Ilford Delta 3200 B&W Film

 

I had this roll of Ilford Delta 3200 sitting in my fridge for a few years. I put off using it because I wanted to use it for a special occasion but, I didn't really know what that may have been (ha ha) so about a month or so ago I thought I'd use it when a mate and I were going on an evening shoot into Newcastle, NSW. 

I chose to shoot it with a Canon EOS 300V. I didn't want to be mucking around with settings and exposure meters at night and, with this camera, I could set the ISO and shoot using Aperture Priority. It worked very well. I didn't shoot at box speed though. I have used this film at box speed once before on a night street shoot (Newcastle Street Feast on Ilford Delta 3200). Unlike that first try out, I set the ISO for 1600 this time. I had been reading up on this film and many people have said it is better at ISO 1600 and then developed as normal for ISO 3200. One thing I wanted to get out of it was less grain than my first shoot but enough grain to make the scenes like gritty street photos.

As I learned from the first shoot with this film, it may be a film that you can use in low light situations but, you still need a reasonable source of light. I set the Canon for Spot Metering. At night I exposed for the lights and during the day I exposed for the shadows. 

I also wanted to use the film during the daylight and that is when the Canon EOS 300V also came in handy. It has an aperture speed up to 1/2000 which is more than nearly all the other film cameras I have. The photos from the daylight came out nice, contrasty and, sharp but the grain was still as noticeable during the daytime.

I scanned these on my EPSON 850V using Silverfast SE and then on Lightroom Classic. Nothing special done in editing and these are pretty much how they came out with minimum fuss.

Before I went out, I searched for photos taken with this film. Some I saw had as much grain as mine but others, e.g. Portraits, had similar amounts of grain to an ISO 400 film. I am wondering if this has anything to do with editing styles, rather than how the film was shot.

I am not sure if I'll shoot with this film again. I am happy with the result of this roll but, I think the place for this film is in a dimly lit, smoke filled, jazz bar where the dark shadows and band spotlights will suit that grainy, gritty look. Mind you, there are no more 'smoke filled' bars anywhere these days so there goes that idea!

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