Film Friday - February 8th, 2024. Ilford Delta 400

As is our usual modus operandi let’s begin this Film Friday exploration of Delta 400 with a bit of background info on this emulsion from Ilford. Delta 400 was the first of the Delta family of films that Ilford rolled out. It was introduced to the world in 1990, two years before Delta 100 came along and eight years before we got Delta 3200. Since its inception the emulsion has received one update, so it is largely untweaked from its original release 30 years ago. At the time, the Delta films were a direct answer to Kodak’s TMax line of films and matched it punch for punch: as both film families include ISO 100, 400 and 3200 emulsions. Similar to the TMax films, Delta films also incorporated newer tabular grain film technology, breaking off from the traditional use of cubic grain emulsions. Another trait the Delta 400 films share with TMax is that they also provided an alternate look and feel to long running film stocks that their respective companies were popularly known for. In the case of Kodak, TMax it is a counterpart to Tri-X. With the Delta films, they give photographers an alternative to the classic HP5 and FP4 Plus films.

But let us circle back to a point we brought up about film grain and expand upon it, as it is important for better understanding Delta 400 and the strengths and qualities it brings to your photography. Prior to Delta (and TMax) most film emulsions used a cubic grain structure. Delta makes use of a tabular grain. Kodak calls this “T-grain” while Ilford uses the term “Core-Shell Crystal Growth Technology”. Cubic grain films have silver crystals that are more round and more organically spread across the emulsion, meanwhile tabular grain films employ flat crystals that fit together in a smoother, tighter pattern. Picture two roads, the cubic grain road is composed of cobblestones while the tabular grain road is made of brick or flat tiles laid down. The advantage that flat silver crystals offer is greater light gathering capabilities with relatively smaller crystals, meaning faster speed with less grain and great sharpness. That is the biggest functional difference for you. Are tabular grain films naturally superior? Since the look of a photographic image is so subjective and different aesthetic preferences will lean different ways, this is not an definitely answered question. Some photographers love the grittiness and texture you get from classic cubic films, while others might prefer the cleaner, smoother look of tabular grain films. Different films will better achieve different desired results. A tabular grain film might be used in portraiture while a cubic grain film for street photography, for example.

Staff member Peter Carlson does everything he can to get in front of the camera. Here he is demonstrating the qualities of Ilford Delta 400. Image made with a Bronica SQ-Ai.

See what we mean? The above image of Peter looks smooth, crisp and clean. These are all hallmarks of tabular grain films in general and Delta 400 specifically. Since we are talking about grain, Delta 400’s is more or less exactly what you would expect of it after reading the above description of tabular grain films. It is fine grained for its speed, and it produces crisp, sharp images. Compare it to HP5 Plus and you can see the difference between the two films fairly easily. It is worth noting though that Delta 400 can get grainy fairly fast, especially if overexposed. Here, we’ll show you what we mean.

A 35mm frame of Delta 400 that was 1-2 stops overexposed due to the abundance of light on this day.

As with most tabular grain films, one complaint that some photographers bring up is that these films don’t have enough grit or enough texture. It can be true. They are meant to be clean and smooth. However if you want a grittier look with Delta 400 simply overexpose it a stop or two, or alternatively rate it at ISO 800 and push it one stop in developing. Either one of these techniques will quickly introduce more grain to your images.

In terms of contrast, Delta 400 offers a nice tonal range that is neither too much nor too little. Our experience with the film is that it tends toward the softer side of the spectrum in regard to the level of contrast it has, but still delivers rich shadows. We have heard that it clips highlights more easily but this is not something we have had happen to us. Delta 400 is a versatile film for sunny days with its slightly softer contrast, and it is also a great film for portraiture for this same reason. Hand in hand with contrast and tonality is Delta 400’s latitude. On this score we would rate it fairly average. While Ilford claims this film can be pushed as high as ISO 3200, in general we have never had as much luck pushing Delta films, at least not as much as HP5 Plus or Tri-X. Our recommendation is stick with box speed here and watch your metering. Delta 400, being a negative film, will forgive a decent amount of mis-exposure but not as much as many other films out there.

We love doing our long exposures so naturally reciprocity failure is something we want to know about a film. Delta 400 works just fine for long exposure work but it does require a reasonable amount of compensation. Plan on giving this film one extra stop by 10 seconds, two extra stops at 30 seconds and three (or more) by the time you reach a minute. With proper exposure compensation, Delta’s smooth look can lend itself quite well to some extended shutter speeds.

Delta 400 doing some extended exposures at Deception Pass in Washington state. This exposure was about four minutes long. Image made with a Hasselblad 500C.

Meanwhile this was a one hour exposure made using Delta 400. Image made with a Hasselblad 500C.

As we approach the conclusion of this look at Delta 400, we would summarize by saying Delta 400’s best trait is that it doesn’t really have any particular strength or weakness. It is a film that can be fine grained or gritty, low contrast or dramatic. It is a versatile film in that sense and one that can be molded by exposure, developing or even post-processing to really fit a photographer’s tastes. Yes, it has some baseline traits, such as being naturally smoother grain or naturally a bit lower contrast, but these features can be easily manipulated. On one hand the film is almost a bit of a blank slate. This was difficult for us at first as we were looking for ways to pin it down and neatly categorize it, but as we used it more and more we began to better understand this nature of it. That means you can easily keep a healthy stock of Delta 400 in the fridge and trust that it will mold itself to a variety of projects or ideas that you may have in mind.

Go on, try it for yourself and see. We have all the Delta 400 you’ll need by clicking right here.

And why not enjoy a few more sample images before you go!