HP5 is the staff favorite black and white film stock. We may dabble with Tri-X or the t-grain Delta films occasionally, but in the end we always come back to regular old HP5.
It has tons of exposure latitude, especially in the overexposure direction, making it relatively easy to meter by eye and get good images. If you're shooting in mixed light, with both dark shadows and bright stuff in the scene, overexpose by two stops and the highlights will still be easy to scan or print.
Pull it as far as 100 for that open shadows flat look, or push it to 1600 for dark shadows and lots of grain. We mostly shoot it at box speed.
If you don't plan on using it for awhile, keep it in the fridge.
