I tried a test of Delta 3200 in Microphen this weekend. Exposed at EI3200, developed in Microphen (1:1) for 18m at 21.5C.

As expected, shadow detail is a bit lacking at EI3200. I'd guess the probable true ISO would have been between 1250 and 1600 (using the 0.1 above b+f definition). Contrast was good (i.e. not too high) and apart from the lack of shadow detail the negatives don't look bad. Maybe a little thin, but since I'll be scanning them that's not a bad thing.

There was one odd thing though. I haven't used Delta 3200 before, but it appears to me that the film base is slightly hazy, i.e. looks like a very lightly frosted glass. I though maybe I'd underfixed, but when a refixed a short section nothing really changed. Reticulation is always possible, but my dev, fix and wash are within +/- 1C of each other so reticulation is very unlikely. Maybe it's just a characteristic of the film? Has anyone else noticed this effect?

-- Bob Atkins (bobatkins@hotmail.com), September 18, 2000

Answers

Indeed, I have had the same impression, and even more pronounced with T-max 3200. It doesn't seem to do any harm.

-- Thomas Wollstein (thomas_wollstein@web.de), September 18, 2000.

Delta 3200 base is a bit odd, especially dense. I think your negs are likely normal.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), September 18, 2000.

Thanks. I did some quick measurments on the film and got a B+F density of about 0.25. A zone III exposure gave a density of 0.12 above B+F so that puts the ISO right around 1000. I was hoping that Microphen would give me a bit more than that, but apparently not. My zone VIII exposure measured 1.05 above B+F, so my guess that the negs were a little thin was correct, but they scan OK so I'm not too worried about that.

-- Bob Atkins (bobatkins@hotmail.com), September 18, 2000.

I have been using Delta 3200 for about two years now and probably exposed over 200 rolls. Delta 3200 is a marvelous film but not at ISO 3200. I regularly use it at ISO 1200 and develop in Xtol 1:1 or 1:3. Developed in Xtol it looks more like Delta 400. I especially like to use it in medium format.

-- Robert Bedwell (rlb@triad.rr.com), September 29, 2000.