Comments about Ilford Ilford XP-2 Super Sharp, Fine Grain, Black and White Professional Film ISO 400, 35mm, 36 Exposures:

I love this film. It's fast, has an interesting tonal range and offers the convenience of C-41 processing. The film is best natural light that is not overly bright. It can produce some nice high key portraits. Very sharp for a 400 film.

Comments about Ilford Ilford XP-2 Super Sharp, Fine Grain, Black and White Professional Film ISO 400, 35mm, 36 Exposures:

The film base on XP-2 is nearly colorless, unlike Kodak's alternative. I like the tonal range a bit more than any other B&W film, and if I ever have to choose, XP-2 will be my selection. Whenever I see it available for a low price (usually at Adorama) I snap up as many as I can afford and stash it in my home freezer.

Comments about Ilford Ilford XP-2 Super Sharp, Fine Grain, Black and White Professional Film ISO 400, 35mm, 36 Exposures:

i've been experimenting with shooting various films at iso 1600 through 6400 and xp2 has soo much latitude that it retains its fine grain, sharpness and even a decent amount of tonality when rated at these high iso's. it can be push processed or simply scanner pushed and retains its character long after kodak's c41 B&W has broken up in grain and muddiness. smoother tonality and grain than pushing tri-x but still a punchy contrast. while true b&w 3200 speed can be rated as low as 800, it's still pretty grainy and can be flat. xp2 can just hang out in your camera bag for every shoot, in the daylight or moonlight, it will give you the image you're looking for. all this, and it doesn't have to be processed at a pro lab!

Comments about Ilford Ilford XP-2 Super Sharp, Fine Grain, Black and White Professional Film ISO 400, 35mm, 36 Exposures:

Love it!!!

Comments about Ilford Ilford XP-2 Super Sharp, Fine Grain, Black and White Professional Film ISO 400, 35mm, 36 Exposures:

I've used the Ilford XP series films since they were introduced in the early 1980s. Exposure-wise, this film is incredibly flexible, which works for me. I had the film scanned after it was developed, and had no problems because the base was clear (as compared to other chromogenic films with an orange base).

Comments about Ilford Ilford XP-2 Super Sharp, Fine Grain, Black and White Professional Film ISO 400, 35mm, 36 Exposures:

Developed, scanned, and printed at my local one-hour photo [...]. Very nice tonality. I feared problems from its clear base being processed in a commercial color-print system-- but no problems at all.

Comments about Ilford Ilford XP-2 Super Sharp, Fine Grain, Black and White Professional Film ISO 400, 35mm, 36 Exposures:

This film is one of those products that make me keep my film cameras active. I used it as 120 roll film and as 35mm, e.g. outdoors, indoors, wedding, fine art studio photography. It is one of the most convenient and flexible b/w films I have used, and it delivers consistently high quality negatives.

Its main advantage consists in its outstanding dynamic range that makes it possible to take pictures from 50 iso to 800 iso on the same roll of film, with the same development, getting for each picture the full dynamic range of a usual film. For digital photographers (as I am, too): It is as if you could use all of the iso-range that your digital camera offers, but without having to change the iso setting before taking the picture.

With appropriate adjustment in the dark room, one may even get decent results in higher iso ranges without changing the development process of the film.

If there is no time to adjust exposure, one can virtually shoot without caring about it and gets a nice result nevertheless, by adjusting exposure in the dark room.

Like only a few other films and certainly like none of the current mainstream digital cameras (I compare in particular with my Fujifilm S3 Pro digital slr camera with extended dynamic range), one can achieve a huge dynamic range and capture high contrast scenes without having to decide if rather the shade or the highlight areas should be reproduced.

However, development should usually be adapted to the extreme dynamic range by using high contrast paper.

Comments about Ilford Ilford XP-2 Super Sharp, Fine Grain, Black and White Professional Film ISO 400, 35mm, 36 Exposures:

I love this film and the nice skin tone range I receive when I expose it at 200 ISO. Very soft and smooth.

Comments about Ilford Ilford XP-2 Super Sharp, Fine Grain, Black and White Professional Film ISO 400, 35mm, 36 Exposures:

XP2 gives results which challenge the late lamented Tech Pan at ISO 25 - In an ISO 400 film, though I derate it a bit and usually shoot at ISO 320.

In available darkness situations, Kodak's ancient Tri-X processed in Diafine is still hard to beat.

Comments about Ilford Ilford XP-2 Super Sharp, Fine Grain, Black and White Professional Film ISO 400, 35mm, 36 Exposures:

XP2 is a great product I think. Black & White that you can process in C-41 chemicals at any local drug store...what's better? C-41 processing has 2 great big advantages. Anyone can do it and it's cheaper than 'real' black & white processing.

I think for 'artsy' B&W you're still better off with the real stuff, I shoot a lot of Ilford's HP5 (iso 400) and FP4 (iso 125), but have shot more than a few rolls of XP2 believe me.

The only caution I'd issue is that you should probably print this on regular B&W paper or some of the papers specifically designed for chromogenic B&W. Printing on color paper seems to cause a greenish color cast (no big surprise I guess). Just make sure you ask what paper they're going to use.