Ilford XP2 Super

I recently took my old Pentax SLR out of the cupboard and renewed my interest in black and white photography. I didn't really know what film to go for, starting out BW400CN from Kodak. I wasn't very impressed and turned to Ilford, buying rolls of HP5+ and XP2 Super. Both produced very nice, fairly similar results. If I could develop the film myself then the HP5+ would likely be my standard film but until I do the XP2 is far more convenient. I can shoot at a whole range of speeds without worrying about the development. I think it looks great pushed to 800 but I'm yet to try it at slower speeds. I mainly shoot people so I'm not really in a position to comment on how it works for other types of photography but everyone I have shot with it has been very impressed.

Versatile
Looks great
Great if you don't have a darkroom setup
Ilford's commitment to B&W

Can't process in B&W darkroom
Fairly grainy - although personally I see that as a strength!

Ilford HP5+
Kodak BW400CN
Fujifilm Neopan 400

N/A

I use both Kodak and Ilford black and white chromogenic films. The advantage of Ilford XP2 Super compared to Kodak CN is it has grain similar to conventional black and white films. The advantages for any chromogenic film are they have very wide range of tonal values that is far superior to digital capture, and unlike conventional black and white film, they can be easily scanned. My scanned images can be easily enlarged to wall size prints.

Beautiful grain similar to convention black and white film with the connivence of being easily scanned.

This was my first time trying out this film and I am more than pleased with the results. I had never used a C41 B&W print film before. I decided to use this type of film since I didn't have darkroom access at my college over the summer. What I really like about this film is the fact that I get a whole set of prints [proofs] and I also get a negative that I can easily work with in the darkroom. My prints were nice and sharp. They had a nice contrast. Nice whites and deep blacks. Because they were C41 prints, my prints came back with a slight green tint to them... which I actually really liked. The negatives had a nice density and this film has a wide exposure latitude. VERY EASY & SIMPLE film to work with. I will definitely be shooting with this more.

VERY fine grain VERY sharp Fast Nice contrast Prints have a color tone [tone on my prints was slightly green]

Prints may come back with a color tone.

This was my first C41 B&W print film... but I am very familiar with Ilford's B&W films.

None needed.