Harman Technology has released a new film in the Kentmere range of black-and-white films called Kentmere Pan 200.
The new 200-ISO film was announced on Thursday (8 May) and is available in 35mm (both 24 and 36 frames), 35mm bulk roll and 120.
It is the third film, after Kentmere Pan 100 and Pan 400, to grace the Kentmere range. The Kentmere films are designed to be a lower-cost complement to the Ilford Photo films, which includes the likes of FP4 and HP5. They are based on classic Ilford emulsions but contain less silver, which makes them cheaper to produce.
Harman Technology likes the Kentmere films as equivalents to the Czech-made Fomapan films, which are also aimed at budget-conscious students and amateurs.
Kentmere Pan 100 and 400 were first released in 35mm in 2009, and 120 versions followed in December 2022.
Example pics released by Harman Technology included the examples below which were shot by Alex Doran earlier this year on a half-frame Pentax 17.
Kosmo Foto was told of the release of the new film at The Photography Show in London in March, and we were given some rolls to test. Below you can see the results from the first roll we were able to shoot in Malta on an Olympus 35 RC rangefinder. The roll was developed and scanned by Bayeux in London.
Harman Technology’s notes said: “Kentmere PAN 200 is an ISO 200 black-and-white film, with enhanced contrast (vs 100 and 400), pleasing, well controlled grain and good sharpness making it suitable for most shooting applications and conditions.”
Our first roll shows reasonable grain and medium contrast, though relatively few of the shots were taken in bright sunshine. We plan to shoot another roll in bright weather alongside a roll of Kentmere Pan 100 and 400 to gauge how it looks in brighter light.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
