Lucky SHD 400

Lucky SHD 400 returned in February 2024 after more than a decade off the market. Lucky Film in Baoding had pulled most consumer black and white production around 2012, kept the SHD 100 line breathing through a 2017 relaunch, and went back into 400 speed as the analog revival kept growing. The current rolls are freshly coated rather than freezer-stock, which is the first thing worth saying.

The second is that quality control is rough. A defect the community has labeled the Dot Plague (random black specks scattered across negatives) has shown up on enough rolls that you should expect to lose a few frames to it. The film also carries a noticeable blue tint, a chemical smell, and packaging that looks like it was printed on a home inkjet. Lab techs sometimes refuse to run it for fear of cross-contaminating their tanks, so home development is the safer route.

When it does work, the character is real. Crushed blacks, faded highlights, a muted gray range that some shooters describe as 80s street photography out of the box. Closer in spirit to expired Tri-X than anything currently made by Ilford or Kodak, and very different from the clean modern look of HP5+ in the same speed bracket.

Rate at 200 rather than box 400 if you want printable shadows. Some photographers go down to 160. Develop in HC-110 dilution H for 14 minutes at 20C, following a Tri-X recipe; D-76 stock at Foma 400 times is the manufacturer suggestion but produces flatter negatives. Avoid acutance developers if you want the muted look.

Available in 35mm 36-exposure cassettes and 120 rolls through Reflx Lab, Analogue Wonderland, Brooklyn Film Camera, and a growing list of European and North American sellers. Bulk 100-foot rolls show up sporadically through Chinese resellers in 2025.

Reciprocity exponent is 1.31. Zone Light Meter applies the correction past one second. A metered 30-second exposure becomes about 90 seconds at the negative. Given the film already crushes shadows at box speed, long exposures need the correction folded in or the lower zones disappear. Bracket past about ten seconds.