Delta 100 Sheet Film Contact Printing Experience

[Michael Kadillak]

I was very pleased to hear that Ilford is going to offer Delta 100 in their mix for the coming ULF sheet film program shortly. Since I plan on taking advantage of the offering I was wondering if anyone had experiences they were willing to share with this film with contact printing and/or alt process work with it and what developers (possibly including Pyrocat HD or ABC pyro) you found worked optimally?

Given the lead until the orders are due, I figure I have some time to get familiar with this film and see what it can do.

Thanks in advance!

[tgtaylor]

Except for its reciprocity, it's good film - especially for alternative processes: I rotary process it at 68F for 19-20 minutes to get the proper DMax for alt printing which is also the highest Dmax that is obtainable regardless of how long you develop it. I shoot it a ISO 100 and using the Ilford exposure curve get excellent results.

Thomas

[mdm]

I love it in pyrocat for carbon, but d23 works ok too. Never had any problem getting an appropriate density range for carbon and salt prints.

[Tim Hodgson]

Except for its reciprocity, it's good film

K ... what is wrong with it's reciprocity ?

Tim

[C. D. Keth]

Except for its reciprocity, it's good film

K ... what is wrong with it's reciprocity ?

Tim

I'm not sure what that means, either. It has pretty normal reciprocity characteristics. It's not acros but then again it's not fomapan either.

[John NYC]

It also looks great in xtol.

[Kodachrome25]

Sorry to be off topic but I am having a heck of a time with it in 4x5 in terms of pinholes / emulsion coming off in specks. I am running either Xtol 1+1 or HC-110 B in rotary, no special distilled water, temps within 1/2 a degree. I am using Ilford Stop bath and Kodak fix. It's definitely emulsion though, I can see the marks in the emulsion with a 15X loupe...very Efke-like behavior.

It's the only sheet film I have this problem with.....?

[tgtaylor]

I'm rotary processing 8x10 at 68F with Xtol 1:1, water (tap) stop,TF-5 fix, sodium sulfite (although not needed with TF-5), water (tap) final wash, and photo-flo. No pin-holes or other admoralities so far.

My regular B&W 120 and 4x5 film for several years now is Acros which, unlike the Ilford, has essentially zero reciprocity out to about 17 minutes.

Thomas

[John NYC]

It prints well. In 8x10 I preferred Delta 400.

A good photographer and darkroom worker can make good prints from most any combination you can think of. We finalize on certain ones more for consistency than anything else.

Great film, but no longer regularly available in 8x10 on the open market. Not sure if it is part of the special LF runs Ilford does.

[earlnash]

Try skipping the stop bath, and using a water rinse instead. Sometimes microscopic gas bubbles arise from the acid reaction in the stop bath.

[wiggywag]

Why would someone prefer Delta 100 over FP4 in sheet film size?

[Sal Santamaura]

Why would someone prefer Delta 100 over FP4 in sheet film size?Completely different looks; curve shape, spectral sensitivity, resolution (4x5 does get enlarged :) ). Also, handling. Delta 100 sheets stay flat, wet or dry. FP4 Plus and HP5 Plus curl.

[C. D. Keth]

Why would someone prefer Delta 100 over FP4 in sheet film size?

Because they're different. If your logic held there would be only one film because it's the best film, whatever that would mean.