Film buying question

semrich

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By some accounts it would seem that I'm going backwards with my photographic hobby, I'm getting deeper and deeper into film. I have been getting my film developed by a pro lab and getting the negatives an contact sheets up until now, and will soon start scanning when I get my scanner installed.

Now, with what I have learned here on the forum I will also soon have kit to do my own developing at home. Some of the advise regarding doing this was, at the beginning stick to one film and chemistry in order to assess your results better.

I'm about to buy a quanity of film when I visit the States soon and can't decide between HP5 Plus or Delta 400 Professional. I want the 400 because I like to shoot in low light situations and would like to experiment with push processing in the future.

Any help deciding between these two based on personal experience would be a big help.
 
HP5 every time. Delta can be very nice but it's fussier in exposure and processing and when you get grain it's horrible (IMO). HP5 pushes easily in Microphen, DDX or HC110. Of course I could say the same about Tri-x.
 
Thanks Mark, HP5 it is, I'm placing my order today. Actually that was my first inclination until I saw Delta 400 and then with the voice of inexperience I made my decision complicated.
 
The current 400 pro works very very well in Xtol, DDX and not well in traditional developers unlike the original 400 Delta discontinued some years ago. Since I dislike the handling of both these developers, I have gravitated to Tri x and my home made D 76.

It is not a good push film.
 
I'm guessing part of the reason why you're buying film from the US is because it's cheaper or the selection is not as abundant at home? If that's the case, HP5+ or Tri-X, simply because of how flexible the films are (the former being my personal preference). I have no problems pushing HP5 to 3200 and have gotten some pretty pleasing results with D76.
 
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