Choosing versatile Bulk roll(s) - HP5, Delta, other?

[Bill Burk]

Understand you already bought HP5+ bulk roll.

Buying Delta 400 as well would be like buying the Zuiko 50mm f/1.4 when you already have the Zuiko 50mm f/1.2

Get Delta 100 instead, that’s more like adding the 35mm f/2

 

[dkirby]

Re: "blowing" a couple of rolls, a couple of scenarios come to mind:

1. Reusing a factory cartridge and having the new film detach from the stub remaining of the old film strip.
2. Reusing a factory cartridge and YOU mis-identify the film in the cartridge.
3. Reusing a factory cartridge and the camera DX system mis-identifies what ISO speed film is in the cartridge.
4. Mis-loading the camera and not getting the film to wind onto the takeup spool meaning that you shot you entire vacation on the leader of your roll of film.

I'm sure folks can chip in with a whole lot more potential pitfalls.

You can eliminate two of these by reloading cartridges with the same film that came out of them. Load HP5 back into HP5 factory cartridges, for example. Additionally, I don't find the misloading issue you raise is more likely than when using factory cartridges, but maybe it's dependent on the camera you're using.

I find I save roughly 30-40% on Harman products since I switched to bulk loading them, when all is said and done - meaning I'm accounting for the cost of film retrievers (they die every now and then) and the cost of buying factory-confectioned rolls to replace my canisters that get rusty.

I very much appreciate their pricing model vs Kodak, who imo effectively prices themselves out of the competition in bulk reels.

 

[eli griggs]

Ultimately, you need to try all of your film options yourself and decide how they compare. Buy a 24 exposure roll of both (or all three: TMZ) and shoot tests of them - preferably the same scene(s) - and develop them the way you expect to use them, and do your own comparisons.
If you must know exactly how they stack up against each other before buying 100’ of film, then testing each first is the only practical choice.

As I said earlier, Delta 400 is absolutely my preference over HP5 (in small formats) - it has a clarity and “sparkle” in the upper values that HP5 simply doesn’t have. It’s great for many applications, but isn’t a great fit for how I like to work.

Some examples of work done on Delta 400:






PS: there's nothing to stop you from buying 100' of both (or several) film types and simply switch out the roll when you need a different film. It's a simple thing to remove a bulk roll and put in a different one.

Beautiful work, show more, please.