Ilford XP2 Super - 35mm Chromogenic Black & White Film

Black and white film for people who can't be bothered with separate chemistry. Genius, really. Ilford XP2 Super is a chromogenic black and white film that processes in standard C-41 colour chemicals, which means you can develop it literally anywhere that does colour film—your local lab, the high street chemist, that dodgy minilab at the supermarket. But why would you use any of those folks when Chemical Dependency Lab can develop for you? No specialised black and white chemistry required, no separate development run, no explaining to the lab tech what you're trying to do. Just drop it off with your colour rolls and collect sharp, fine-grain black and white negatives. It's the film equivalent of having your cake and developing it too.

What Makes Ilford XP2 Super Cleverly Practical

ISO 400 - Versatile speed for general photography, but the real magic is how it handles wide subject brightness ranges. High contrast scenes that would destroy other films? XP2 Super just shrugs and renders them beautifully.

C-41 Processing - Develops in standard colour negative chemistry alongside your colour films. This is the convenience factor that makes XP2 Super genuinely brilliant for people who want black and white without the processing faff.

Extremely Wide Exposure Latitude - Rate it anywhere from ISO 50 to 800 without changing processing, and here's where it gets weird (in a good way): overexpose it and grain gets finer. Underexpose it and quality barely drops. This is the opposite of how normal film behaves, which is frankly delightful.

Fine Grain & Sharp Results - Exceptionally sharp, crisp images with fine grain structure. Best balance at ISO 400, but even when pushed or pulled the quality stays remarkably high.

Excellent Highlights & Improved Shadows - Enhanced negative contrast gives you rich blacks and bright whites with gorgeous tonal gradation. Prints beautifully on standard black and white paper.

Chromogenic Technology - Image dyes form during development rather than being present in the film. This is the technical wizardry that makes the backwards grain behaviour and extreme latitude possible. Science!

DX Coded - Automatic cameras will set ISO 400 automatically. Though frankly you can ignore that and rate it however you fancy—XP2 Super is forgiving like that.

Best For

Photographers who want black and white results without dedicated chemistry, travel shooting where you can't guarantee black and white processing, high contrast scenes with wide brightness ranges, anyone who wants the convenience of colour processing with black and white aesthetics, and people who think "exposure latitude" is more suggestion than rule.

Perfect for: not maintaining separate chemistry stocks, developing black and white at the corner shop, and quietly enjoying the convenience while everyone else wrestles with Rodinal at 2am - that's us by the way!

Perfect for photographers who love black and white but value convenience over ritual. XP2 Super proves that making things easier doesn't mean compromising results—sometimes it just means being smart about chemistry.