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Ilford's Answer to Kodak TMax 400
Date of Review: Dec 21, 2004
The Bottom Line: If you like the mystery, drama, starkness and contrast of B&W photography, give Ilford Delta 400 a try.
Ilford Delta 400 is this British company's new technology B&W film answer to Kodak's excellent TMax 400. It is available in 24 and 36 exposure rolls, and is also available in medium format sizes 120 and 220 and in sheets and long rolls for professionals who reload their own film cassettes.
Unfortunately for shooters of B&W film, Ilford of the UK recently declared bankruptcy and has been placed in receivership. It also recently sold off its photographic chemicals and papers division and while the photographic world waits for news, prospects do not look good. Hoping for a white knight, as I write this review, the international photo press and other industry sources do not hold out much hope that the company will survive.
As someone who genuinely likes their products, I think this is a real shame.
Now to the review.
FILM CHARACTERISTICS
Ilford's DELTA 400 is a 'new technology' black and white film, as opposed to older technology films like Ilford's own FP4 (ISO 125) and HP5 (ISO 400) and Kodak's Plus-X and Tri-X emulsions. It's direct competitor is Kodak's highly reputed TMax 400, with which it shares some noticeably similar characteristics, as well as some differences that set the Ilford emulsion apart from its North American competition.
EXPOSURE LATITUDE:
Due to its high speed and insignificant grain size (relative to speed), Delta 400 has high resolving power, wide exposure latitude and a very pleasant tonal range. Depending on whether or not one extends developing times, this film can have higher contrast than normal or it can be controlled in the darkroom through experimentation.
The film's exposure flexibility allows it to transition back and forth seamlessly between graded and variable contrast papers. This is a very welcome capability.
GRAIN:
When compared to older technology B&W films like Kodak's Tri-X 400 and Ilford's own HP5 (both ISO 400 films), where grain DOES play a decidedly enhanced role in sharpness and the size of enlargements, Delta 400's very fine grain and higher speed make it an ideal choice where speed is needed but the photographer does not want to lose sharpness.
The small grain also permits complete faithfulness of detail, especially in shadow areas and sections of the frame/print where less contrast is evident. In white areas of the picture, the minimal granularity is NOT visible, so clouds look white, instead of taking on grain that renders them a dun gray.
CONTRAST:
As I said above, this is a controllable contrast film, depending on controls utilized in camera by the photographer and in the lab. Variable contrast and graded papers work well with this film and developing times can be manipulated to achieve your most desired results.
Unlike Kodak's TMax 400 which has picked up something of a bad reputation for being finicky in development, my experience has not shown that such unexpected results may occur.
TONALITY:
What B&W film lacks in diversity of color capture, it gains in tonality. As observers of B&W photography will tell you, photos in this medium are not a result of the absolute differences between the two extremes. Good B&W films provide the user with a wide range of tones and shades of what is basically a monochromatic range. Delta 400 is no different in that regard and its new technology chemistry makes it exceptionally desirable for photographers who found enlarged grain to be an unacceptable price to pay to re-create depth of field, speed, and resolving power.
While this film can exhibit high contrast due, in my mind to its very fine and tight grain, the breadth of tone achievable can be a real pleasure, especially if you practice some of the techniques used with color print and slide film. By these I mean, exposure bracketing, use of compensating filters, flash manipulation, etc.
RESOLVING POWER:
Due to its high speed and very fine grain, Delta 400 offers very clear images with incredible sharpness. It is a very good film for sports photography, where the photographer wants to capture every detail on a player's uniform or the determined grimace on a player's face. The extra speed, without the concurrent loss of detailed sharpness also makes it quite suitable for pictorial work, fine art and fashion photography and other uses that had once been the preserve of slower speed B&W films.
IN USE OBSERVATIONS:
I like to use this film when I want to minimize or eliminate the less desirable effects received from utilizing older technology B&W films from either Ilford or Kodak. I choose this film when I need speed and sharpness and when I know there is a likelihood that the prints will be enlarged beyond 8" x 10." Once enlarged beyond that size, older technology films start to exhibit much more noticeable grain, loss of sharpness and contrast and in general end up being less appealing images.
This film, which I have developed in a friend's home darkroom also does not get quirky when being processed and I have found that it offers me enough flexibility in camera and in the dark room to obtain whatever results I sought when taking the photos. That is a definite plus when compared to TMax400 by Kodak.
When I first started taking photography seriously while a senior in high school, the new T grain technology films from Kodak and Ilford did not exist. All we had available were the older, more traditional silver halide on acetate emulsions. Most of us learned photographic principles using Plus-X (ISO 125) and Tri-X (ISO 400) films from Kodak. They were the standard emulsions that every erstwhile student used to meet class assignments or for every day photography. Now, with these newer films from Ilford and Kodak, B&W shooters can have the best of both worlds. Despite the encroachment on B&W photography by chromogenic emulsions that are processed using C-41 chemistry, true Black and White photography, using either old or new technology emulsions offers us a chance to look at the world monochromatically, while still seeing shades of gray.
If you are like me and have been captured by the drama, romance, mystery, starkness, depth, detail and creative possibilities of Black and White film, then you owe it to yourself to try Ilford Delta 400.
And who knows, if enough of us around the world try it and use it, we may just stave off the inevitable and keep Ilford of the UK around for a while longer.
