>>2960504Most contemporary B&W film is real good. There are exceptions, of course: notably Fomapan, Kentmere, and the Chinese brands (Lucky and Shanghai, IIRC). Fomapan is expensive for what it is (in a hi-fi sense; if you want to shoot 70s halation-out-the-ass film, go right ahead; their RetroPan 320 is like doubly that), Kentmere is just about the right price, and the Chinese ones are mostly only acceptable in medium format because of the grain.
For a good sampler, buy three rolls each of Tri-X, T-Max 400, Ilford HP5+, Ilford Delta 400, and some weird-arse surprise films as well. Shoot them at box speed, develop them yourself, scan them in, and see what you like. Try slower films as well: FP4+, PanF+, T-Max 100, Delta 100. They're all different enough to be distinct products for their respective manufacturers.
But then there's specialty films, like super-panchromatic films (Retro 80s, Retro 400s, Superpan 200, Ilford SFX, and I forget the rest) that tend to have all of jack shit in terms of dynamic range, but some curious things like extended IR sensitivity which makes e.g. Superpan 200 rather nice for portraits of women. Mess with them at your leisure, but not for anything really important.
Also, get yourself a medium yellow (K2) filter. It's an easy way to make the skies something besides an uniform white.
