Chromogenic Black-And-White Negative Film

The most famous Chromogenic black and white negative film available in the market is Ilford XP-2. It is nominally rated at ISO 400, however, there is something very unique on this black and white film. It can be routinely exposed at EIs of between ISO 50 and 800 on the same roll and then processed normally. It is processed in C-41 color print film chemistry. The main difference between XP-2 and other black-and-white films is that with XP-2, you can mix shots taken at vastly different exposure indices and still get very printable negatives from the entire roll. And even in extreme cases, EIs of ISO 1600 are possible by extending development times. Of course you have to bear in mind that with such high ISOs, there will be certainly be some quality loss.

Think of chromogenic film as a color negative emulsion minus color couplers and color dyes. Instead, the film contains a normal silver halide record layer and a special dye coupler that when developed gives a silver less-dye-generated image. Instead of grain producing silver, chromogenic films are composed of smooth monochrome dye clouds that form the image. The image seems less grainy in those areas of the negative where one would normally expect to find high granularity. Overall, it appears less grainy than comparable conventional black-and-white films. Exposing XP-2 at different ISOs changes negative contrast. If you expose the film at ISO 50, 100, or 200, you will get finer grain and less contrast. Conversely, uprating the film increases contrast modestly but apparent grain remains very fine, finer in fact than almost any other ISO 400 black-and-white film.

How about the downside of this Chromogenic black and white films? One of it is Chromogenic film must be processed in color print chemistry, C-41 or its equivalent. This chemistry demands much tighter temperature control than conventional black-and-white developers. Also, Ilford makes its own XP-2 developing kit that gives marginally better results but at a higher price and with less convenience.

Finally, this film is very rare, especially now where most people are choosing digital camera over film camera and there is hardly any camera shops storing film anymore. Even during the peak of film photography, XP-2 can only be found in very well stocked photo shops. For reasons I do not understand, this first-rate film has failed to gain universal acceptance, with only a small group of photographers, me include, that seriously look into it.

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