A gone film, which went the way of good old film from yesteryear. Used to shoot a lot of this, and it was on the par at number of rolls shot with Kodak Tri-X or Delta 400. Alas, not with us anymore. The film is not similar to Tri-X or Delta 400, so do not get me wrong here.
However, it is almost on the same shelf with Ilford XP2, at least in my opinion. But the differences aforementioned are notable toward the good side, its tonality is great, the grain is somewhat looking 400 but printed is more like 100, and it can be processed in BW chemistry. Best of both world, one may say.
Had to bracket this, for the meter on one of the Minox B cameras (the one I used here) is very sensitive. Not a bad thing, as the selenium meters of that age are usually either dead or barely moving.
This is a very nice film to shoot in Minox cameras, it has a latitude which forgives many mistakes one may do when shooting with it. That said, one should be aware that the contrast may be a tad on the high, if not processed accordingly. You should remember that this film is not a BW film, being based on dyes and so designed to be processed in C41 color chemicals, not BW chemicals. You may call it a chromogenic b&w film, if you’d like.
It behaves a bit strange in a Minox camera though: I have found that if you shoot it @ 200 ASA (so half of what says on the box), the contrast is much more manageable, tonality improves and the blacks are more…lively, if you know what I mean.
Anyways, the price increased a lot these days, for any type of film, and this is true (oh so true) for this VX400 from old Konica. Still have a couple of 10 rolls bricks in my fridge, and when this is gone, that will be it.