5 frames from my first roll of Kentmere 200

By Roger

On the basis that with a new film it’s useful to see as many examples as possible, here are 5 frames from my first (half) roll of Kentmere 200. I put a roll in my Olympus 35ECR (rangefinder and reliable automatic exposure that I have been using on an off since the 1970s), set the ISO at box speed and then took half a roll on a visit to Oxford. I then developed this in ID-11 (1+1). Because the room temperature was 22C I decided to develop at that temperature, and using the manufacturer’s recommendations I developed for 7 mins 8 secs. Normally I would use 1+3 but, for some reason, they do not give a time for this film at that dilution. Epson Scan with auto levels, after which I just straightened a few horizons and removed a few dust spots. No other processing beyond PhotoLab’s defaults.

It was an overcast day and there was little variety in the lighting, so nothing exciting. My reaction to them is that the film is not doing badly and I like the tonal range, given the subject matter, and that the most noticeable issue is that the grain is more obvious than I had hoped, though when at web size this is hardly visible. No idea whether that was the processing or the film, though I tried to keep everything as standard as possible. Perhaps they would look better brightened a little, but I am not sure.

Given the grain, I thought I would see what Topaz Photo AI could do to it, and in the one of the post box it seemed to remove all the grain/noise nicely. I also tried the seagull photo, but it was not so good, as it seems to have interpreted the grain on the gull as texture rather than noise and did nothing.

Will I use the film again when I have used up the rolls I bought? The range of tones seems good and 200 is a useful speed, and the answer will depend on how it responds to other lighting conditions. However I suspect that most of the time, I am likely to prefer something with less grain, unless I can achieve that by adjusting the processing on my remaining rolls.

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Comments

Gary Smith on 5 frames from my first roll of Kentmere 200

Comment posted: 21/08/2025

Roger, I hope to get shots as good as yours when I compare the Retinette and the Voigtländer using Ilford Fp4+. I haven't shot 125 ISO film in 50 years and I'm only familiar with their HP5+. I wonder how Kentmere differs from Ilford now that Harmon makes it all?
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Roger replied:

Comment posted: 21/08/2025

Thanks for the comments.

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