Originally posted by butangmucat Kentmere PAN 400 and I was shooting it at box speed. I managed to capture several pretty rare shots and want to develop it with the best quality I can get. I am sending it out to a several-decade-old professional lab here in China, and they have several developers I can choose: D76, ID-11, Rodinal, and HC-110 is available at their "standard tier," and for their premium tier, I can choose between TMax RS, DD-X, Xtol, and Silvermax. I have used HC-110 and Xtol before, and would like some more information and suggestions on the other developers and how to choose them.
First, if you have some "rare" shots, then this is not the roll to discover and learn the pros and cons of various developers. Each developer has its own pros and cons relative to the film used, the desired characteristics, and price/convenience.
Here's one of many sites that analyze and breakdown commonly used film developers:
Choosing a B&W Film Developer | La Vida Leica!
Knowing what you shot and what you want out of the image (sharpness vs. grain vs. shadow detail) will help you decide what may be "the best" after reading that link.
Price and speed of developing are only a factor if you DIY.
In our school lab that I run, we use Kodak XTOL as it's a jack of all trades and has a good overall balance for many different types of films.
Of the choices in your case, I'd go with ID-11 for the standard tier. If you're willing to pay for a higher tier, then Xtol.
From my experience, I'd only use TMax developer with TMax film and DD-X with Ilford Delta film. There's no harm in using TMax or DD-X with other films, but they are more expensive and I haven't seen any benefit.
It takes time and a lot of trial and error to see and learn how different films are affected by different developers. Kentmere 400 is a decent "value" film, but even using Ilford HP5+ 400 would be a slight step up and I would suggest you use the same developer with different films to find your "best" or favorite and then use the same film with different developers to see which gives you the look that has the aesthetic you're looking for.
In general, Kodak chems work best with Kodak films, Ilford dev with Ilford film, etc. because they are tested and formulated for optimization. Kentmere is owned by Ilford, and is almost the same, but not identical.
And BTW, in the linked article, they often refer to one developer as comparable to another. This is because the chemical ingredients of those comparable developers are nearly identical with a very minor tweak to avoid patent infringement.