Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/02/02

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Delta 3200
From: Christer Almqvist <christer@almqvist.net>
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 15:01:20 +0100

It was a good idea to shoot at 1600, if you shoot at  higher speed you will
find that shadow details get lost. I have got good results at 1600 with
undiluted Xtol at 68° for 10 minutes and agitation first 30 secs, then 10
secs every minute. This is the development time Ilford recommend for films
shot at 6400, but the general opinion is that Ilford's times are too short
and you should use the times Ilford recommend for one or two stops/steps
higher exposure index. This gives pleasant skin tones, but the enlargements
do no necessarily convey a low light mood, which you may wish to get. To
get that you may want to get closer to Ilford's times. But then you lose
some of the gradation you are looking for....

If you like to use Xtol diluted 1+1, then you need to increase the
developing times (which you had already increased by the time needed for an
extra stop or two) by an additional 60%

If you deliberately want to lose shadow details in order to obtain night
effect you may want to play around with Rodinal 1+25 for 20 mins at 68°,
agitation as before. The real speed of Delta 3200 will then be 800, but  I
still suggest you expose it at 3200. You will get sharp images, sharpness
limited by the grain, which is not ugly, and an interesting tonal gradation.

To quote Ilford's Data Sheet: "Delta 3200 has an ISO speed rating of 1000."
This is a bit more that double the speed of HP5 or Tri-X and in my opinion
there is no quantum leap from HP5 and Tri-X to Delta 3200. You may find you
can get more out of  your regular film than you can get out of an
occasional Delta 3200 provided you get to know your regular film well and
treat it nicely.

Chris


>Hi all,
>
>The other night on a bit of a whim, I grabbed a couple of rolls of Delta
>3200 and more or less arbitrarily shot it at 1600 (gotta' do something to
>speed up that 50mm Summicron!).  Now that I have shot these rolls, does
>anyone have any suggested developer and time/temp for the 1600 EI?
>
>I was thinking of giving Xtol a try, but this wasn't listed as one of the
>developer options on the film packaging.  Has anyone used Xtol with this
>film, or should I just go with good ol' D-76?  I am looking for reasonably
>fine grain with good overall tonal gradation, FWIW.
>
>Thanks for your input!
>
>Bob Kramer
>Atlanta, GA