Last night I finally got a chance to develop ONE roll of film
from the vacation. Rather exciting since it contains my TOPE 10
picture.
Anyway, it's been YEARS since I rolled my own B&W and this was
the first time I've used Ilford Delta 100 and Ilford DD-X
developer. I am very pleased with the results. I did
over-develop a little. I had adjusted the time downward some
because my chemistry was a little warm and my agitation (spin
tank instead of inversion tank) was probably a bit aggressive.
Hey, I wanted to make sure that I had no dead spots.
The results are amazing. The grain pattern looks like a cross
between TMAX 100 and Plus-X. Density (again, I probably
over-developed 1/2 stop) is heavier than TMX, but not quite as
heavy as Plus-X. I was amazed at the thickness of the emulsion.
It almost looks like a Kodachrome slide as far as surface
texture is concerned. No mistaking which side is which.
The film is extremely sharp. I don't know how else to describe
the resolution other than it seems to bridge the gap between
TMAX and old-style emulsions very well. TMAX 100 has sharp edge
definition, but doesn't look quite right when blown up to
extreme sizes. Traditional grained film, when blown up to
equivelent sizes, lose the edge definition but the transitions
look more "right". Under the loop, the edge definition looks
traditional, yet has a contrastier look to it.
I haven't figured out the tonalities yet. I'm hoping to get
some darkroom time tonight. But in the scanner it seemed to
stairstep a little. Gulp! I'm thinking it was just a horrible
scan. Looking at the negs, they look natural enough with
comfortable gradients, but I've been fooled before. (T400CN).
The film base is as clear as I've ever seen. I don't know what
they did, but you could read a newspaper through it without
squinting. It doesn't have the matte characteristic of Kodak
B&W films.
DD-X is wonderfully easy to work with (single-shot). It doesn't
stink and doesn't irritate my skin.
If the tonalities hold, I suspect that this combination could
become my instant favorite. Delta 100 is one rocking film. I
think I shot a comparison picture with the Pan-F so that will be
an interesting case study. One picture of an old melting
homestead (gravitation induced recycling) appears three
dimensional on the negative. I hope that that characteristic
stays true in the print. I'm guessing that the negs will print
pretty straight to a 2 1/2 grade paper--maybe 3 tops. Some of
the highlights did get blown out--but that was probably due to
over-development and maybe some over-exposure, but the jury is
still out.
Hold on, TOPE 10 is coming...
AG-Schnozz
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