Advantages: combine excellence in all areas
Disadvantages: less capable of showing really fine detail

...Ilford FP4 Plus is the current version of a film that has been on the market since around 1970. It’s evolved, and it remains the standard by which all other medium-speed black-and-white emulsions are judged. There are now films that are sharper, or have less grain, or better tonality. What none of them do is combine excellence in all areas in the way FP4 does. FP4 is tolerant of most standard developers, and makes the most of its sharpness with a noticeable emphasising of borders. The acutance effect means that FP4 looks sharper than new-technology films that actually show more detail – and photography is very much about the look of things. Don’t think that the film isn’t actually sharp, though – it is simply slightly less capable of showing really fine detail than newer emulsions. I’ve had good... Read review

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Advantages: easy to process, good exposure lattitude
Disadvantages: none really

...Ilford FP4+ is a very high-quality product usable for many uses in black and white photography. It's normal rated speed is 125 ASA, but this film tolerates push and pull to 50 ASA and 200 ASA. FP4 was my first introduction to black and white, and to date, a large quantity of my best pictures were taken on FP4 film, either at it's standard 125 rating, or downrated to 50. The film is a nice flexible film, that tolerates a lot of different exposure conditions and, more importantly, development in a wide range of chemistry. I've developed it in Agfa's classic Rodinal chemistry to good results, Kodak's very handy T-Max 1+4 chemistry, of which this film produces excellent results. The detail in this film provides an exciting look to your pictures - unlike a number of Ilfords other films (HP5, cough, cough...), and in many peoples comparisons... Read review

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Advantages: Versatile fine grain high quality sharp negs
Disadvantages: hard to come by at times

...this film indoors and out in a variety of light settings and I always have at least 5 of the 24 exposures in my fridge as I have found on more than one occasion that it is out of stock in more than one outlet at a time. i am not sure whether this is due to a rush on the film or whether Ilford do not produce large amounts of it at a time. the results in the negatives are crystal slear and you can afford to make mistakes when snapping too, hence it being good for beginners. it is an easy film to correct mistakes on in the dark room. The average price of this film is very good as well for what it can do, as with most Ilford film I find it is safe to say between £2 and £4 depending on where you shop for your films.... Read review

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Advantages: Best film stock ever
Disadvantages: none I can think of

...FP4 has been around for donkeys years, nearly 35 to be exact– the fact that it’s lasted as a film specification for so long is testimony to the original format. For most people of my generation (I’ll be 45 next birthday) Black and white was the only option if meagre pocket money was the only means of funding a hobby in photography, and Ilford were very much the brand leader in my neck of the woods. Nowadays, when ‘analogue’ photography has well and truly been eclipsed by ‘digital’ it takes a very strong product to maintain a foothold in this highly competitive market driven commodity. FP4 simply ‘ticks all the boxes’. At 125ASA, it was originally considered a ‘medium speed’ general purpose stock, nowadays that tends to be a bit on the slow side, but if, like me, you like to use classic cameras, such as Olympus OM series... Read review

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Advantages: Ideal bog standard fast black and white film
Disadvantages: coarser grain structure than FP4

...When I took up photography, Ilford’s HP5 black and white film was the ‘new kid on the block’ If you believed the advertising hype, ‘slower’ films such as FP4 were rendered virtually obsolete – funny that nearly 30 years on, Ilford continue to produce both brands! The reality is, of course, that they are quite different films used for different purposes, although, admittedly, these distinctions became less evident as the specifications of cameras improved. A key component in deciding exactly which film is right for you is the film ‘speed’ – this is a measurement of the film sensitivity. For many years there were two competing standards for measuring speed – the American ASA rating, and German DIN rating. DIN quoted a series of two digit numbers; 15, 18, 22, 27, from this it could be seen that 15 was considerably slower than 27... Read review

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Advantages: n/a
Disadvantages: n/a

...exceptionally fine grain for a 100 speed film, and has lately been updated to give improved push processing (as before, except this time you treat the film as a higher rated iso when you develop it; Either by increasing the development time, increasing the developer's temperature, or by using a stronger developer than would normally be used for your film). I haven't had any major disappointments with this film, but my preferences go with the T-Max technology purely for the tonal range. Film speed: 100 iso Suitable for: Still-life, portraiture, most things - as long as you have very good light. *FP4 PLUS 125 iso, this is a bit of a no man's land. People tend not to use it as they either need faster or slower films. Saying that, it does have a wide exposure latitude, so you can get away with under or over exposing (a bit), but it just doesn't have... Read review

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Advantages: Extraordinary fine grain and range of tones
Disadvantages: needs a lot of light

...’ or ‘Black Bottle’ (FP4) or ‘own brand firewater’ (HP5) Each has a special purpose, each it’s own benefits and drawbacks. If you want fine grain, this'll give it to you by the truckload, but at the expense of long exposures. I love this stuff to bits, but appreciate that it isn’t for everyone.... Read review

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Advantages: Close to the station, helpful staff
Disadvantages: Stupid hotel design, rough area, local eateries are awful

...setup - if you're staying in a hotel, it's because you need somewhere to sleep in between your travels. I stayed in The George hotel in Edinburgh and it was so nice I didn't want to leave, which cut into my holiday time. Ilford is a pretty easy place to get to from central London. If you take the Central or Jubilee line to Stratford you can get a train from there which will have you in Ilford inside of 10 minutes. If you get the central line, the train service to Ilford is on the opposite platform so there's not even much walking to do, which is a godsend if you have a lot of baggage. Ilford station is Zone 4, so a 7 day travelcard would set you back about £33, but that covers pretty much all forms of public transport. Upon arriving in Ilford, the first thing that struck me was how busy it was. It's more a town in itself... Read review

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Advantages: Wide range of film speeds on one roll
Disadvantages: not as good as specialist film stock

...XP2 is an extraordinary film – make no mistake. Strictly speaking – it isn’t even considered a ‘proper’ black and white film! It uses technology developed for colour processing to make black and white negatives. My previous three reviews have concentrated in the Ilford ‘holy trinity’ of Pan F, FP4 and HP5 films. In those reviews I have tried to explain the reasons for choosing different film stocks for different types of photography. This type of film is very very different from the others! You see – you normally take a decision the moment you load the film to decide what speed you want to rate the film at. Not with this stuff – the exposure latitude is such that you can choose to expose the film at 400ASA as they manufacturers suggest, but here’s the clever bit, you can ignore this and expose the film at virtually any rating... Read review

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Advantages: High quality, economical for MF, very flexible.
Disadvantages: Lenses and bits are expensive.

...size, you get a few problems. Cameras start getting heavier. Yep. If you thought your trusty Nikon was heavy, just wait (no pun intended) until you pick up a medium or even large format camera. They weigh a ton! And that's before you add a camera. Also film availability. All your favourites will be there: Velvia, Provia, Sensia from Fuji. Kodachrome, Gold, and a few other bits from Kodak. And in black and white Tri-X, XP2, HP5, FP4. Where it's lost is when you try and use more obscure films - such as infra red films like SFX200, HIE or Konica ir750. But as you increase the format size, you lose out on some of the interesting little films, especially those at the extremes of the ASA scale: either the super-slow (25-50 ASA) for the quality-luvin landscaper, or the high-speed (1600-3200) for sports / night photography etc. Plus the gear... Read review

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