NOTE: Every photo on this page was taken on Kentmere 400, developed at a professional film lab, and scanned with an Epson V600
Kodak Tri-X 400 is something of a legend. It's one of the oldest film stocks still in production and is the film stock responsible for the boom in street photography and photojournalism. While there have been slight changes to the film emulsion over the years reducing the appearance of grain but the contrast and dynamic range have remained the same through the years.
I must admit that my own experience with Tri-X is criminally limited. The fact is that I'm a cheapskate and that Tri-X costs far more than I think it really should. When Ultrafine eXtreme 400 costs $4.49 a roll and Kodak Tri-X costs $6.49 it's hard for me to justify. That said the few times I've shot it have been extremely expired and it's been beautiful each time. If Tri-X looks this good expired by 40+ years then how much better will it be fresh or maybe pushed? I've recently started diving into my own film development so now might be the time to find out.
Given that my experience with the film is with it extremely expired I've never shot box speed and instead followed the rules of +1 stop per decade approximately. This meant that I rated the film somewhere between 25 and 50 or +3 to +4 stops. The results are gorgeous though the grain is extremely apparent. Given the age of the film I was using I believe this is the older version of the film before the revised it to reduce grain. Modern Tri-X should be much cleaner. The film isn't particularly sharp though that might again be the fault of the older expired emulsion.
One area that some users have had problems with Tri-X is with scanning. The base of the film doesn't appear to dry very flat for some making scanning in most flatbed scanners tricky. If you have a film holder or other mechanism that forces the film flat this shouldn't be an issue.
Really, I don't have much else to say past I should shoot this film more and so should you. It's rendering is beautiful. Alas if price wasn't an object I'd stock up on it over my beloved Ultrafine eXtreme 400. Maybe when I start bulk loading I'll get a roll but odds are I'll stay cheap. It is worth pointing out that these photos are evidence of what you can do a film stock that doesn't mind being expired. If you find stray rolls of Kodak Tri-X from decades ago that appear in OK condition grab them - odds are they'll be awesome.
