Ilford XP2 Super can i print it on Color paper? rate@400ASA or 800?

I bought 1 roll of Ilford Xp2 can I get good results printing on

minilabs that uses color paper? Push at 800ASA with color paper or

stay with 400ASA?

 

Box says:

 

Standard C41 pROCESSING for EI 50/18-EI 800/30

Expose at EI 400/27 for proof prints on colour paper

 

what does it mean? my undersatnding is shoot at 400ASA if using

color paper and with black and white paper you can shoot at 50ASA-

800ASA right? Most of minilabs here in my place dont have black and

white paper so better stay at 400ASA?

Many minilabs will also not push/pull process anyway. In any case, it's best to find a mailorder lab that does do proper black and white.

"Standard processing" means simply that. Without push/pull processing, this film can be exposed as 50ASA through to 800ASA even on the same roll of film and still produce printable negatives. They say "on colour paper" because that's what minilabs have loaded in their equipment.

 

They say "proofs", which means to most photographers a 'trial print', The serious printing is done in the darkroom using black and white paper and chemistry, and where the normal controls of contrast etc can be employed.

 

When printing any B&W neg on colour paper, a slight colour tint will be seen in the print. It can even be a strong sepia colour. Experiment by taking a B&W neg you already have for re-printing to a minilab, and ask them to print it.

 

This film, originally XP1, I have used when for some reason I have had not had access to darkroom facilities. Commercial B&W labs are mostly for professional work, and their processing by hand will always cost more that the auto processing and printing of the minilab.

 

Kodak also make a film of the same type. I think of these as convenience films. They do however feature an absence of grain, because the image is finally recorded in a dye base instead silver particles. They ARE in effect 'colour' negatives, so in fact they CAN be dropped in at the minilab. But they do not allow the development controls possible with silver based film. They are designed to produce optimum results with standard C41 processing.

 

The ASA range is another way of saying that you can under and over expose, and still get an image. Iford have also produced B&W disposable cameras loaded with XP2 to exploit this very feature, allowing the totally inexperienced snapper the possibility of making black and white photographs. Use the film with confidence. Good luck. KP

I shoot XP2 in 35mm & 120 quite a bit. In my experience, rating it around 200 gets best results under normal shooting circumstances. Which paper you plan to print on doesn't determine how you rate the film. The film prints well on color paper, but you can definitely see some funky colors. I've had rolls processed at drug store minilabs that have produced pink, yellow, sepia, etc. I recommend taking the film to a digital (Frontier, Agfa D lab, etc) lab. They can usually control the color shift, and print in grayscale if that's what you prefer. I like to get the proofs with a light sepia tone. For enlargments, I usually print myself onto B&W paper at home. XP2 negs print very nicely onto B&W paper.

Come on Earth. There have been so many threads about this in the past month already. Use the Photo.net search!

Earth Man...<p>XP2 Super...very good!<P>XP2 Super can be shot at any ISO from 50 to 800 without changing the normal C41 processing of the negs. For <i>me</i> XP2 Super looks best shot around ISO 320 (in my Elan 7e). For <i>me</i> XP2 Super usually looks <i>really bad</i> when shot at ISO 800 or when underexposed. And why do I shoot XP2 Super at 100 or 200 at times? Because I want a softer, lower contrast, grain free look for nudes or baby's skin or gals headshots.<P>XP2 Super negs can then be printed on B&W paper or on color paper -- although color paper proofs <I>may</i> have a color cast to them (the cast will not be present on B&W paper enlargements made from those negs).<p>And as an aside the other great benefit with XP2 Super is the negs scan really well.<p>Earth Man...hope you enjoy the results!

In my opinion, the best negatives are produced exposing this film at ISO 200. They print ok on color paper, but better prints are obtained with b&w paper and chemistry.

 

I just got few test rolls of Konica Monochrome VX-400 (Konica's black and white chromogenic film) back from the lab and I am very happy with the results, they were exposed at ISO 100, ISO 200 and ISO 400, the best negatives were those exposed at ISO 200 (as with Ilford XP2 Super) and printed on Fujicolor Crystal Archive paper (optical prints) and they look much better than the ones I usually get with Ilford XP2 Super because there is no color tint, the prints look very close to regular b&w paper prints, I guess because this film has a very "orange" base that looks exactly as the typical orange base of color negative film. I highly recommend this film, much better than Ilford XP2 Super and Kodak T400CN when printed on color paper.

Indeed.

 

 

Dye based black and white films scan extremely well.

 

 

--- JDR