sharpness, versatility, ease of process and scan, exposure latitude

grain structure for some

I am coming to this review from a modern digital era standpoint, although I have used XP2 Super and its predecessors XP2 and XP1 for decades.
In general you get a good, contrasty pleasant image with negligable grain as long as you stick to 200 or 400 ISO., which is easy to get processed and scanned to cd through various sources. I find images at 800 iso or above thin and grainy and they lose contrast. If you want high speed with pleasant grain go for a traditional B&W film. I'm no expert, but apparently C41 films scan easier/better than traditional B&W film stock. I always rate mine at iso 200 unless used with a camera with automatic indexing which defaults at iso 400.
The way I use this film is as follows:-
1. Use a high quality lens - you really will see a difference in terms of contrast
2. Always use a yellow or green filter again for additional contrast. I find orange and red ones too OTT for my taste
3. Rate at ISO 200 for minimum grain
4. Find subjects compose and shoot!
5. Send off for process and scan service, review pictures on screen upon return.
6. Print off 6X4 snaps for putting in album
7. Special pictures I copy on my DSLR and reverse the colour. This gives an excellent look which can be tweaked for colour peference and other adjustments digitally, before printing an enlargement. Alternatively send negative off to a really good printing lab for enlargement unless you are competent and have the time and inclination to do it yourself.
8. Mount and frame your best pictures and put on your wall. Images up to 16X12 will be sharp and grain free. You start to lose definition beyond this size.
For information I have had the best results using this film with the following gear:-
Olympus RC 40mm f2.8 Zuiko with green filter.
Fuji ST801 with 55mm f1.8, or Voigtlander 40mm f2 with yellow or green filter
Contax RTS with Zeiss 50mm f1.7 planar, yellow or green filter
Voigtlander Vito iic with 50mm f3.5 Skopar yellow filter
These are all high quality lenses. I have a lot more high quality glass I have yet to try out with this film, but as I mentioned above you can really see a difference between high quality glass and lesser optics even at relatively small enlargement.This is not just about sharpness but what I call snap, the way a lens renders an image overall. Even the old Skopar lens does this well.
XP2 Super is my walk around film of choice for all my film cameras, (I have too many according to SWMBO). Its good for landscapes, architecture, street and people. I thoroughly recommend it, especially for anyone who wants to get into B&W photography from digital because of its quality and convenience.

Similar Products Used:

Pan F, FP4, HP5

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!

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.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Ilford HP5+
Kodak BW400CN
Fujifilm Neopan 400

- clear and sharp photos (especially the outdoor photos)
- C-41 very handy, can process anywhere

- if you make a mistake with exposure/not a lot of light, pictures may turn out to be quite dark
- expensive

I love Black and White photos and I've heard so many great things about the Ilford label so I wanted to try it out. I took many indoor photos and some outdoors and I found my outdoor ones turned out very nice. But some of the indoor ones I found were a little too dark. Overall a good film, but I do prefer the Kodak Professional BW 400 ISO instead.

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Kodak Professional BW400 ISO

- Print it anywhere
- Fine grain
- Sharpness
- Overall quality
- Price (if bulk loaded)

- Sorta "vanilla" - in terms of its signature, relative to traditional black and whites.

Can't say I dislike any of the modern black and white film emulsions I have used. T-Max, Tri-X, HP5 Plus, Fuji Neopan, and others - all great films. To my eye, they have a different signature but all produce pleasing images with only subtle differences. Choices between these films come down to price or preference... However, in 35mm black and white, XP2 Super is my choice, hands down. It has one simple compelling advantage over the traditional stocks - it can be printed at a photolab, in an hour, and it looks fine. I'll never sacrifice this luxury over any slight aesthetic preference I might have.

The issue I always had with traditional films is when developing my own, is I make a contact sheet of 24 negatives, and from that contact sheet make between 6 to 8 prints in a session. Invariabley, I have to make tough choices concerning what I want to print and what remains as a tiny contact print. With this film, I get every print back from the lab easy, effortlessly. I pick the proof prints I like for enlargement. It's so much better to have 6X4 "proofs" of all your pictures, than looking at contact prints in a loupe and picking a few for printing.

As far as the film itself goes, it's got a rather non-descript look to me. Can't say it resembles any of the others, and can't say it has any particular characteristic that stands out - perhaps the lack of apparent grain and sharpness. It's very good. As pleasing as any of the others. I find it to be quite sharp, fine-grained, good latitude, and has good tonality. The traditionals don't have much - if anything, on this film, but this film makes things very convenient.

This is different from the Kodak c41 process films - that's nice too but it's supposedly more difficult to make enlargements on black and white paper because of its organge base. It's more a film - perportedly, if you're a casual photographer who wants to fool around with a roll of black and white, and is designed to look better on color paper you get from the lab.

Ilford XP2 Super has gradually gained acceptance with traditional photographers, it seems to me. They were deservedly "poo poo'ed" when they first came out. The quality just wasn't there. However, XP2 Super changed all that. One is hard-pressed to justify purchasing the traditionals. This has become my 135 of choice and have a 50' spool loaded into my bulk film loader.

Still love the traditional process but that's relegated to medium format work, where I usually print 6 to 8 out of 12 exposures, and "to print or not to print" isn't such a painful choice as it is with 135.

Customer Service

NA but I do wish Ilford would include more XP2 stickers when you buy 50' spools.

Similar Products Used:

Kodak CN "Professional" C41 black and white
The "usual suspects" traditional black and white stocks

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

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.

Very sharp, Very fine grain, Cheap, Clear base.

Very contrasty, I wouldn't say its the most forgiving film for exposure errors.

Its a good film and tack sharp, I didn't find the latitude to be that great but I don't think the way I have it proccessed does it justice, As it is scanned and printed digitally.

Similar Products Used:

Kodak BW400CN, Neopan 400CN

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 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.

Customer Service

None needed.

Similar Products Used:

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

Contrast.

Latitudem continuity.

Very useful for certain purposes, not for others. Very contrasty, captures a lot of detail--but done't have the best continuity, in my epxerience. For high key with some very black blacks, it's nice. I also use it for a lot of white-on-white that I basically underexpose to get a paricular effect--pronounced shadows, but enough highlight for a dramatic look. Latitude doesnt seem that great, but even here yiou can use it effectively--underexpose by a full stop, then push, and you get a very grainy, almost vintage look. I would never use this where subtlety mattered, but its very nice for dramatic images.

Great tone, sharpness, etc. Versatile - good latitude. Easy to have developed and printed. Cheap.

Probably too sharp for portrait photography - stick with the Kodak C-41s. I've gotten nice results with both +400 and TCN with people.

Fantastic sharpness, tone, and grain for outdoor/landscape photography. The details even Wal-Mart can pull from this film almost rival Pan F 50. With today's digital labs, printing on color paper is not a major issue - just make sure to get someone who knows what he/she is doing. Poor printers will get some crazy colors. Black and White filters can be used without a problem, and with a more traditional b&w film stock, XP2 is easier to print in a traditional darkroom (no orange layer).

Customer Service

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Similar Products Used:

Kodak Plus 400, Kodak T400CN, Ilford Pan F 50, Kodak Plus X, Tri-X, T-Max

No more darkroom for me. The local lab just does a C41 process for me and I scan the negs. I print fantastic black and white photos on my Epson printer with Epson pro glossy paper.

None

Fantastic film for black and white. My favorite now. I found it better shot at ASA 200. It is idiotproof. I shoot with flash indoors for publicity work and school groups. I scan the 120 size negatives on my Epson 2450. I get great 8x10s. The film scans like a dream. Creamy flesh tones. Great blacks and whites. Contrast is excellent.

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My old favorite for 40 years, Verichrome Pan,was discontinued. XP2 filled the void. It is the only black and white film I now use. It is even great for my 35mm work. Used in my Leica M3s, I get fantastic results.