Pushing Ilford XP2

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On a recent trip, I took a camera with XP2 (Ilford's Chromagenic 400 ASA B&W film) through airport security. As I had already exposed about 5 shots on the roll and didn't want to bother removing and re-inserting the film, I asked for and received a hand inspection of the camera. Later, after having shot the entire roll, I went to remove the film and discovered that the security person had moved the ASA dial on the bottom of the camera to 1600 ASA. The film had therefore been 2 stops underexposed.

My question is: Can FP2 be successfully pushed 2 stops? Should I push it just one stop and hope the film's exposure latitude will account for the extra underexposed stop?

Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

J. Dawson

-- J. Dawson (dawson@imagefarm.com), January 08, 2002

Answers

I've shot it down to 1250 with good results from normal processing but at 1600 its going to be very thin. If the scenes you photographed were pretty flat you might squeak by. I've never seen great results from this film pushed. (it just gets ugly contrasty) If you have a lab who pushes C41 regularly then they might have an idea of the result. Worth a try I guess. Talk to your lab.

-- Henry Ambrose (henry@henryambrose.com), January 08, 2002.

As Henry says; C41 gets awfully grainy, and the highlights block up with the slightest push. If the subject was low in contrast, then you might want to try a one-stop push.
In fact, I doubt that you'll find a lab that'll even attempt a 2 stop push for you.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), January 10, 2002.

Thanks to those who responded to my question. For future reference, Ilford's response was:

"XP2 does not respond very well to push processing, although if you can find a lab that can do it, a push process will certainly not hurt. Unfortunatly, I don't think that there is anything that will give you better than marginable results. Good luck with it."

Lesson learned. At least now I'll never forget to check all camera settings if my camera gets inspected.

If anyone is interested in the results I do get from pushing the film one stop, let me know and I'll post the results.

J. Dawson

-- J. Dawson (dawson@imagefarm.com), January 10, 2002.


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