Ilford Delta 400 at EI 400 in Bergger Superfine

koen · Jul 28, 2020

Hi all,

I was recommended to soup Bergger Pancro 400 at EI 160 in Bergger Superfine (a metol based developer) and quite liked the results.

On the bottle though, it mentions other films too, all of which seem to lose speed with this developer _except_ for the Delta 400.

Now I’m not sure whether that’s a typo or not. Before testing (and before that going to bed actually) I thought I’d ask around... So, has anyone developed Delta 400 at box speed in Superfine?

Cheers,
Koen

Bormental · Jul 29, 2020

@koen I did not want to respond earlier because I haven't used Superfine, but since you're not getting much help... Delta 400 may indeed be special, because I remember seeing similar exceptions with it in different context. The latest was the DD-X data sheet, where Delta 400 is recommended to be exposed above box speed.

Tom Kershaw · Jul 29, 2020

I have found Delta 400 can be tricky to match to a developer. DD-X is probably a good option.

subsole · Jul 29, 2020

It's 200 ASA in this data sheet : https://www.foto-r3.com/files/SUPERFINE_DATASHEET_ENG.pdf.
Seems to be nearly identical with CG 512 by Udo Raffay from Germany. It's also sold as Rollei RLS.
Super sharpness, super fine grained (looks really like Microdol 1+3).

pentaxuser · Jul 29, 2020

Bormental said:
@koen I did not want to respond earlier because I haven't used Superfine, but since you're not getting much help... Delta 400 may indeed be special, because I remember seeing similar exceptions with it in different context. The latest was the DD-X data sheet, where Delta 400 is recommended to be exposed above box speed.

Which data sheet is this and where can it be found. All I can find is that DDX is capable of developing a lot of films at various speeds and is good for pushing but I cannot find where Ilford recommends that D400 be exposed above box speed.

pentaxuser

Lachlan Young · Jul 29, 2020

pentaxuser said:
Which data sheet is this and where can it be found. All I can find is that DDX is capable of developing a lot of films at various speeds and is good for pushing but I cannot find where Ilford recommends that D400 be exposed above box speed.

pentaxuser

See pg.3 of this datasheet. It's mainly with the more solvent PQ developers that a slightly higher than box speed is possible. Ilford used to suggest that HP5+ was really nearing 650 in Microphen.

I prefer to use EI 200 and the relevant times therof.

Bormental · Jul 29, 2020

pentaxuser said:
Which data sheet is this and where can it be found.

I was referring to Delta 400 data sheet which recommends EI500 for DD-X and Microphen (see bold, i.e. "recommended" values in the dev table)

pentaxuser · Jul 29, 2020

Bormental said:
I was referring to Delta 400 data sheet which recommends EI500 for DD-X and Microphen (see bold, i.e. "recommended" values in the dev table)

Thanks for the source. It says that at 500 which is only marginally faster than 400 DDX it will produce a Gbar of a normal contrast which Ilford decides is 0.62 but then again so do other developers which Ilford also lists so in that sense there appear to be other special developers

I think that in trying to be helpful to the OP you may have made an unwarranted jump in concluding that D400 is "special" in the sense of speed achieved and that Superfine will produce the same effect for D400.

pentaxuser

Bormental · Jul 29, 2020

pentaxuser said:
I think that in trying to be helpful to the OP you may have made an unwarranted jump in concluding that D400 is "special"

You may be right. Which reminds me of

Ilford Delta 400 at EI 400 in Bergger Superfine

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