I am getting back into B&W film processing after a number of years. I have som Ilford XP2 400, but I no longer have the box. Can I develop it with D-76? What are the times? I also got TMAX 400. Is the Ilford the same? Also, I have outdated (8 or 9 years)Plus-X and Tri-X film. Can I expect any results? How would adjust developing times to have the best shot at something? Thanks.

-- john worley (jworley@erols.com), March 05, 1998

Answers

XP-2 is chromogenic film designed for C-41 processing. Unless you are willing to experiment take it to a commercial lab. I have some rolls of XP-1 I developed in D-76 back in the mid 1980s when I didn't know any better, and it worked fine, even pushed to 1600 ASA. Can't remember the devlopment time, though, as it was long ago at a small newspaper.

T-Max 400 and D-76 work great unless you need to push the film, in which case T-Max developer works better. Check out http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~migol/photo/photosource.html for film/developer processing times.

Eight or nine year old film would be risky, at best. It might work fine, it might get a printable image, or it might not do anything at all. Test a roll before using for anything you can't reshoot.

-- dARRON sPOHN (sspohn@concentric.net), March 05, 1998.

I think you should chuck your old film. Even if it does work you are not going to get as nice of results as with new film. Film is cheap and there's no second chance.

-- Andy Laycock (agl@intergate.bc.ca), March 05, 1998.