IlfordXP2 Super

Ilford XP2 Super is a black-and-white negative film rated ISO 400 that is developed in standard C-41 color chemistry, so any lab that handles color negatives can process it [1]. It is a chromogenic film: the image is made of dye formed during development, not of silver [1]. It is still sold under the Ilford name, in 35 mm and 120 [2].

Look and color

XP2 Super is panchromatic and gives a soft, gray-heavy black-and-white image:

• Many midtones. One reviewer describes “a lot of midtones and greys” and finds HP5 Plus “more dramatic” [4]. Another describes “buttery smooth” images [5].
• Contrast is debated. Some reviews stress the soft rendering, while others praise “crisp bright whites and deep blacks” [8] or “inky blacks” [5], and one calls it “remarkably high-contrast” with crushed blacks [7]. Ilford’s own wording, “enhanced negative contrast”, is about print quality on paper [1]. We read the graph as soft (see below) and this disagreement likely reflects the lab, the scanner and the scene.
• The negative is pink or red-brown, a dye mask that Ilford says does not affect image quality [1]. Color proof prints from a lab may come out close to neutral or toned, depending on the lab [1].

Tonality

• Curve. On the datasheet’s characteristic curve, base plus fog sits near 0.25 density. The toe is soft, the slope is about 0.55 between log H 2 and 3, and the shoulder is long, with a slope of about 0.3 beyond 3 (our reading of a small graph, so about ±0.05 in density) [1]. It is the same for 35 mm and 120 [1].
• Latitude. Ilford calls the exposure latitude “extremely wide”: EI 50 to 800 with the same development [1]. Overexposed or down-rated negatives have finer grain, the opposite of a silver film, and underexposed ones lose only a little quality [1]. A reviewer found it forgiving of overexposure but less so of severe underexposure [7].
• Speed choice. EI 400 gives the best balance of sharpness and grain; EI 200 gives finer grain with easy printing; EI 50 gives the finest grain with denser negatives [1].
• Pushing. Ilford advises against push processing: it brings no practical speed gain, so expose at EI 800 and process normally [1]. Reviewers report EI 800 with no visible loss [6] and, in one case, EI 1600 [4].
• Long exposures. No correction from 1 to 1/10,000 s; beyond 1 s, adjusted time is metered time to the power 1.31 [1].

Grain and sharpness

• Ilford’s datasheet gives no RMS or grain index, so XP2 Super cannot be ranked on paper against silver films. RMS values from different developers are only roughly comparable.
• Reviews: “smooth, small-grained images, with a softness” [5]; fine grain “even at 800”, which “doesn’t impose itself on the look” [6]; “fine and even” [8]. One reviewer found the grain “slightly chunkier than Kodak’s Tri-X” [7], which contradicts the others.
• The grain is made of dye clouds, not silver crystals, and Ilford describes the film as sharp with “exceptionally sharp, crisp prints” [1]. No resolving power figure is given.

Spectral sensitivity

Sensitivity is broad from violet to orange: a plateau near 0.8 from 430 to 490 nm, a slight dip near 500 nm, a maximum around 575 nm, then a sharp cut-off between 635 and 658 nm [1]. In practice, blue skies come out lighter and skin and reds darker than in a luminance conversion, close to HP5 Plus [9]. The film has no sensitivity beyond about 658 nm, which is why deep reds should render dark.

Names, status and history

• Family. According to Wikipedia, XP1 came in 1981, XP2 in 1991, XP2 Plus in 1996 and XP2 Super in 1998 [3]. This is a secondary source.
• Single-use cameras. Ilford’s page lists XP2 Super in single-use cameras [2]; Wikipedia dates them from 2013 [3].
• Status. On September 30, 2026, Ilford’s product page listed the film as available, in 35 mm, 120 and single-use cameras [2]. The datasheet adds 24 and 36 exposure cassettes, 30.5 m (100 ft) bulk rolls, and 120 edge-numbered 1 to 19 [1].
• Other chromogenic film. Wikipedia says Kodak’s BW400CN was discontinued in 2014, and that XP2 Super was later the only black-and-white film developed in C-41 [3]. We did not confirm the current market ourselves.
• Datasheet. The most recent we found is dated November 2018, published by Harman technology (Ilford’s maker) [1].