Magic without Silver – Ilford XP2 Super

Introduction

Ilford XP2 Super 400 is best known for a unique characteristic: though it is a genuine black and white film, it can be processed using standard C41 processing alongside everyday colour films on the high street.

There’s much more to XP2 Super 400, of course. Ilford emphasises several virtues, including fine grain, sharpness, wide tonal range, wide exposure latitude and enhanced negative contrast.

Unsurprisingly, it has a fan base – I’ve seen it described in photographers’ blogs as ‘The People’s Black and White Film – cheap, accessible and plentiful’. I’ve also seen it eulogised as ‘the one…with its silvery highlights, shadow detail and deep blacks’.

I will declare myself a fan. I originally shot with it as part of my exploration of black and white film, but I’ve become a regular user. This article is a result of that exploration.

The History of Ilford XP2 Super (and Chromogenic B&W Film)

Ilford XP2 Super is part of the XP (eXpanded Process) series, launched by Ilford Photo (UK) in the early 1980s as a response to the emerging chromogenic black-and-white film market.

To give XP2 its full backstory, it’s worth taking a brief diversion to summarise the history of chromogenic black-and-white films.  These emerged in the mid-20th century as an offshoot of colour negative film development. Unlike traditional B&W films, which form an image from metallic silver, chromogenic B&W films form their images from dye clouds, developed through C-41 colour chemistry. In other words, they can be developed simply by just about any lab.

In the 1950s and 1960s Kodak and other companies experimented with dye-coupler technology in colour emulsions.  This laid the groundwork for black and white chromogenic films and by the 1970s the use of C-41 chemistry to simplify black and white lab work had become attractive enough for consumers and press photographers for a market to develop.

Back to the XP Series, and in 1980  Ilford released XP1.  This was among the first commercially available chromogenic B&W films.  In 1988 XP1 was replaced by XP2, which offered improved grain, contrast control, and better exposure latitude. In 1998 the film was re-engineered and launched as XP2 Super, the version still in production today, featuring fine grain for ISO 400, broad exposure latitude (‘ISO 50–800’) and of course, compatibility with standard C-41 labs.

The other chromogenic black and white films were Fuji’s Nepoan 400CN and Kodak’s BW400CN.  In 2014, Kodak discontinued BW400CN, citing falling demand. Fuji followed suit in 2020. Today, Ilford XP2 Super is the last chromogenic B&W film still in production.  

Magic Without Silver?

Whether or not you think there’s any magic in Ilford XP2 Super, the film itself does contain silver in the form of halide crystals (just like traditional B&W film). Moreover, when exposed to light, the image is formed initially in silver. However, during C-41 development, the silver halides trigger dye couplers that form the final image from dyes. The silver is then bleached and fixed away, leaving only the dye image – without silver.

Appearance

XP2’s grain is virtually invisible in well-exposed areas, especially compared to silver halide-based films like HP5 or Tri-X. XP2 has smooth midtones, and offers slightly compressed highlights and shadows, which is ideal for architecture, and well-lit landscapes – which is what I use it for. When I get a good, well exposed shot, XP2 rewards it.

Who Uses Ilford XP2?

XP2 hasn’t built a celebrity or cult following like Tri-X, but I’ve read that it was valued by photojournalists working on tight deadlines in the 1990s and early 2000s, who needed fast, lab-friendly B&W film.  Wedding and portrait photographers, especially in the UK and Europe, where high-volume C-41 labs were common, were also users.

Today, it is embraced by fine art photographers seeking grain-free wide tonal range, and those in architectural or documentary fields looking for the same. More recently, XP2 has gained popularity among some ‘hybrid shooters’, who scan the negatives rather than print in the darkroom.

Getting the Best from XP2 Super 400

The first step in getting the best results from any film is to know its strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths – Good Light and a Little Over Exposure

Beyond convenient processing, XP2 is excellent in good light. With proper or slight overexposure and good light, XP2 delivers sharp, high-contrast images with a wide tonal range, which is especially good for landscapes.

The film has ‘high exposure latitude’ (film speeds can be ‘pushed’ and ‘pulled’) and apparently can be exposed between ISO 100 and 800 on the same roll and developed normally.  I have tried one-stop variations successfully.

Weaknesses – Underexposure and Low Light

XP2 is vulnerable to underexposure: Underexposed areas tend to block up with deep blacks and lose their midtones. I have to be careful with XP2 as I tend to create more low-key than high-key images.

It’s also not the best in low light.  Shadows can become muddy and somewhat lifeless. Though XP2 is known as being a ‘forgiving’ film, it is not as forgiving as traditional silver-based films in low light.

Shooting XP2 for Best Results

I’ve learned that XP2 thrives in bright daylight .  A slight overexposure (ISO 200–320) can help preserve shadow detail.

I scan my images for this website. XP2 scans well, but when it’s underexposed, or the image is very high contrast, the scanner can amplify noise (especially in shadows), and the resulting scan simulates grain that isn’t technically in the emulsion.  This is evident in the shot below, which looks quite grainy.

This is especially the case when you increase contrast (especially to give a bit more structure to a flat scan), as the texture becomes more apparent.

In the image here, the upper, darker sky shows grain. The battered, weathered wood is also detailed and “grain-revealing.” I’ve learned that even fine-grain film will show more texture when the subject contains lots of edges and patterns. There is some loss of shadow detail on the right of the shot. The shot was taken in bright sunlight, but I underexposed the image slightly.

Metering with the XP2

If you want to avoid losing shadow detail, as I have above, spot metering is your best bet. Just identify your darkest important shadow, not pure black, but a shadow where you want visible texture and take a spot reading of that area. Then expose 1 to 1 ½ stops below that reading and you should be in great shape.

If you only have a centre weighted meter, as I have both on my Leica M6 TTL and Nikon F3, (and no hand held meter), you need to know the size of the metered area to use it effectively. See the table below for the details on how to use centre weighted metering with two very different cameras.

Aspect	Leica M6 TTL	Nikon F3
Metered Area	~13%, central patch	~80%, central weighted
Where to aim	Shadow texture (precise area)	Balanced area (avoid sky)
Exposure compensation	Open 1 stop after metering shadow	Overexpose by ⅓–⅔ stop

For more on this, see the article SLR vs Rangefinder Metering on this site.

Legacy

While many photographers prefer silver-based films, chromogenic B&W has served as a practical solution for many working photographers from the ’80s onward.

XP2 remains unique as the only mainstream black and white film that uses colour negative development dye clouds instead of silver grain. It also has a unique look, and for many, including me, that’s it’s biggest appeal.