I use Kodak colour slide and print film predominantly, and a couple of years ago I bought an Epson Perfection V700 scanner so I scan directly from the film. My results have been mixed: sometimes I feel the film is just too grainy, and the scanner simply not sharp enough, but I have also been quite pleased with some shots and I am now at least more in control of the post-processing. Tesco will develop a 36 exposure film for only a pound, and the 7dayshop sell film at pretty reasonable prices which makes experimenting a fairly inexpensive pastime.

I have tried Ilford XP2 a couple of times in the past, and been pleased enough with the results, but a recent roll I shot seemed very grainy. On closer inspection, it seems that the film is the most grainy when underexposed. The shots that looked the worst were taken indoors in artificial light, when the aperture was wide open and shutter speed down at about 1/60:

A shot on the same roll of film of my aging Audi in a snow shower, taken in reasonably bright daylight, shows no real grain at all:

So whilst I’m a touch disappointed with the grain on the indoor shots, it would seem that I need to treat the film as a 200 speed indoors in order to make sure it’s fully exposed. Bruce Robbins, on his blog Pentax Photography, discusses the intricacies of scanners and graininess, and as XP2 is a chromogenic film it should be less susceptible to the effects of grain. Other photographers have waxed lyrical on the forgiving nature of XP2 when overexposed. I’m now keen try another roll.