Ilford Delta 100 and 400

[lido]

When Santa came this Christmas, he dropped off a roll of Ilford Delta 100 and Ilford Delta 400 in my stocking. I asked for Tri-X, but he forgot and asked for advice from sales person at Henry's who recommended it.

Now I need to use these two rolls and develop them. I have Diafine, TMax developer, HC-110 and D76 at home and would like to hear from people who use or used this film with one of these developers. What do you rate this films at and what do you use to develop them.

Thanks in advance.

 

[bobofish]

I haven't used any of those developers for a while, sorry.

What I do use often is Microphen (is it also called ID-11?) and I push my delta's with good results. Then again, Microphen is the "fine grain push" developer from Ilford.

I rate my 400 usually anywhere between 800 and 1600, although I've gone to 3200 no problem. At 6400 I cheat, and actually expose as if it were a proper 1600...I get a little denser neg than a true push, but the I want the results I get.

Delta 100 isn't quite as versatile, it responds to "true push" (x-underexpose/x-overdevelop) up to 200 maybe 400...when you push further, which I do often, it's a little better to truly expose for 200 or 400, and then push to 800 or more. Once again, a little denser negative than a true push, but one that can achieve some lovely results.

Don't knock the Delta, I think it's just about the best film out there. I haven't used much Fuji B+W, but I have used Kodak a lot, and for my taste, Delta is better. I'm not as much of a fan of Ilford's other films, largely because they don't push as well.

Have I mentioned I push film ALLLL the time?

 

[varjag]

Microphen is not ID-11, the latter being the Ilford version of D-76.

 

[AGN]

Delta 100 and 400 are the only two B&W films I use. I find DDX to work best.

 

[Fred]

Delta is fine in TMAX but allegedly does not work too well in Rodinal. I've not tried the other combinations.

 

[oljim]

I shoot tri-x mostly and develop in HC-110 - as a combination it's great value for money. I have tried both Delta 100 and 400 and there's plenty to like. The results in HC-110 using half dilution B (unofficially called dilution G, IIRC) were excellent - sharp with good contrast and tone.

I agree with bobofish that Delta 400 pushes extremely well up to 1600 - haven't tried beyond, and I wouldn't bother pushing a 100 film of any flavour.

 

[Toby]

I believe that Tmax dev was formulated to compensate for the different characteristic curve of tabular grained film, so maybe go with that

 

[back alley]

when i shot medium format i used all the delta films and developed in ddx, very very nice results.

 

[x-ray]

I was a trade trial tester for Ilford for both 100 and 400. I was so impressed that I switched to delta after it's introduction. I've now shot thousands of rolls and still love it. I use Ilford HC 1:31 which is basically HC-110. Use the Ilford recommendations for HC-110 and you'll be very pleased. It responds quite well to plus and minus developement and has very fine grain and stunning tones. To date it's the best overall film that I've used.


http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=5045

 

[titrisol]

I'm not much of a DELTA lover but bought several rolls of D400 at clearance prices a while ago.

Delta 400 developes great in Rodinal, quite grainy but nice tonality and sharpenss, it scans poorly but it prints well. 1+50 for 20 min gave good results even when shooting at 400
DDX/Microphen and Clayto F76+ worked best IMHO giving finer grain, good shaprness and excellent tonality. These negs are a lot easier to scan.

D76 or Hc110 will work fine with almost any film and I think that Ilford must have times for those under the ID-11 and Ilford HC names.

 

[peterc]

I have Diafine, TMax developer, HC-110 and D76 at home

I don't use any of those developers, but Delta 100 works very nicely in Rodinal.
Rate it at 100, use Rodinal 1:50, 14 minutes at 20C, constant agitation for the first minute and one invesion every 30 seconds after that.
If you want to borrow some Rodinal, I'm sure we can work that out.
This example wasn't shot with an RF, but it'll give you an idea of what you can get with that film/dev combination.

Peter

 

[Fred]

I gotta go and get some more Rodinal and run some Delta through it. For some reason I thought the the Delta or T grain films didn't work too good in Rodinal, results with grain like golf balls or something. I must say I like the tonal changes in the example from perterc.

 

[lido]

Peter, I love the quality you are getting from that combination. Thanks for your offer, but I think I need to stick with what I have and learn how to use it properly before experimenting even further. Too many film/developer combinations will make things messy.

I think I'll rate the films at their suggested speeds and develope in D76 1:1 or HC-110 and see what happens. This is a bad time to be playing with new stuff as I try to concentrate on RFF contest, but hopefully it will make me shoot more.

Thanks everyone for offering suggestions.

 

[markinlondon]

My tests would lead to say don't use ID-11/D76 at 1:1 (yecch). Stock might be OK, but I'd go for TMAX from that list. I use DD-X 1:4 to squeeze out the last drop of speed. Delta 400 is now my do-everything emulsion, replacing HP5. So far used EI's 200, 500 (ilford recomended for DD-X) and 1600 and can't see me using other films except for special occasions.

Mark

 

[back alley]

i have been using hp5 with the idea that when combined with the older canon lenses i would get an 'older' look to my photos.

but with a new camera and lens soon to arrive i just might go back to the delta films and see what they look like with the zeiss glass. get modern, so to speak.

 

[lido]

Hey Joe, can't wait to see the results. I am curious as to what my results will be like with Delta. We are going down to Niagara Falls for the weekend, so I'll put Nokton 50 on my Bessa and shoot with no contest in mind 😉.

 

[wlewisiii]

Avoid Diafine with Delta. They just don't play well together. I used D-76 stock strength and was much more happy. When the Delta I bought was gone, I went back to Plus-X, Tri-X and Fomapan all of which play nicely with Diafine.

William

 

[back alley]

i'm gonna stick with ddx and ilfosol s.

they both seem to work for me.

 

[peterc]

I must say I like the tonal changes in the example from perterc.

Thanks. If you try it, don't follow Agfa's suggested developing time. Agfa suggests 16 minutes and that's too long. Ilford recommends 14 minutes for best results and that's what I used.

Peter

 

[Trius]

Fred: What Peter said. Rodinal can be "picky" regarding dilution and agitation. The less agitation the better, IMO. I recently did some APX100 in Rodinal 1:100/23C/~20 min. Negs looked good, but that's not Delta.