C41 B&Wfilms

[garry71]

I've used Ilford XP2, and quite like it, but how does it compare to the films from Kodak and Fuji?
Has anyone tried them all, and settled on a favourite?

Cheers
Garry

 

[TheBigYin]

I've tried all of 'em - and to be honest, the difference between them was less than the difference between 2 different high street processing emporia... or indeed 2 different employees at the same Asda on different days. In short, buy whichever's the cheapest.

 

[AJQS]

I've got plenty of experience ofn XP2 and BW400CN, none on the Fuji though. Fuji is cheapes, XP2 dearest.

BW400CN is definitely smoother at box speed and takes underexposure a bit better than XP2, hwoever I haven't had the chance to overexpose it to the levels XP2 will take (ISO 50 is very useabl on XP2 and I suspect ISO25 should be doable) but you need to be able to control printing or scanning if you're going to mess with the speed ratings as you will need to apply a hefty amount of contrast to an ISO50 shot. From the labs, ISO500 I find gives a nice contrast on both, but XP2 shows more grain at this speed than BW400CN.

Here's a roll of XP2 shot variously between 50 and 800.

Here's some BW400CN between 400 and 800. The skies were all intact when scanned, I've pushed them off the edge of the histogram a bit when balancing the contrast.

 

[garry71]

Thanks, I might as well give them a try anyway, as they're both £1 cheaper than XP2 at AG Photographic. Shame they're not open on Saturdays :bonk:

 

[s162216]

The Fuji and the Ilford XP2 Super will be very similar as Fuji licensed the technology from Ilford to produce the film; the Kodak one however is based on a different techhnology developed by Kodak.

 

[NinetyEight]

As s162216 said, the Fuji and XP2 are very similar and quite a contrasty 'gritty' film compared to the Kodak, which is a lot 'smoother' and is more suited to portraits and gives a lovely tonal range IMO.

The two types of film have their own uses but I always prefered XP2 personally.

As already mentioned, a lot of difference can be simply from who develops and prints it really.

 

[garry71]

I've got plenty of experience ofn XP2 and BW400CN, none on the Fuji though. Fuji is cheapes, XP2 dearest.

BW400CN is definitely smoother at box speed and takes underexposure a bit better than XP2, hwoever I haven't had the chance to overexpose it to the levels XP2 will take (ISO 50 is very useabl on XP2 and I suspect ISO25 should be doable) but you need to be able to control printing or scanning if you're going to mess with the speed ratings as you will need to apply a hefty amount of contrast to an ISO50 shot. From the labs, ISO500 I find gives a nice contrast on both, but XP2 shows more grain at this speed than BW400CN.

Here's a roll of XP2 shot variously between 50 and 800.

Here's some BW400CN between 400 and 800. The skies were all intact when scanned, I've pushed them off the edge of the histogram a bit when balancing the contrast.

Thanks for that. I tried some push/pull with normal B&W years ago and got back a low contrast grey mess!
Have to admit I've only used XP2 in auto compacts in the past so it might be time to try something different with an slr.

 

[garry71]

The Fuji and the Ilford XP2 Super will be very similar as Fuji licensed the technology from Ilford to produce the film; the Kodak one however is based on a different techhnology developed by Kodak.

As s162216 said, the Fuji and XP2 are very similar and quite a contrasty 'gritty' film compared to the Kodak, which is a lot 'smoother' and is more suited to portraits and gives a lovely tonal range IMO.

The two types of film have their own uses but I always prefered XP2 personally.

As already mentioned, a lot of difference can be simply from who develops and prints it really.

I did shoot a roll of the Kodak in APS years ago, and never got it developed :shake:

 

[ped]

I only tried the Fuji once (normally use Kodak or Ilford) and it had much less sepia/orange tint to it, it was more grey. Not sure if that's characteristic of the film or not as I used the same place I usually use to develop it.

I'll give it another whirl, but I really like the pinkish creamy colour of the XP2.