Developer and method most suited to Ilford Delta 400 please

Puretranquility · Nov 5, 2006

Dear All,

I have recently moved on to black and white film, and like as I was advised, I have chosen a single make of film to stick with.

I have chosen Ilford 400 Delta Professional, and will be scanning the negatives to be developed at www.arrowfile.co.uk (apparently an award winning printing comapany; I would say so..).

With the vast array of liquid and powder developers available, and the addition of my Nikon F80 ISO settings being able to be adjusted to suit, would it be possible to gain some advice from a person with experience in this area with regards to a developer, method, and ISO setting suitable for scanned images requiring little or no editing, that resemble perfectly exposed and developed Ilford Pan F 50 Plus please.

Kind Regards,

Puretranquility
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" The most stupid question is the one you don't ask "

Dave Miller · Nov 5, 2006

Puretranquility said:
Dear All,

I have recently moved on to black and white film, and like as I was advised, I have chosen a single make of film to stick with.

I have chosen Ilford 400 Delta Professional, and will be scanning the negatives to be developed at www.arrowfile.co.uk (apparently an award winning printing comapany; I would say so..).

With the vast array of liquid and powder developers available, and the addition of my Nikon F80 ISO settings being able to be adjusted to suit, would it be possible to gain some advice from a person with experience in this area with regards to a developer, method, and ISO setting suitable for scanned images requiring little or no editing, that resemble perfectly exposed and developed Ilford Pan F 50 Plus please.

Kind Regards,

Puretranquility
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
" The most stupid question is the one you don't ask "

Welcome to this forum Andrew.
You will get as many answers to your question as photographers you ask it of. For myself I use Ilford Delta 400 in 120 size which I rate at ISO400 and develop in Prescysol. The developed film scans well so I think it should suit your purpose. If I were using 35mm then I would rate it at the same speed and develope in Prescysol EF to minimise grain.

mikeg · Nov 5, 2006

Welcome, and Dave is right! I would develop Delta 400 in Ilford DD-X, Ilford's recommended developer for this film. However, if you want images that resemble Pan F, then the easist way is to use Pan F in the first place!

Cheers

Mike

David A. Goldfarb · Nov 5, 2006

I like Delta 400 at EI 200 developed in Perceptol best, but there are many options depending on what your priorities are (speed, grain, sharpness, contrast, etc.).

MikeSeb · Nov 5, 2006

I use Xtol or Mytol at various dilutions for 99% of my film work. I like it with the Deltas as dilute as 1+3. Beautiful intersection of grain, sharpness, and tonality.

eric · Nov 5, 2006

David A. Goldfarb said:
I like Delta 400 at EI 200 developed in Perceptol best, but there are many options depending on what your priorities are (speed, grain, sharpness, contrast, etc.).

I'm with DG on this one. Too many combinations. For me, here in SoCal where we have lots of sunny days, I like Delta 400 but don't want overblown highlights when printing so I prefer to process it in PMK (35mm format). I loose the fine grain effect of it but the accutance developer plus the grain structure with Delta is pleasing (to me at least). I've used D71 1:1 with PMK and got very little grain but images have an apparent (illusion probably) loss of sharpness. Your gas mileage may vary.

titrisol · Nov 5, 2006

DDX 1+4 agitating at the top of each minute, expose as 400 or so..

Rob Archer · Nov 5, 2006

Delta 400 and PanF are as similar as chalk and cheese and I would second MikeG's advice. Delta 400 is superb (tonality, contrast and grain-wise) at 200 in perceptol, but it's also nice at 400 in ID11 or at 800 in Microphen.

Try a few developers and see which you like best!

Rob

David A. Belew · Nov 5, 2006

I like Delta 400 (120) exposed @ 250 to 320 to 400 and developed in EXTOL 1:1, and very slightly underdeveloped since I scan the film. Dr. said I had to
give up darkroom after 50 years, but I can still use my Jobo. Negs that are slightly both thin and flat generally will scan better, especially if the subject matter is contrasty -- to preserve both the shadows and highlights.

haziz · Nov 5, 2006

Puretranquility said:
Dear All,

I have recently moved on to black and white film, and like as I was advised, I have chosen a single make of film to stick with.......................

I have chosen Ilford 400 Delta Professional, and will be scanning the negatives to be developed at www.arrowfile.co.uk (apparently an award winning printing comapany; I would say so..).

Kind Regards,

Puretranquility
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" The most stupid question is the one you don't ask "

I answered in more details in your other thread. Would start with Ilford's Ilfotec DDX using Ilford's recommended times and setup.

Sincerely,

Hany.

Maine-iac · Nov 6, 2006

Puretranquility said:
Dear All,

I have recently moved on to black and white film, and like as I was advised, I have chosen a single make of film to stick with.

I have chosen Ilford 400 Delta Professional, and will be scanning the negatives to be developed at www.arrowfile.co.uk (apparently an award winning printing comapany; I would say so..).

With the vast array of liquid and powder developers available, and the addition of my Nikon F80 ISO settings being able to be adjusted to suit, would it be possible to gain some advice from a person with experience in this area with regards to a developer, method, and ISO setting suitable for scanned images requiring little or no editing, that resemble perfectly exposed and developed Ilford Pan F 50 Plus please.

Kind Regards,

Puretranquility
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
" The most stupid question is the one you don't ask "

I develop Delta 400 rated at 200 for 7 minutes at 70F using my PCM homebrew formula.

2.5 ml 1% Phenidone solution (dissolved in 90% alcohol)
4 g Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C crystals)
5 g Sodium metaborate
1 liter water

Larry

Puretranquility · Nov 6, 2006

Thankyou !

Maine-iac said:
I develop Delta 400 rated at 200 for 7 minutes at 70F using my PCM homebrew formula.

2.5 ml 1% Phenidone solution (dissolved in 90% alcohol)
4 g Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C crystals)
5 g Sodium metaborate
1 liter water

Larry

Dear Sir,

Thankyou very much, I just hope it is a genuine recipe. If so, I can send the British Indian restaurant recipe for curry sauce for chicken and for chicken balti to you if you like - (a highly revered secret)..

Kind Regards,

Puretranquility

Maine-iac · Nov 7, 2006

Puretranquility said:
Dear Sir,

Thankyou very much, I just hope it is a genuine recipe. If so, I can send the British Indian restaurant recipe for curry sauce for chicken and for chicken balti to you if you like - (a highly revered secret)..

Kind Regards,

Puretranquility

Being a lover of, and sometime cook, of Indian food, I'll be happy to have the recipe.

P.S. There are some variations on the above formula which can sometimes be useful, depending on your preferences and circumstances. E.g. In order to avoid having to mix everything from scratch every time, I sometimes mix the ingredients together in a 3X concentrated solution in a Propylene Glycol base instead of water. Then when ready to develop, I simply add 20ml (1:50) of the concentrate to a liter of water. Propylene glycol is a preservative that will keep the ingredients fresh for a very long time without oxidation.

Another wrinkle: Sodium carbonate may be substituted for the metaborate. This raises the pH and makes the developer more active, thus shortening the development time and producing slightly coarser grain, although with the T-grain films like Delta or ACROS, this is barely noticeable. I do this with slower films like ACROS or Delta 100. I find it useful to add a good pinch (literally) of sodium metabisulfite to the mix to reduce the pH just a bit. This has the added advantage of helping to get the reddish-purple antihalation dye out of the emulsion much more easily.

Nigel Harley · Dec 10, 2006

120 Delta 400 rated at 400 and developed in ID-11 1+1 for 14mins - superb.

See examples of 'Lily' in my gallery.

Good luck

Developer and method most suited to Ilford Delta 400 please

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