Kodak BW400CN

The Kodak BW 400 CN is a color negative film. It is the direct successor to the Kodak Portra 400BW and is also a replacement for the discontinued Kodak Professional T400 CN. However, it does not deliver color images, but monochrome.

Now, of course, you may wonder why you would use a color film with no colors instead of a normal black and white film. One of the biggest advantages is the development.

The Kodak BW 400 CN does not have to be developed in a black and white developer, but it is developed in the C-41 process for color films. So you can drop it off at the drugstore around the corner without any problems, and you don’t have to worry about high development costs and ruined images.

With its sensitivity of ISO 400, it is also suitable for unfavorable light situations.
One of the advantages, which comes from the fact that it is a color negative film, is that it can “stand” a wrong exposure, e.g. an overexposure, and still deliver reasonable pictures.
For this reason, it is also very suitable for lo-fi and toy cameras.

Kodak promises that the images with the BW400CN have a very good sharpness. In addition, the film is said to have a fine grain; according to Kodak, it is the finest-grained chromogenic film.

The Kodak BW 400 CN was once available as a medium format film. In the meantime, Kodak only offers this film for 35 mm cameras.

An alternative for medium format cameras and in general would be the Ilford XP2 Super*. When printing on classic black and white paper, the Ilford film is superior to the Kodak film, but the BW400CN is better suited for prints on color paper, which is used in the large laboratories where, for example, the drugstores send their films. Of course, if you scan your films, this point is no longer quite so important.

Sample photos

Taken with a Nikon F90 and developed in the C-41 process