Transitioning to Ilford

2F/2F said:

If that was the only reason for Ilford's price increases, then the percentages of price rises should be similar to other manufacturers. But see my comment above. Their price rises in the past five years on paper are at least 4x the rises of my favorite competitor, Oriental. And it is NOT just products containing silver. Chemicals have gone up significantly, and the price of silver should have no effect on that. Some possible explanations floating around in my mind are as stated above: the business is suffering badly and they have figured that these are the prices they need to charge to stay afloat, or it is a premature attempt at positioning themselves for an "elite" group of film users.

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The metric is not how much their prices have gone up. Recalling their film history, this tells us that their film used to be very cheap.

Compare prices today. Ilford is cheaper than Kodak for film (sorry, don't know paper off the top of my head).

5 years or so back, Ilford had really cheap prices. They were also supplying house brands (Arista, ultrafine, etc) who were selling at really low prices. Ilford had to reorganize.

There can be multiple reasons for the price increase. One just might be their interest in having a sustainable business.

Ottrdaemmerung said:

Ilfosol 3 is better with conventional films, like Tri-X, FP4+, HP5+, etc. DD-X is particularly suited for T-grained films like TMax and Ilford's Delta line.

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viridari said:

Ah ok gotcha. The guy at the camera shop didn't seem as familiar with pairing Ilford's film & developers. Thanks.

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Having developed the last 300 rolls or so of HP5+ in DD-X, with occasional abortive attempts to find a better combination, I am puzzled as to what Ottrdaemmerung might mean by "particularly suited." HP5+ and DD-X is a match made in heaven. Pleasing, well-defined grain, a curve that never ends, with both highlights and shadows recoverable all the way to the other other side of the rainbow. Delta looks nowhere near as good in DD-X.

Hmmm... A bit subjective perhaps? Sure it is. That's what the forum is for, no?

Vilk, I am new to developing. If I was to tell you I am specifically going to stay with Delta 100, and HP5+ for 99% of what I am going to do, what developer would you recommend for me. Remember, I am a noob and I will more than likely stay at boxed speed on the film. Add Delta 3200 to the mix, same developer?

Bob E.

I would combine it with DD-X and when you want a cheaper developer alternative: Microphen or Xtol. But last two are powder developers and they have less convenience then DD-X which is a liquid concentrate.
But also Kodak HC-110 (also a liquid concentrate) would be a pretty good choice. For the rest it's a matter of taste. Some people like e.g. HP5+ and Rodinal, some people hate it (too much grain). But of course it's also depending on the film format.

Liquid ease of use: DD-X with those three films.

SafetyBob said:

Vilk, I am new to developing. If I was to tell you I am specifically going to stay with Delta 100, and HP5+ for 99% of what I am going to do, what developer would you recommend for me. Remember, I am a noob and I will more than likely stay at boxed speed on the film. Add Delta 3200 to the mix, same developer?

Bob E.

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Thanks Harry, was reading on the Ilford website. Noticed that the DD-X was specifically recommended for the Delta line of films and am I correct that HP5+ delveloped with DD-X will be fine to as would I even know the difference between DD-X and HC-10 in the beginning?

Bob E.

SafetyBob said:

Thanks Harry, was reading on the Ilford website. Noticed that the DD-X was specifically recommended for the Delta line of films and am I correct that HP5+ delveloped with DD-X will be fine to as would I even know the difference between DD-X and HC-10 in the beginning?

Bob E.

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I use DD-X for all my B&W film, works great.

Mark, do you keep you films to box speeds only or do you push/pull much? If so, how what film and how much....

Bob E.

You may or may not notice a difference, should be slightly finer grain with DD-X but HC-110 is fine for those films too.

Got it...thanks.

Bob E.

And by the way, using Delta 3200 at "box speed" is in fact a push though the suggested times take that into account. I and most others recommend using the next highest time, e.g. Shoot it at 3200 but develop it using the time for 6400 instead.

HP5+ and Delta 400, even FP4+ can be pushed well with DD-X or HC-110. I actually shoot FP4+ at 200 a fair bit and it comes out nicely.

SafetyBob said:

Mark, do you keep you films to box speeds only or do you push/pull much? If so, how what film and how much....

Bob E.

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I do push or pull here and there. I have come to like 100 to 400 speed film's close to box speed best.

I use the Deltas most but have HP5, FP4, TXP, TX, & plus x, in the fridge gathered up both second hand and new.

Don't get hung up here in other peoples opinions or agonizing over your choices here though.

Why you say?

Well consider Delta 3200. It's not really a 3200 speed film, it's a 1000 speed film, Kodak's 3200 too. Shooting and developing for 3200 is a push. My norm with 3200 speed film is shoot at "x" develop at "x+1".

Delta 100 for me needs less than normal development, Delta 400 needs normal times.

There are a variety of reasons this might be, including my mood.

You need to experiment (read that as print) to see what works best for you.

DD-X is great for me regardless of which way I shoot, but it's not a magic bullet. Same goes for the all the rest.

I picked up Ilfosol 3 about 3-4 months back and have used it with Neopan 100 and like the combination so far. I see no point in going back to my usual 5L quantities of Xtol. The Xtol would go bad as my usage is low so I started keeping a Qt in the refrigerator but it was precipitating out of solution and Ilfosol doesn't. If you keep with Ilfosol order 3 small 12oz brown bottles next time around. Two will be full and the third you can work out of.

waynecrider said:

I picked up Ilfosol 3 about 3-4 months back and have used it with Neopan 100 and like the combination so far. I see no point in going back to my usual 5L quantities of Xtol. The Xtol would go bad as my usage is low so I started keeping a Qt in the refrigerator but it was precipitating out of solution and Ilfosol doesn't. If you keep with Ilfosol order 3 small 12oz brown bottles next time around. Two will be full and the third you can work out of.

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Make that 2- 250ml amber bottles or 4- 125ml bottles.