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Four Super Sharp Black and White Film Emulsions Worthy of a Good Lens

Chris Gampat
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07/12/2017
2 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Modern Zeiss Milvus lenses black and white with film 1

Last Updated on 07/16/2017 by Chris Gampat

Film photography is highly valued for the certain sense of softness it can deliver vs digital. But under the right circumstances, black and white film can be used to create and capture photos that are incredibly sharp. In fact, they can easily rival what digital is capable of. Believe it or not, lots of the methods that one uses for digital photography to make a sharp photo can easily be applied to film. So if you’re looking to get some of the sharpest photos you’ve ever shot, check out these four fantastic film emulsions.

Ilford Delta 100

Nikon F80 Zeiss Milvus 18mm f2.8 Ilford Delta 100
Ilford Delta 100 isn’t the company’s sharpest film, but it’s on this list because it’s a pretty versatile film overall. When we were testing the wide angle Zeiss Milvus lenses, we used Ilford Delta 100 a lot and simply fell in love with the tonal rendering on top of just how incredibly sharp the film is.

Kodak T-Max 400

Fujifilm GW690 III 90mm f3.8
Kodak TMax 400 is rated to be the sharpest 400 ISO film in the world. Part of this has to do with the grain structure, which is called T-Grain. This is much different than Kodak Tri-X 400’s grain; but Tri-X can deceivingly look sharper due to how it handles midtones.

On our premium publication, La Noir Image, we spent an entire month dedicated the Kodak T-Max 400. I recommend that you subscribe. It includes interview with folks over at Kodak who explain how the film works.

Fujifilm Acros 100

Fujifilm GW690 III 90mm f8.8
Fujifilm Acros 100 in the medium format emulsion can be incredibly sharp with the right lenses. In our studio tests, it can easily fool lots of folks who think medium format film is going to be softer than digital. To get the most out of this film and others, I strongly recommend using a studio light or a flash to get specular highlights.

And if you’re interested in more, you can check out our review of the film right here.

Japan Camera Hunter Street Pan 400

Hexar AF
Our last film on this list is a relative newcomer. Japan Camera Hunter Street Pan 400 is an interesting film. It’s originally a surveillance film that is near infrared. It needs a lot of light to make the most of it and despite its 400 ISO rating, I’d probably even give it a bit more light at ISO 200. With the right lenses, you’re going to get some fabulously sharp images. If you use it with a camera set down on a tripod, and a studio flash, you’ll be in for a treat.

black and white camera film flash Fujifilm Acros 100 ilford delta 100 Japan Camera Hunter Street Pan 400 Kodak Tmax 400 lens sharpness studio tripod
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.