Ilford XP2 Super 120 400iso - a one roll review

The Ilford XP2 Super is a 400 ISO black and white film, available in both 35mm and 120 format. I've only shot 120mm, so my review is about that.

The Ilford XP2 Super is a 400 ISO film, which means if you're using a Holga, it's perfect. The film works surprisingly well at night - it gives very fine grain, but also on sunny days and inside. The versatility of the film really lies in the 400 ISO.

However, I found that film to be very changeable. All the following pictures come from ONE SINGLE ROLL. They have been scanned by a lab, so I thought it's because of that, but I've since rescanned the negatives, and the shots really did come out this way. So I don't know whether the lab screwed up the development process to make the film come out as sepia in some shots, or if the film really is that versatile. Need to get a few more rolls to test that theory.
Anyway, here the pictures:

Shot 2 was taken outside at night, using a flash, shots 3, 4, 5 were taken inside with poor lighting conditions, the sepia ones were taken on a cloudy but bright day at the airport. Honestly, no idea where the sepia comes from. As for the "true" black and white shots - at least I've encountered that kinda greenish tone to the pictures, very fine grain as already pointed out, very good contrast.

Aside from its price (€6.60 on Amazon, around €6 on eBay), the film is really nice and I can't wait to try it out in my Lubitel where I actually have some control over the exposure. Due to the encountered variety within the film I would definitely recommend this to everyone, even if it is just to try.

written by xxxanderrr on 2011-04-30 #gear #black-and-white #ilford #review #user-review #xp2-super #b-w-xp2