Ilford XP2 super 400 120

[Allen Jon]

Hi all,
Has anyone had experience with Ilford XP2 super 120 400 black and white film as I shot a roll of it yesterday and want to make sure I’m going to get the developing right.
The film also expired in 2016.

I used my spot meter to expose the shadows and placed the in zone iii. When I took a reading of the scene from darkest to brightest part, my aperture readings were from f/5.6 in the shadows to f/16 at the brightest areas. So I have a 3 stop difference making it a low contrast scene. So from what I remember, I have to develop longer to get more contrast and tones.

Can anyone please tell me how much more time to add to develop the film and also correct anything I’ve mentioned that I may be wrong about.

I’ve also attached an image of the kit I’m going to use. It’s also a couple of years old.

Thank you in advance for any help.

 

[Chris Bennett]

Hi.
As it happens, I shot a roll of expired XP2 on Saturday.
I've never used that developer, I'm afraid and I realise that most of what I am about to say is not in the least bit relevant to your situation, but you may find it interesting.

With black and white film that has expired, I tend to ignore the 'extra stop for each decade' rule that most people recommend. If it's really old, I'll use a semi-stand development in Rodinal.

I like XP2, but not so much when it's developed in process C41 - I think it looks rather boring and flat. The best results I have had were with caffenol, but on Saturday, I used ID11 that has been mixed for over 7 months and was pretty impressed with what I got. I quite like to see what happens when you break rules!

Below is one of those I shot on Saturday. Shot at 400 with a Pentax LX / Tamron Adaptall 90mm f/2.5. Developed in Ilford ID11 for 10 minutes 30 secs.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Welcome to the forum, Allen. Or is it Jon?

 

[Brian Moore]

I had actually intended to respond to your post about the c41 developer a couple of days ago but I got distracted. Although I have no experience with the particular kit you have, nor could I respond out of experience with regard to Ilford XP2 in 120, what I was going to mention was to consider the shelf life of your c41 kit. You said it's a couple of years old.

But you like to break the rules so who cares.

By the way, that portrait you posted turned out very nice.