[Leica] Ilford film reliability

[ShadCat11@aol.com]

I go through a cycles, periodically, in which I am seduced by reports of 
superior performance by one Ilford product or another, so I try some, find 
it's all true, and take up with the Brit until the weirdness begins.  After a 
hiatus of some years, I got into Ilford again, only to get bit in the ass 
once more.

Lately I have been using lots of Delta 400 in 35mm and 120.  Great film, all 
it's reported to be.  Just as I started to get happy, my Ilford Thing came 
back.  Several 120 rolls are showing clear "ridges" down the length of them, 
appearing on some rolls and not others.  One 35 mm roll has a thin stripe of 
what appears to be exposure down the top edge, just into the frame.  Other 
film developed in the same batch did not show this.  

When processing, I hang films to dry with out touching the front or back, so 
I don't think handling is responsible..  The rolls, 120 and 35  have gone 
through several cameras with no apparent correlation, and no previous or 
subsequent films of Kodak or Fuji have shown these flaws, so I am pretty sure 
it's not a problem in my equipment.  The 120 stripe doesn't show in a print, 
but the 35 mm does.  All the film was purchased fresh-dated from B&H, from 
whom I buy Fuji and Kodak films, also.

Every single time I have gone to Ilford I have been sooner or later stung by 
what seem to be quality control problems.  This dates from and includes HP3, 
FP3, FP4, HP5, XP1, XP1 processing kit, Multigrade III and Multigrade IV, all 
of which I got bad batches.  OTOH, in 46 years of photography in using Kodak 
for 95% of my film and darkroom supplies, I haven't got a bad anything.  BTW, 
likewise Fuji.

Every time this strangeness happens, I swear off Ilford, return to and 
appreciate Kodak quality control all the more, and wonder if I have been 
unusually unlucky or if others have had the same kind of experience.

Allen Zak.