Ilford DELTA 3200 Film (35mm) - Your views?

[ted_smith]

Lots of threads regarding processing of this film, but not so many that I could find discussing the merits of it.

I have just ordered a roll for photographing Police Dogs next week - I wanted to use B&W film and I imagine a grainy(ish) look will look good if I get the shots I hope for.

I foolishly ordered ILFORD DELTA 3200 35mm thinking it was ISO 3200 but having read a thread here I've learned it is actually ISO1000. Is that true, firstly, and from peoples' experiences, what is the best ISO to rate it at for outdoor daytime shots, but potentially overcast - I need fast shutters of around 1/500th, which is partly why I bought it. Other B&W film in my arsenal are Fuji Neopan 1600 and 400CN which I believe are actually ISO1600 and ISO400?

As I am a luddite at developing film at the moment, in all liklihood it will be sent off to 'The Darkroom' here in the UK for development, if that helps answer my question.

Secondly, is it a good film?

Cheers

Ted

[MikeSeb]

I rate it 1600 in daylight, processed in undiluted Xtol. It is a very nice film. However, I'm not sure, for low-light situations, it offers much over Tri-X in Diafine or 400TMY-2 pushed in Xtol. For this reason, and out of a desire to simplify my film inventory, I've stopped using it.

An ISO 400 film, with overcast skies ("cloudy bright, no shadows"?) should get you 1/250 at f/8, or 1/1000 at f/4. So rating Delta 3200 at EI 1600, you should get 1/1000 at f/8 or thereabouts. Should do the job for you.

[tiberiustibz]

It is an ASA 1000 film that is designed to be push processed. As such, if developed in a large tank in D76 at the a fixed time as they most often do at large B+W labs it will come back as ASA 1000. You must extend the times and "push" the film to make it act like 3200 or 6400. If they do different developments for all films then you might be in luck, otherwise expose it at 1000 or 800.

[Rich Ullsmith]

The grain on this film has a wide latitude of expression, from "poofy" in solvent developers to "golf balls" in Rodinal. PMK looks a lot like Rodinal but the stain helps mask it.

I don't keep it in stock, but when I used it I thought Ilford DDX made this resemble the finer grain of a ASA400 film.

Whatever lab you are taking that too, they should be well-versed in processing a common UK film.

[Mark Antony]

my view:
http://photo-utopia.blogspot.com/200...elta-3200.html

regards
Mark

[2F/2F]

I would just rate it at its actual ISO of 800-1000 and develop to suit the contrast in which you shot. Never mind the concept of "rerating" if you have the luxury of metering and/or shooting in decent light. You will get about '500 at f/4.0 or f/5.6 on a shady day.

[pentaxuser]

Ted, there are very few almost universally agreed upon "maxims" here on APUG but one which almost qualifies for that accolade is D3200 processed in DDX but at the time for the next speed up. So at EI1600 process for the time allotted to 3200 in the Ilford dev time. Even on a very dull winter's day in the U.K. you should get 1/500th at EI1600 provided that the shoot doesn't stretch beyond mid afternoon. Unfortunately at this time of year, light loss accelerates almost exponentially in that last hour of daylight.

I found DDX to give me a lot less grain than ID11.

pentaxuser

[Markok765]

I really like the tones of this film.

[HerrBremerhaven]

I have only used it a few times in daylight conditions. My thinking was that it was mostly an ISO 400 film, so I tried it at that and was very happy with the results. The main choice of developer that I have found to work best is Ilfotec DDX. Usually I shoot this film at ISO 3200, and sometimes ISO 6400, for low light and night imaging.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography

[rossawilson1]

I rate it at ISO 3200, I've never got the second guessing the manufactures ISO rating thing.. works great.. looks beautiful!