I have a lot of 4*5 Ilford 400 Delta Pro, one of them deals I couldn't pass up. I develop in a tray. Previously with Rodinal. I think I've read that this particular film was discontinued. And that Ilford had made somekind of mistake rating it when they made it. Does anyone have experience with this film?? Is it reasonable to try and get EI 400 out of it. If not with Rodinal, then any suggestions. Thanx.
Ilford discontinued Delta 400 in sheets, but still makes it in rolls. I find it to be about the same speed as other ISO 400 B+W films that I have used, which means that my personal EI is 250. The official procedure for determining film speeds results in thinner shadows than what I and many other photographers prefer. If you wish to term this a mistake, it is not limited to Delta 400 or to Ilford.
You can read Ilford's recommendations for developers in a pdf file available at http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/bw.html.
If you are interested in the maximum speed possible, Microphen or Xtol would be good choices, but don't expect shadow detail at the EI 3200 that Ilford lists against Microphen. D-76 (aka ID-11) is a good general purpose developer.
Hi David
In the past I used undiluted XTOL 24° celcius at around 10 minutes then I got almost 400 ASA out of it! Thad worked for my enlarger quit well!
I used it in 4x5 with an EI of 320 for N development; the developer is long discontinued, it was Agfa Atomal. I liked that film-developer combo a lot, it had practically the same characteristics with a very good shadow separation (characteristic curve) as APX 100 in Atomal, my favorite film/developer combination, just 2 stops faster. All of these are gone now :-(
Current Delta 400 is a different emulsion from old Delta 400, so processing info for the new version probably won't apply to the old one. If I remember correctly the old version had a little less speed than the new one. New Delta 400 is a nice film. Too bad it doesn't come in sheet sizes.
I wasn't fully clear, but my recommendation to look at the datasheet was for which developers to use, not for the developing times. I managed to find an old datasheet with times for Delta 400 sheet film(for 68 deg F). Your times might differ.
<table>
<tr><th>developer</th><th>EI</th><th>min for stock</th><th>min for 1:1</th></tr>
<tr><td>ID-11 or D-76</td><td>200</td><td>6.5</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>ID-11 or D-76</td><td>400</td><td>7.5</td><td>11.5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Microphen</td><td>400</td><td>7.5</td><td>11.5</td></tr>
<tr><td>XTOL</td><td>200</td><td>6.5</td><td>9.5</td></tr>
<tr><td>XTOL</td><td>400</td><td>7.5</td><td>11</td></tr>
</table>
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks