Closest Ilford film to Fuji Acros.

Greetings,

I have been using hi-speed Ilford films since 1963, starting with the HP3 up to today's HP5+; main interest is street photography. Sometimes for sceneries or still photography I used the Panatomic-X while it was available, then the FP4 for many years. Since a few days I am trying Fuji Acros in D-76, resulting in beautiful silvery mid- and light grays and resolution not short of what I used to get with the Panatomic-X for example. Also I prefer its tones to the ones of the FP4. My inquiry: Is the Delta 100 comparable to the Acros as far as the tonal range and sharpness are concerned? Thanking in advance for your insightful comments.

Regards,

Bob

from what i've seen - tmax 100 and delta 100, acros certainly has its own look. even developed in three different developers - pyrocat m, rodinal 1:100 and fx-1, acros still bears in strongly with its look, albeit affected by the developer. i hope someone chimes in with an equivalent combination. i'll certainl be trying it!!

Doesn't look like Acros, but what I absolutely -love- for the type of photographic subjects you mentioned is;

Delta 400, shot at 100, pulled in Xtol Replenished @ 24 celsius for 5 minutes with minimal agitation (2 very gentle inversions every minute). It looks completely different to Delta 400 @ 400.

I think the oddly higher spectral sensitivity of Delta 400 compared to other pan films contributes too.


Not my image, this is one I developed for someone else. His flickr stream is here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/defty/

There's no dark room or digital manipulation, just dMax to white and dMin to black.

There are slight differences in tonal representation between Acros and Delta 100. But unless someone actually tells me which is which I can't really tell a difference in a print.

The best place to start would be Delta 100. You might get a slightly different color rendition with Acros as well. If I remember correctly, it has a bit decreased red sensitivity compared to other panchromatic films.

For portraiture, try shooting Acros at EI 400 and push process in Xtol 1+1. Gives a completely different result than from shooting at box speed, but boy does it look nice. Since Delta 100 is a little faster than Acros, you should be able to use it as such as well.

- Thomas

My gratitude to all posters who had indulged to reply in great detail. Much appreciated.

Kind regards,

Bob