Helo All Have any of you ever use Ilford Delta 3200 ISO?

-- Mauricio M. Falcco (mmfalcao@convoy.com.br), November 05, 1998

Answers

Has anyone even seen it yet ? :-)

-- Peter Thoshinsky (camerabug1@msn.com), December 07, 1998.

Delta 3200 has been available in the UK in 35mm for some time, and in 120 for about a week. I was planning to do a full review of it, with illustrations and so on, but I'm out of time before my holiday.

I haven't used the 120 yet. I wish it was available in 5x4.

I tried 3 rolls of 35mm, developed in T-Max at 24 deg C for: 5.5 min, 7.5 min and 13 min. These are the time Ilford suggest for EI 800, 3200 and 12,500. (Ilford's "definition" of EI is 'the speed at which the film can be used to produce excellent images.') I found that the shadow detail didn't increase significantly, and rating them all at EI 800 will work fine for me. (My definition of EI is "Zone 1 is density 0.1 above film base plus fog.) I haven't measured the contrast of these developments, but of course the contrast increases with development, as does grain.

Developing in T-Max for 7.5 min gives practically the same density negatives as T-Max 3200 in T-Max for 9.5 min, rating both films at EI 800. Fog level is about the same for the two films.

The grain is a bit tighter (finer, smaller) than T-Max 3200.

It doesn't bleed pink into developer, fixer, or anything else. In fact, it seems to absorb the stain created by T-Max. Wierd.

Resolution is about the same as T-Max. With a Noct-Nikkor 58/1.2, at f/1.2, I get (very roughly speaking) 40 line-pairs per mm. Of course, this isn't the film resolution (it's the film-plus-lens), but represents how I will use the film in real life.

Overall, I like it, particularly the finer grain, but it doesn't seem to be a massive improvement over T-Max 3200.

-- Alan Gibson (Alan.Gibson@technologist.com), December 08, 1998.