anyways, I've put quite a few rolls through my film cameras, and I've put examples below, so take a look and see if you can second guess which has become my favourite black and white film.

Kodak BW 400cn:

Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100:

Ilford XP2 Super 400:

Ilford Delta 3200:

Jessops Pan 100 (Expired):

Ilford Pan F Plus 50:

Paterson Acupan 800 (Expired):

Ilford FP4 Plus 125:

Well, what do you think? I actually saved my favourite to last, with a slight caveat.

If you want to shoot black and white film without the hassle of developing at home, get Ilfords XP2 400 which can be developed and scanned by your local colour film lab or supermarket.

For black and white film that you have to develop with traditional chemicals, I'd choose Ilfords FP4 Plus 125, a fine grained film that produces beautifully toned images.

So what are you waiting for? Grab an old film camera, load it with some lovely b & W film, and get shooting!

Thanks, Rob.