Dean, if you want a simpler life, being a serious photographer is NOT the answer! I get much better results with Ilford films than any other. Tri-X is the only Kodak film that I would use for personal work. Using my color densitometer, I have determined that HP-5+ has an EI of 200 (same as Tri-X) when developed in PMK. Xtol may get anywhere from 1/3 to 2/3 stop more 'speed' from most films, but it has a little more fog. You may want to try PMK (Pyro-Metol-Kodalk) developer. You can dramatically reduce the time it takes to make fine prints from negatives developed in this developer.(posted 8770 days ago)