Xp2

N

Nikon Bob

Guest
Tried to have my local 1hr lab process some XP2 today and when I went to pick it up was told that they could not print it. They use a Agfa machine which will develope it but not print it. Anyone ever have a similar experience with XP2? It is a new one on me but my film scanner got around that. At least they did not charge for the service. Maybe I should try it again for some more free developing!

Bob
 
My local minilab can print XP2 to some degree on an Agfa processor.

the prints show some colors in the shadows and midtones and so I don't order them anymore.

XP2 is made for printing on B&W paper and has a clear base. This means it has to be filtered different to color film with an orange base.
Kodak addresses this with BW400CN which has an orange base, too. But what I got back from Eurocolor was, well, disgusting.
My local minilab processes on an Agfa processor, too and the prints are not that bad. They show some green color cast in the shadows and red in the middtones but are usable as proofs.

As I get HP5 and Tri-X cheaper than XP2 or BW400CN I'm back to homeprocessing. It's not as fast as the minilab, including the 20min walk, but my results are as good and I do my own scanning anyways.
And homeprocessing opens new possibilities the chromogenics don't offer.
From PanF to Delta3200 every B&W film is different and as soon as I'm comfortable with my developer, I'm going to experiment with different dilutions and then start over with other developers. The fun's just started 🙂
 
Xp2 prints are always somewhere between a muddy sepia and just muddy when I get it developed, better to just get the negs and scan yourself.

Todd
 
That's right! I agree with Todd and I have yet to make a single print for 2 years! All my work is scanned on CDs.
 
Hi Guys

Yeh, I know about having it printed on real B&W paper and getting cruddy results. They claimed their machine would not accept the film for printing and none were made, Strange EH. I did not really want the prints anyway as I scan so the free developing was a bonus. I don't do home developing because I hate chemicals. We have enough potent chemicals at the pulp mill to do me a life time.

Bob
 
Nikon Bob,
That's a new one on me. All labs I've use locally use the Fuji Frontier machines and only have occasional "Operator" error problems. As long as they use the proper paper and settings, it comes out perfectly.
 
I get my XP2 done at a Fuji Frontier lab and get very nice prints on the fuji colour paper with no colour cast. But then this is the only consistent lab I've come across, I've asked them if they have a secret but they said its just a combination of a well set up machine and desaturating the image to get no colour cast.
 
Nikon Bob, my experience is in line with H* and Laika... my local lab uses Agfa machinery and prints my XP2 just fine. Sometimes there's a faint overall sepia tint, but they usually get it looking fine. I think it's a matter of having the gear set up to do this in the first place, and operator care.

My first thought when reading your comment was that your lab folks were puzzled why the prints didn't come out in color and figured something was wrong with your film. 🙂

I'm very fond of XP2; I like the 'look'.
 
Doug

That is my thought also about the gear not being setup for XP2. Funny, they do Kodak C41 B&W juat fine for a one hour lab.

Bob
 
Bob,

Just had about the same experience recently, but since the processing lab was a big Kodak one, they just developed it in C41 and sent it over to their B&W section for the printing. Not exactly what I had asked for (colour printing is cheaper by about half here in France), but the results were quite good - will put some pics in the gallery. When I complained about the extra cost they argued that XP2 was meant to be printed in B&W...I've checked the Ilford site and that is precisely what it says about XP2. OTOH, I've ocasionally had XP2 developed and printed in one-hour labs on colour paper with acceptable results - some colour cast, but not much stronger than Kodak TCN. So it probably depends on the machine setup and the experience in dealing with this film.

Marcelo
 
Nikon Bob said:
That is my thought also about the gear not being setup for XP2. Funny, they do Kodak C41 B&W juat fine for a one hour lab.
Click to expand...
I've had the same experience with my local lab (Motophoto). They did a wonderful job with T400CN but really messed up some XP2.
 
Peter

Messing up the XP2 probably goes back to what Marcelo said about having to be printed on B&W paper. I never had really great results with any C41 B&W films as far as the prints go but I scan to get what I want and then print the few I want on an HP7960. I usually get decent results this way.

Bob
 
Bob it wasn't the printing. The XP2 negs had nowhere near the quality of the T400CN stuff - they were very grainy. As far as I know I exposed correctly and I've had excellent results from XP2 developed by a different lab. Maybe it was just operator error.
 
Hi to all,

I haven't bought a scanner yet but I'm bouncing all these ideas around in my head: a) shoot color c41, develop and print at minilab, scan 4X6 on flatbed (adaquate for web use) and use Photoshop to convert to B&W. b) shoot color c41, develop at Kodak and receive prints, index print and CDscan then go the Photoshop route. Eventually I will get a film scanner, just not sure whether I will be content with cheeper one or if my nature will make me go for the Max! I have been shooting some TriX and will process it soon, but I no longer have a darkroom, so I will have to get a scanner eventually,
 
SteveW,
If you go with a film/negative scanner you'll save having a lab print them at all. Just have them do C41 developing and scan the negs and print what you like.
Much cheaper than having them print it and you have the control.
 
Peter

I think they developed my XP2 OK. For a scanned example check my gallery. Not too grainy consider I shot at 400 and not 200.

SteveW

You can scan C41, colour or B&W, traditional B&W and slides with a good dedicated film scanner. The CDs/DVDs that you can burn from the scanned files would likely be better than what you would get from a minlab. I assume you already have a PC so it should be the easiest way to handle film at home. If you home process B&W film you are off to the races. For Photoshop I use Elements 2.0 that came with my Minolta 5400 scanner and feel no need to upgrade to CS or whatever is the latest.

Bob
 
Kodak CD images

Kodak CD images

Shot with Olympus Stlyus last year. Kodak Gold, PhotoShop CS, Channel Mixer. Just an experiment.
 
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