Kentmere PAN 100 and 200 review: I shot both at a photowalk
...and might ditch Tri-X for good.
I won rolls of Kentmere PAN 100 and PAN 200 at the Film Forever Festival 2026 in Brooklyn. Didn’t have big expectations going in, but I used both stocks during a Viltrox-sponsored photowalk around the city and came back genuinely impressed.
As you can see, the PAN 200 has enough latitude in the emulsion that I could push the contrast slider pretty hard in post without things falling apart. Highlights stayed under control, shadows held detail. The PAN 100 is cleaner, great for bright daylight. Both were shot on my Mamiya 7ii and developed by myself. I didn’t pull or push. Shot both stocks at box speed.
The grain
I’ll add some 1:1 crops here so you can see exactly what you’re working with at full resolution. Scanned on a GFX 100s at 102 MP.
The grain on the 200 is what I’d call honest. It looks like 200 ISO film should look. Controlled, present, not trying to fake the smoothness of a 100. But the real surprise is the 100. The grain structure is genuinely good, maybe the best thing about this stock. At 1:1 you can see it’s tight and even, nothing muddy or chunky about it.
The Tri-X comparison nobody asked for but I’m making anyway :P
I’ve been shooting Tri-X for some time now. It’s a classic for a reason. But recently I’ve had a few quality control issues: faded lettering on the film strip, and weird tonal shifts across different frames of the same roll. That’s not something you expect from a professional-grade emulsion.
The Kentmere is cheaper and, at least in my recent testing, more consistent. I’m not ready to say it’s a better film in every way, but for street photography in good light, it punches well above its price. I might rotate it in as a Tri-X replacement for a while and see how it holds up over many rolls.
Where to find it
Kentmere is made by Harman, the same company behind ILFORD. A roll runs around $7, which makes it one of the most affordable medium-format black-and-white options available right now. The PAN 200 is newer, released in 2025. I’d start there if you’ve never shot Kentmere before.
