Lovely film, with great contrast

Not my absolute favourite film stocks, but very useful if you only have C-41 chemicals or don't want to pay your regular lab the higher prices that tend to be charged for separate black and white developing.

Had the delight of using the new Reto Pano camera and Ilford XP2 film both purchased from Analogue Wonderland. The camera is a delight to use as a quick and easy photo capture and the Ilford XP2 was great for street scenes and architecture around the old Welsh Town. Service and processing were great and I will be repeating this many times in the future!

I tried this out last year on a dull day in December and was favourably impressed, so I thought I'd see how it coped with capturing livelier subject matter in somewhat brighter weather at the Peper Harow Point-to-Point and later in SE1 in Waterloo sunshine. XP2 showed winning form in all conditions. Thoroughly recommended - you won't regret placing a tenner on this one!

I've always loved XP2, it's crisp and it's proper black and white with great contrast. But now I do all my own developing, it's amazing just being able to develop it in the same tank as my colour films at the same time.

Disclaimer: I'm just a guy who enjoys taking photos and have no formal training in photography.
I recently had a Zenit EM in full working order come into my possession which got me wondering. I read a few reviews and ultimately chose this film because at a pinch I could take it to [High Street Store], being a C41 development. Being an ISO 400 film I shot at box speed using the EM's built in light meter, which I now know reads 1 stop under. I spent a good few hours around a local country park and hall. The pictures I got after being developed by AW pleasantly surprised me and it looked like the XP2 had been very forgiving even accounting for underexposure. It gave some good grain that I liked, gave it an old photo look, though some may find it too much. Would I recommend to others? Definitely. As a first foray into B&W? I don't know, maybe. However, it is a good all round film. If you've been thinking about trying it, go for it.

I don't know how often I'll use this film. It's convenient for dull weather days (lots of them in the UK!) but I'm not too keen on the tonality.

I haven't used too much black & white film lately but this has made me want to experiment more and more. The contrast is superb but also gives an etheral feel when pushed. Definitely give my photos a different kind of feel. Very versatile, can make any picture look amazing.
Definitely a film I will continue to use

A c41 black and white film is super useful when having things developed as its just cheaper, so that alone is a good reason to but xp2. My favourite thing about it though is the latitude, almost every photo I've ever taken on xp2 has been well exposed, or at least exposed how I wanted it to be. You can shoot it at any iso between 200 and 800 on the same roll and get good shots. You could probably take it further but I haven't tried that yet. The grain is also pretty fine for a 400 speed film, I love it and need to shoot more.

XP2 has a major upside- it can be developed in colour chemistry alongside your colour film. I find it a little difficult to work with in darkroom printing though.

Cracking B&W film - my go-to.

I moaned about the noise last time - or was it the time before.

I'm now reversing my ferret on that matter, because it can add to some stuff.

I quite like the way the marram on the beach shot on a rum dull winter's day turned out.

Wondification of the film left a few specks in the sky but not a deal breaker.

Quite liked these, as usual with XP2 some nice tones if a little lacking in the shadows which is easy to correct in post.

They had a bit too much noise - ie marks which were visible in the sky when I opened up the scans - for my liking .

So I just ran them through some noise reduction and then gave it a bit more sharpness and job's a good 'un, Bob's your Mum's brother...

Maybe a bold claim but I've come to love this film and the way the Wondies cook it.

It's widely-acknowledged latitude helps the cause and delivers lovely tones with just a gentle nudge or two in post.

Talking of which, I probably need to go back and clean a few dust spots off the scans when I can be bothered but still worth a big 5*****

On a dull day in December, XP2 came up trumps, with super fine grain and good solid blacks. It's been donkeys years since I shoot a roll but I shall definitely be using it a lot more in 2026. Thoroughly recommended.