I have been using Ilford HP5+ a lot lately and have been really pleased with the results I get when I expose it at ISO 800 and push develop it. This got me to thinking about how I could decent results at ISO 1600. A little troll around the internet indicated pushing HP5+ further might not give very good results. However Ilford makes an ISO 3200 film that some like exposed at 1600.
The consensus on the web is that the film is nominally ISO 1000-1200 and can be pushed to 3200. The consensus is also that the recommended development times from Ilford result in weak shadows for each suggested film speed. There seems to be a consensus you can get better results using the development times for the next higher speed. So if you expose at ISO 1600 use the development times for ISO 3200.
I tried this on a roll of Delta 3200 Pro film. Exposed at ISO 1600 and developed according to Massive Dev Chart at 3200. I used HC-110 dilution B (1+31) mixed fresh. My developer was 17.5C so my development time was a whopping 17:45 on this occasion.
The negative density was generally good with a couple of thin negatives present. All but one exhibited low contrast. The grain was very noticeable. I have posted a few examples below. Most of the images were taken handheld with a 150mm f3.5 lens on a 2x teleconverter. The rest can be seen on my Flickr page. If you click on the image you can see the original scan at 3200 dpi.
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Wind Turbines Norfolk Coast (150mm 2x Teleconverter f7 handheld)
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| Kite Boarders Norfolk Coast (150mm 2x Teleconverter f7 handheld) |
The first photo above give a sense of the strong grain. Taken on a bright windy day you can see the benefit of the speed with fast shutter speeds. The wind turbines are almost entirely lost in the grain.
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| Lookout Norfolk Coast (150mm 2x Teleconverter f7 handheld) |
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| Rain over the Vale of York (150mm 2x Teleconverter f7 handheld) |
The two above show both the grain and image potential. However at this point I am not convinced I like the grain. Any large section of sky really accentuates the perception of the grain.
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Pond: Woodwalton Fen (150mm f3.5 handheld)
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Leaning Pines: Holme Fen (80mm f1.9 tripod)
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| Distant Birch: Holme Fen (150mm 2x Teleconverter f7 tripod) |
The final three images above give me a real sense of the image potential of this film.
Pond was shot on a very windy day and yet the higher shutter speed let me capture these reeds in good focus. The grain is lost in the detail of the reeds.
Leaning Pines seems to work in part because the sky is clear of clouds. The sky is blown out and I cropped most of the sky away as this is a portrait orientation in the original. The blown out sky lacks the graininess of the earlier cloudy sky images.
Finally Distant Birch I took just to finish up the roll. It works well with the grain mostly lost in the detail. I will probably print these last three to see how the negatives hold up in the darkroom.
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