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Ilford Delta 3200: Expose at Box Speed or not?
I'm planning a boudoir-style shoot for tomorrow morning, shot entirely indoors with window light on Ilford Delta 3200 film. I've used this film before on a couple of occasions (once in similar conditions), and was generally pleased with the results I got shooting box speed. However, a photographer acquaintance of mine who has been shooting film far longer than I recently suggested to me that, in his experience, Delta 3200 is best when exposed at 2400.
Can anyone else confirm similar results? If it matters, I'll be using the 35mm version of the film. Depending on available light, I'd actually considered pushing the film up to 6400 as needed, but I'd be interested in hearing what others have to say.
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Ilford shows this to be an ISO 1000 speed film.
Whether to expose at 1000, 1600, 2400, 3200, or any other speed depends on what you want for shadow detail, and how flat the lighting is or is not.
Generally, indoor scenes are flat and can tolerate some expansion during development, resulting in slightly increased speed. Also, your choice of developer can influence the speed.
Realize that exposing at 2500 is just one-third stop under 3200, not a significant change.
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If you are pleased with the results at box speed and you need box speed then use box speed. The general consensus is that you probably sacrifice shadow detail unless you shoot at max 1600 and maybe 1250. Some say the true speed of D3200 is max 1000
For what I think is portraiture in your case I'd use the slowest film I could get away with. In 135 D3200 is in my experience quite grainy with even 5x7 prints and if you intend to print larger than this then making a virtue out of grain is worthwhile
Frankly what counts is what you want and if D3200 delivers this then what other APUGers say is largely irrelevant
pentaxuser
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What developer do you plan on using?
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I plan to use D76, the only one I have on hand.
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So what I'm gathering here is that the main advantage I'd gain from shooting at, say, 1600, would be more details in the shadows. That's helpful to consider. I really appreciate everyone's input.
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It's a 1000 or so speed film optimized for pushing. It pushes beautifully to 3200 in my experience, but I use T-Max developer for that. I'm sure it would be better a bit slower, but the real question for a film like this is, what speed do you NEED? If 2400 is fast enough, shoot it at that speed. Or 1600. Or 1000. But if you need 3200, shoot it at 3200.
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As there are 36 frames try the same shot at 800, 1250, 1600 and 3200. This still gives you 9 different shots and will tell you a lot about the best speed for you and maybe more importantly for your subject.
One cassette, nine shots and you might know all you need for every future shoot with D3200.
pentaxuser
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The actual speed I need is going to depend on the natural window light, so I will have to wait until I get there to find out. But if I can shoot it slower, I think I'll definitely try to do so.
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 Originally Posted by pentaxuser
As there are 36 frames try the same shot at 800, 1250, 1600 and 3200. This still gives you 9 different shots and will tell you a lot about the best speed for you and maybe more importantly for your subject.
One cassette, nine shots and you might know all you need for every future shoot with D3200.
pentaxuser
The different speeds call for different development times, so this approach won't work.
For general work, I shoot D3200 at 1000 to 1600 and develop for the time specified for 3200. It gives good results.
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