Though really a T-MAX film guy at heart, I acquired three 30m bulk rolls of Ilford HP5 from the estate of a friend. It was in the freezer, but I don't know if he had put it there when new, or sometime later. The date is JUL '89, so it's more than ten years old.(posted 9081 days ago)Ever the optimist, I ran a roll through the camera and processed it in XTOL 1:1 for the recommended time (10.5 min @ 70). The shots look pretty good, in fact the stuff seems to have really nice adjacency effects, and the grain isn't too bad. On the other hand, though the prints are good, I think there is a significant amount of fog. I measured the base + fog at 0.46 then fixed an undeveloped piece of the stuff and measured it at 0.25 just to see what the raw stock looked like. Questions:
1. Does anybody have a good base + fog number for Ilford HP5 (not plus)?
2. Waddyathink? Should I use this or throw it out?
3. Is the newer HP5 Plus noticeably better than the non-Plus?
Also, if you ride motorcycles, please be extra special careful on that grooved pavement- your friends can finish your unused film and paper, but its a heck of a lot better if you stick around to do it yourself!