>
> ...If I had to chose ONE film
> to put into ONE camera, across a wide range of conditions, XP2 would
> be quite high up on my list.
>
> The dynamic range (well, on the highlight side) is just astounding, it
> may even beat FP4/HP5.
>
Dawid, I totally agree with your assessment. Ilford did a smashingly good
job with this film and it has a shoulder and toe that go on forever. This is
how they say you can shoot it from 50 to 800. You actually can't, but the
exposure range is more forgiving than other films. The "straight-line
section" of the response curve is non-existant, though.
Because the straight-line section is so short (doesn't even exist,
actually), if you shoot other than an ISO 400 (the nominal film speed), you
end up putting the subject too far into the compressed regions and you lose
tonal seperation. Most of us like to shoot the film at ISO 200, but I find
ISO 320 to be about the best compromise. as the mid-high tones compress too
much at ISO 200.
XP2 scans exceptionally well and is very printable in the wet darkroom. My
only concerns with it in the darkroom are two-fold: The film scratches very
easily and base is so dark that you have to double or triple your enlarger
print exposure times.
The biggest problem with mini-lab processing of XP2 is that the wash
sequence is too short and doesn't clear the base enough. If you have a roll
which is a little too dark, go ahead and resoak it for ten minutes in a
water wash and redry. Don't touch the film for at least 24 hours after
soaking it, though, as the scratching hazard is severe.
AG
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