How to increase contrast in XP2/BW400CN?

[film_guy]

How do I increase the contrast on chromogenics like Ilford's XP2 or Kodak's BW400CN? I find that a lot of my prints are coming back lacking contrast. Thanks!

 

[Ian Grant]

Talk to the company processing and printing your images, they need to make adjustments at the printing stage.

Ian

 

[donbga]

How do I increase the contrast on chromogenics like Ilford's XP2 or Kodak's BW400CN? I find that a lot of my prints are coming back lacking contrast. Thanks!

Increase the E.I. and/or use filtration.

 

[Ian Grant]

Of course as Don says print them yourself, you'll have more control.

Ian

 

[thebanana]

Shooting the XP2 at ASA200 with a yellow filter works well for me.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Any "B&W" film that goes through the C41 process can gain contrast by bleach bypass processing. Be aware that this affects sharpness and grain as well. This cannot be used well in color films unless you wish to accept the color distortion it can introduce as well.

PE

 

[Ian Grant]

Better known as looping

Ian

Any "B&W" film that goes through the C41 process can gain contrast by bleach bypass processing.

PE

 

[kman627]

I get much better contrast with XP2 with a red 25.

 

[film_guy]

Does underexposing the film intentionally and developing as normal add to the film's contrast?

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Does underexposing the film intentionally and developing as normal add to the film's contrast?

Yes and no; you will mostly lose shadow details, which will make them print as pure black. You will not have more inherent contrast, because the film's characteristic curve is not changed (development controls it), but the resulting images may have more apparent contrast because of the large black areas.

If your subject has only average contrast, the whites may look more grey, because they will fall lower on the curve. If on the other hand your subject is already very contrasty, you might be lucky and have the white stay high enough on the curve.

At any rate, printing the photos yourself is your best bet for contrast. XP2 prints very easily on normal B&W paper, so you just have to use a #3 or #4 grade for extra contrast. BW400CN also prints well on B&W paper, but requires a higher filtration for normal contrast (I think around 3-3.5), so you may need a #5 for stronger contrast.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Exposing as normal or overexposing and over developing or developing as normal might do better to increse contrast.

PE

 

[donbga]

Any "B&W" film that goes through the C41 process can gain contrast by bleach bypass processing. Be aware that this affects sharpness and grain as well. This cannot be used well in color films unless you wish to accept the color distortion it can introduce as well.

PE

What is bleach bypass processing?

 

[donbga]

Does underexposing the film intentionally and developing as normal add to the film's contrast?

Yes. Try exposing at an EI of 800 and compare the contrast when exposed at 400 and 200. Personally I get plenty of contrast when shooting at 200. I just increase the paper contrast.

 

[Ian Grant]

See this thread (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Ian

What is bleach bypass processing?

 

[Philippe-Georges]

At the time, when I was processing C-41 (Agfacolour), I noticed a slight but yet considerable contrast increase when developing in a rotation machine (Colenta) compared to a hanger machine (Donka). I concluded that the somewhat more intensive agitation of the rotation method was responsible for this. This is, of course, a personal interpretation and I never got the occasion to test this any further.
I do not know if the same would happen with the XP2 ore the BW400CN...

What do you think about this, PE?

Philippe

 

[Photo Engineer]

Ian;

Looping and bleach bypass are not the same thing.

Bleach bypass means just that. You omit the bleach entirely and just fix the film. This leaves silver + dye in the film. For color, this is deadly as the colors are severly degraded with increased contrast. For B&W films, contrast goes up.

Due to having dye + silver, the image structure changes.

PE

 

[Photo Engineer]

Philippe;

Increasing agitation generally can increase contrast. In color, it can also lead to crossover due to diffusion effects. Yellow layer contrast (the top layer) will usually go up faster than cyan (the bottom layer).

PE

 

[JBrunner]

Ian;

Looping and bleach bypass are not the same thing.

Bleach bypass means just that. You omit the bleach entirely and just fix the film. This leaves silver + dye in the film. For color, this is deadly as the colors are severly degraded with increased contrast. For B&W films, contrast goes up.

Due to having dye + silver, the image structure changes.

PE

A great example of the bleach bypass look is the film "Saving Private Ryan"
When a cinematographer chooses to use an effect like bleach bypass on a motion picture, testing is done to find the right exposures, color timing, etc. Also, many times it is not a complete bypass, less often being more for the effect desired. It takes some time and effort to figure out how to control the process. You can use the process on the print, instead of the negative, if you have the wherewithal.

To the OP, I have not personally felt that XP2 or NC negs lack contrast, and I would suspect the lens, lab, shooting conditions, or printing, if I was getting flat results with those films.

 

[Ian Grant]

Ron, I read you as meaning Bleach then Bypass !!!! Bypassing the Fixer, which is of course what happens with looping.

Yes bypassing the bleach makes sense but the last time I tried it with XP1 there was a noticeable increase in grain. Some people process XP-2 in conventional B&W developers and get good results but again more grain.

If the original poster is doing his own processing he could increase the C41 developing time by 30 second. This would help.

Ian

Ian;

Looping and bleach bypass are not the same thing.

Bleach bypass means just that. You omit the bleach entirely and just fix the film. This leaves silver + dye in the film. For color, this is deadly as the colors are severly degraded with increased contrast. For B&W films, contrast goes up.

Due to having dye + silver, the image structure changes.

PE

 

[Photo Engineer]

Ron, I read you as meaning Bleach then Bypass !!!! Bypassing the Fixer, which is of course what happens with looping.

Yes bypassing the bleach makes sense but the last time I tried it with XP1 there was a noticeable increase in grain. Some people process XP-2 in conventional B&W developers and get good results but again more grain.

If the original poster is doing his own processing he could increase the C41 developing time by 30 second. This would help.

Ian

Ian;

I can see how this happened. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Yes, I agree that grain can increase. Thus, my warning above.

That is also why I warn people not to use a blix on films. It can have the same effect, as it can leave silver behind.

PE

 

[Joe Brugger]

Bump the contrast on XP2 Super by rating it at EI250 and adding filtration, anything from a Y2 up to the R25. Or, if you can get it, use Neopan 400CN, which behaves pretty much the same (Ilford makes it for Fuji) but has a little more inherent contrast.

 

[jamez]

Making the most of XP2.

Yellow, orange and red filters are useful for increasing contrast in B/W films, the colours are written in ascending effect. For best result your own darkroom would give you full control of the finished prints, and there has never been a better time to acquire professional enlargers at modest outlay!. Also look at www.ilfordphoto.com There you will find info for XP2, I recall dimly that some variation of contrast was possible by re-ratting the ISO.

 

[film_guy]

thanks for all your recommendations. Unfortunately I don't process my own negs (currently don't have the time nor the equipment to do so, maybe in the future). I'll re-rate the film and try shooting it at 200 instead of 400.