First, please don’t anyone laugh about how stoopid I am when it comes to film-developing issues.
Now then. Anyone ever use this stuff? (or any other black and white chromogenic film)
Acquaintance of mine did, and her photos looked great, so I bought a couple rolls myself. When I got the pictures developed about half of them were seriously underexposed. Can anyone tell me if this is a common problem with this type of film or if I just brought the rolls to a shitty developer and, in either case, if there’s anything special I should be doing to prevent this happening in future.
Also (really dumb question time) my friend’s photos all had a slight yellowish tint - I assume this is just a case of asking the developer to make them a wee bit yellow, right?
ruadh, the underexposure could just be a result of a poor development job. Another possibility would be the settings you used when exposing the film. I know on my own camera, it’s possible to expose the film at a speed value different from the stated film speed, but it’s difficult to do accidentally.
As for the yellowish tint, this seems to be pretty common with the C-41 process black and white films. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it does seem to happen regularly. My developer also let me know that the emulsion on the film is pretty vulnerable, so it’s quite easy to end up with scratched negatives if the film is run through a processing machine. Even though the XP2 is more convenient, I went back to Ilford Delta film, and am happier with the results.
One other thing on the color shift. I looked around a bit, and apparently printing the Ilford XP2 on color photo paper instead of black and white paper can contribute to the tinting. If the lab processor you’re using usually sends out B&W to be developed and printed, they may keep only color paper on hand. You might want to try the Kodak T400CN film. From what I’ve read, it’s designed to be printed on color paper.
An easy way to explain the underdevelopment is to look where it occurs. Are only certain frames underdeveloped? If so, then your camera settings are probably to blaim. Your light meter may have been fooled by anyone of a number of things (depending on how your meter works). If the underexposure is blotchy, or crosses frame lines, and this doesn’t happen with other film in your camera, the development is probably at fault.
As for the tint, C-41 process “black and white” films aren’t built like conventional B+W films, but based on dyes in the emulsion. The Ilford I’ve shot tinted lavendar, and Kodak’s version tinted reddish-brown. The money point is that even though the films aren’t actually black and white, they are monochrome (whichever chrome that happens to be) so they’ll print normally on B+W paper.
Apeture settings affect color. If you’re shooting "slow’ subject matter experiment with different settings.
B&W paper will cure this problem, as will sending it out to be developed that defeats the purpose of this film. If you want good quality B&W photos, buy true B&W film and have it developed professionally.
Thanks for the replies folks. With regard to the yellowish tint I guess I should have made it clear that I like the tint that my friend’s photos have - and they all have that tint, and we’re talking half a dozen rolls - whereas mine came out strictly B&W. So I’m guessing that if I want mine with that tint I have to specifically ask for it, is that right? (I’d ask my friend but I haven’t seen her in about two years!)