Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/04/26

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Subject: Re: [Leica] TMax 400CN or Xp2 SUper
From: Henry Ambrose <digphoto@nashville.net>
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 08:57:45 -0500

>I wuld like to use one of these two films; so i would like to have 
>Lugger's opinions on which one to use. Is there any clear difference ?
>
>Best regards,
>
>Laurent.

I do not think there is a huge difference between XP2 or T400CN. 

XP2 is my most used film. I've shot hundreds and hundreds of rolls of it 
with wonderful results. It is dependable and versatile. XP2 can capture a 
wider range scene than any other film I know of. It is very smooth in 
tonality and very sharp.

I've only used the Kodak a little. When I tested it against XP2 it seemed 
 sharper feeling with a more defined grain and maybe a little 
contrastier. I chose XP2 because of its incredible range and smoothness. 
And its the best film for shooting into the light.

I rate XP2 at 320 for general use. 
You can expose it up to 1250 and get a soft-lovely-clumpy grain look. 
Just be careful about maintaining shadow detail. You'll want really even, 
flat light for this to look nice.

All that said, I could happily use T400CN if XP2 was not available.

Some examples:

http://henryambrose.com/portraits.html
one and two are XP2 at 1250,  made with 75f1.4 and 50f2 respectively
three and four are XP2 at 400, 90 Elmarit-M, Rollei 2.8 Xenotar

Henry Ambrose