Agfa APX 400

APX 400 in its current form is a Harman product wearing an Agfa label. After Agfa's insolvency in 2005 the AgfaPhoto trademark passed through several hands and ended up with Lupus Imaging in Germany, who in 2013 contracted Harman in the UK to produce a new APX line. The 400 speed version is widely believed to be closely related to Kentmere 400, with the usual Harman caveat that films coated for other brands are not strictly identical to anything in the Ilford or Kentmere catalog.

That lineage tells you what to expect. The grain is traditional cubic, more pronounced than HP5+ at the same speed and noticeably coarser than T-Max 400. The character is closer to a 1980s general-purpose ISO 400 stock than to anything tabular. For street and documentary work where the texture is the point, this is a feature. For controlled studio or architectural shooting where you want grain to disappear, it is a limitation.

It pushes acceptably to 1600 in Microphen or DD-X, with shadow detail thinning out quickly past that. Compared with Tri-X at the same speed and developer, APX 400 reads slightly higher contrast and a half-stop denser in the highlights. At box speed in ID-11 stock the tonality is straight and neutral, which makes it forgiving for beginners and predictable for Zone System work. Rodinal 1:50 hardens the contrast further and prints punchy. HC-110 dilution B sits in the middle and gives a clean negative for hybrid scanning.

Format availability is limited. AgfaPhoto APX 400 is sold in 35mm, 36 exposures. The 120 versions that circulate are typically older stock or other Agfa-branded products from before the Lupus era. If you want this look in medium format, Kentmere 400 in 120 is effectively the same material at lower cost.

Reciprocity exponent is 1.31. Zone Light Meter applies the correction past one second on the standard silver-grain curve. A 30-second reading becomes about 90 seconds at the negative, and a fifteen-minute night scene stretches closer to forty-five. Bracket when you can.