ILFORD XP2 400 - Film Review

Never mind splashing out on a Leica Monochrom, just get your ancient 1950’s Leica M3 out of the cupboard and load it up with a roll of Ilford XP2. The sheer latitude of the amazing British product will astound you. It’s very difficult to gat a bad exposure when estimating the light or using a handheld meter.

And the bonus point is that you take it to your High Street D&P facility – Boots/Max etc and it gets processed alongside the regular happy snaps from returnees from Malaga et al.

I take the easy way and load up my pair of Leica R8 bodies and 35mm f2 Summicron. Film runs out? I just swap lenses with theccap on 2nd body. That way I have the luxury of Program for the shooting mode and Matrix for the exposure metering. Just very sophisticated point-and-shoots. Who needs digital. What the €¥<£ is a “pixel”? Oh dear.

The most important aspect for me is that unlike other B&W films, XP2 is left with no silver halide particles after development. This means that you can use infrared dust removal systems like ICE during scanning. No more retouching to get rid of dust and scratches!

XP2 is easily one of my favorite black and white films. Sharpness is excellent. Grain seems unnoticeable in most conditions. Contrast is excellent. All around wonderful film for landscapes and cityscapes.