Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow 400 Film Review

Tested at ISO 6400 and Box Speed in Various Developers, Featuring My Impossibly-Cute Puppy!

8 min read by Dmitri.
Published on September 25, 2024. Updated on October 1, 2024.

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Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow 400 is a relatively new film that debuted on Kickstarter in June 2021.

I was one of the project’s original backers, which gave me a chance to buy a “Briefcase Box” pack with five rolls and a delightful graphic novel by My Mate Does Art.

Ever since I got this film, I’ve been looking forward to posting a review, but time has gotten the better of me. There’s always something else. You know how it is. On the plus side, this allowed me to give this film an extensive test, which included standard development in Ilford DD-X and Ilfosol 3 and pushing it four stops to ISO 6400 in Rodinal. The film also had to withstand three sweltering summers outside my fridge (I appear to have forgotten a few rolls in a briefcase on my bookshelf!)

Alas, by the time I got to writing this review, the film was no longer available for sale. Not even on eBay. So this review is more of a retrospective, useful to those who still have a roll somewhere.

This film is said to be technically identical to Kentmere 400, so you can try the tricks in this article with that film for similar results.

In this review: Technical specifications and development times. Exposure latitude and dynamic range. Agent Shadow in Ilford DD-X. Agent Shadow in Ilfosol 3. Pushing Agent Shadow to 6400 in Rodinal. Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!

Technical specifications and development times.

Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow 400 is a black-and-white panchromatic film that was available in 35mm only. It was sold as having a box speed of ISO 400, pushable up to 6400. The grain, as per the original Kickstarter page, is described as “[f]ine grain when shot at box speed, with grain and contrast increasing when the film is pushed.”

The development times for this film can be found on the Massive Dev Chart, however, they do not include the four-stop push in Rodinal, which I’ll be guessing in this article.

Exposure latitude and dynamic range.

No matter the developer I tried, the film seems to show a strong tendency to crush deep shadows. However, it appears to handle overexposure quite well.

The inky shadows seem to materialize in the deepest areas; thus, I never found issues with this property. Though some of you may prefer open shadows, in my case they gave me scans that had the contrast levels I typically edit my black-and-white film for.

Unfortunately, even the Kentmere 400 datasheet doesn’t have dynamic range information. You’ll have to judge what it would be like to shoot this film based on the samples in this article. I tried to post as many varieties as possible, including flash and daylight.

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Agent Shadow shot and develooped at box speed in Ilford DD-X.

Agent Shadow in Ilford DD-X.

At box speed, Agent Shadow produced images that look very similar in both Ilford DD-X and Rodinal. However, of the two, DD-X tends to produce crushed shadows more readily while also showing softer (yet still pretty fine) grain.

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Agent Shadow shot and develooped at box speed in Ilford DD-X.

As mentioned, I kept this film for a few years, with the first roll (which happens to have been developed in DD-X) being shot around the time we got a new puppy in our house.

The puppy’s full name is Chiang Main Noodle Sausage, in honour of one of my and my partner’s favourite snacks from back when we lived in Thailand. That sausage was packed with glass noodles, which reminded us of our new dog’s coat.

We call him Noodle for short. Look how cute he is!

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Agent Shadow shot and develooped at box speed in Ilford DD-X. No flash.

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Agent Shadow shot and develooped at box speed in Ilford DD-X.

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Agent Shadow shot and develooped at box speed in Ilford DD-X.

All of the above photos of Noodle were taken with flash using my trusty Olympus Mju I. Except one of the photos, which I marked in the caption.

I thought it was a good combo, but I also tried the film outdoors in daylight. It was a cloudy but bright day, which seemed to have generated a lot more stark shadows in between the foliage leaves.

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Agent Shadow shot and develooped at box speed in Ilford DD-X.

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Agent Shadow shot and develooped at box speed in Ilford DD-X.

This roll was developed by The Lab in Vancouver using their dip and dunk tanks. I think they did a great job.

The film was then scanned with my PrimeFilm XAs dedicated 35mm film scanner.

Agent Shadow in Ilfosol 3.

I haven’t got any Noodle photos on my next roll, but you’ll see him all grown-up in the final roll reviewed here, the one that was pushed to the ridiculous 6400.

With Ilfosol 3, Agent Shadow appears to have a slightly sharper grain, which can look a little harsh in some situations. However, the shadows look like they have more information, which is a nice trade-off.

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Agent Shadow shot and develooped at box speed in Ilfosol 3.

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Agent Shadow shot and develooped at box speed in Ilfosol 3.

I would be amiss not to include one of my pets on each of these rolls. So have a look at Norah in her sweater next to the fireplace.

I’m not sure if you’re seeing that, too, but there’s a nice amount of dynamic range here. The flames are defined perfectly, and even the shadows underneath Norah’s sweater are free of noise with visible stitches in the garment.

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Agent Shadow shot and develooped at box speed in Ilfosol 3.

I developed this film at home, which was shot in Canon AE-1. Scanned with PrimeFilm XAs.

Pushing Agent Shadow to 6400 in Rodinal.

Because none of my black-and-white developers had times listed for pushing Agent Shadow four stops, I decided to take an experimental approach. I looked at how much the development times increased for Rodinal with each stop, consulted my earlier guide for pushing and pulling film, and looked up another place online that tried doing this.

My experimental recipe called for one hour and forty minutes of semi-stand development in a 1:25 solution of Rodinal. Here are the results:

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Agent Shadow pushed +4 stops to 6400 in Rodinal.

Noodle is all grown-up! He’s now a handsome big boy.

As expected, the grain is significantly more prominent. However, another aspect of this film being pushed four stops is that it’s a lot more temperamental when it comes to exposure and dynamic range. Any scene with more than ~8 stops between the lightest and the darkest spots becomes even more gritty with even the slightest bit of underexposure.

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Agent Shadow pushed +4 stops to 6400 in Rodinal.

This may have something to do with how thin and foggy the negatives turned out using this recipe. I also used a different scanner, which isn’t as good at deciphering problematic negatives (but it’s a lot faster).

Agent Shadow pushed +4 stops to 6400 in Rodinal.

I don’t think Rodinal is the right chemical to dunk this film into if you want to push it to 6400 unless you can nail your exposures and don’t mind the prominent, sharp grain.

Nevertheless, I’m happy with many of the photos on this roll, so I wouldn’t rule out doing this again.

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Technical specifications and development times.

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Dmitri