Printing with XP2 Super- Arghhhhh!

[Terry S]

Originally Posted by Terry S

I've just bought a roll to try John.

As soon as I get some spare time on a sunny day, I'll be out and about down the seafront to try it out...

Well, yesterday was a lovely bright and sunny day, so I managed to get to the sea front (as it's only about 1.5 miles down the road, it's not too much of a chore ) and managed to shoot half of a 36 exposure roll of XP2. I can't imagine it will take much longer to finish it off, then off to my local Snappy Snaps to get it d and p'ed.

Terry S

[Terry S]

Well, being free yesterday (a Saturday), I returned to the seafront and managed to park directly next to a lagoon, especially made for the kids to splash about in and something I've had my eye to photograph for a while. To my benefit and because of the time of year, there was no one in it, although the seafront was very busy. I set up my 35mm Pentax MZ5N camera, with a 28 - 80 zoom, on a tripod and finished off the second half of the 36 exposure film. I used various filter combinations, with a lot of the exposures being taken at +1 / -1 f-stop alongside the correct exposure.

Being only the second time that I have used XP2, I decided to get it processed once more at my local Snappy Snaps, with a view to process it in ID11 / D76 home brew the next time I get the urge to use the film again. When I was told the price of d+p'ing of the 36 exposures, using their one hour service, I knew that I would definitely home process the next time. For the enprints that I ordered at 6" x 4" on a matt surface, to give me an idea of what they might look like when I printed them, cost me £17.50 + £10 for the roll of film!! What with the cost of petrol, it worked out slightly cheaper to pay the extra £2 or so for the one hour service, rather than returning on Monday to pick them up at the slightly cheaper price.

I was pleasantly surprised by the prints though, although I know they are only a guide, but there are some interesting images. I'm going into the darkroom today to try printing some on both MGIV and MGV deluxe, to see if I have similar problems to John.

Another post will follow soon-ish.

Terry S

[Terry S]

Well, here is a recently taken XP2 negative that has been printed on both Ilford MGIV and MGV RC Satin paper. The film was developed at my local SnappySnaps, with small enprints made, which were very good and will help me choose which negatives to print. A contact sheet will be made prior to this though, as I took under and over exposures with various filters of one subject, with the camera being put on a sturdy tripod. I think that the processor has tried to average out the print exposures, therefore a few of them look very similar.

They are as titled, with MGIV grade 3 at the top; MGV grade 2 in the middle; and MGV grade 3 at the bottom, taking into account that MGV is about one grade harder than MGIV.

@John King, I'm sorry to report John that I had no difficulty printing this XP2 negative on either MGIV or MGV, of which I confirmed by printing a second negative on MGV as well.

The enlarger lamp is one of the newer lower wattage bulbs and the developer used was Ilford MG in a three slot Nova processor.

The print at the bottom was initially made at grade 3, as I forgot to decrease the grade in accordance with the knowledge that MGV is about one grade harder. I like both of the initial prints but have a slight preference for the grade 3 version made on MGV paper though. I just find myself preferring the slightly darker mid-tones.

Comments are welcome.

Terry S

[alexmuir]

The third image is the best for me, because the stronger contrast suits the subject. What EI did you use to expose this film? It seems to have worked well.
Alex


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Terry S]

Originally Posted by alexmuir

The third image is the best for me, because the stronger contrast suits the subject. What EI did you use to expose this film? It seems to have worked well.
Alex

Hi Alex, the shot above was taken about 3 pm on a sunny afternoon, just under two weeks ago, with the ISO set at the carton speed of 400.

As mentioned previously, I shot other frames at ISO 400, along with +1f and -1f exposures. I'll be looking at and printing a few of them soon-ish, to see what difference that may make. Ilford does say that XP2 can be reduced to ISO 50, for the finest grain (but with denser negatives) and up to ISO 800, neither of which I thought to try - so maybe on the next film, which will be developed in b/w chemicals at home.

Terry S

[alexmuir]

Thanks Terry. I used it at one point with an orange filter. I may also have used yellow/green as well. I was trying to stimulate interest in the sky. Anyway, the negatives were all very underexposed. It may be that traditional B&W contrast filters don’t suit this film. Perhaps others will have experience of this. I was exposing at EI 400 at that time, and compensating, or so I thought, for the filters. Your image at 400 looks very good.
Alex


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Mike O'Pray]

[QUOTE=alexmuir;148599] I used it at one point with an orange filter. I may also have used yellow/green as well. I was trying to stimulate interest in the sky. Anyway, the negatives were all very underexposed. It may be that traditional B&W contrast filters don’t suit this film. Perhaps others will have experience of this. I was exposing at EI 400 at that time, and compensating, or so I thought, for the filters. Your image at 400 looks very good.
Alex

Alex, I have used XP2 once only and never with filters The negs looked fine but I haven't printed from them. It surprises me if the same filters do not apply in the same way to XP2 as to trad b&w film

Ilford has a short article about using filters for b&w and if you need to apply different factors for trad b&w film I'd imagine Ilford would say so but I can't recall seeing anything

A bit of a mystery here

Mike

[Terry S]

On some of the exposures I did use either a red filter, a polarizer and a variable ND filter and some in tandem. When I get to print a few test prints I'll let you know how the film reacted.

Terry S

[photomi7ch]

Originally Posted by John King

Has anyone had problems printing XP2 onto Multigrade 5. The negs print quite easily onto Kentmere fine print, but try to get a decent print on MG5 would try the patience of a saint!

I eventually managed after a lot of test strips eventually using Grade 1.5 but only if I doubled the development time to 2mins.With Gd2 the contrast went through the roof and with Gd1, it was awful.

Any thoughts?

Because the base colour of the negative is very close to grade three Have you tried printing without dialing in any filters?

[Mike O'Pray]

Originally Posted by photomi7ch

Because the base colour of the negative is very close to grade three Have you tried printing without dialing in any filters?

An interesting question. I wonder what the result will be Worth a try for those with XP2

Mike