Ilford HP5+ 400asa 35mm - 36 exp

Product Information

For me personally and largely because of its high average speed, I almost always chose to use HP5 PLUS. Ilford’s technical information sheet includes some guidance for the company’s own developer line. But if you want times/ratios for developers from other brands, Massive Dev Chart is the place to go. When shot at box speed, Ilford HP5+’s grain looks to be about the same size, perhaps slightly grittier than that of Kodak Tri-X 400 . I only was gutsy enough to try such a high push after I got my Mamiya M645 Super (another favourite camera of mine). At EI 3200, night shots came out looking amazing. Grain was calmer than I thought and sharpness was outstanding. The film still tried to maintain some details in shadows, but at this rating it started to lose detail quite dramatically.

Ilford HP5 Plus 400 (35mm) Film Emulsion Review: Ilford HP5 Plus 400 (35mm)

See part one of my High EI Shootout for examples and thoughts on HP5 PLUS shot at and developed for EI 12800. If you would like to see examples shot and developed for EI 25600, please visit part two of my High EI Shootout. A part three at EI 51200 is coming. Contrast characteristics Pulling HP5+ is a little harder to do. Many photographers swear by over-exposing every film by one stop, no matter what speed it’s rated to. This is because over-exposing film is more likely to expose every single grain on the roll, creating a fine, ‘dense’ negative. When negatives are under-exposed, the grains that aren’t developed into metallic silver get washed away by the fixer, leaving holes between large silver clusters that make the film look ‘grainy.’ Overexposure fills in those spaces, and make tones across an image change more gradually, with less grain-to-grain contrast, for a smooth, beautiful appearance. Speaking of which, this is also a great film for shooting in bright daylight conditions since you can shoot wide open for some serious bokeh and subject isolation (i.e. the “3D pop”). However, if you push- or pull-process your HP5+, it’ll likely become more sensitive to over- and under-exposures and require finer metering for best results.

To cut a long story short, ILFORD and other film manufacturers no longer needed to hedge their bets with an exposure safety margin and the bottom line was simple. Immediate film speed “increases” across the board. Compared to some other films – even some other ISO 400 monochrome films like JCH Street Pan – that have their USPs and are marketed more for specific purposes, HP5 Plus is definitely more of a general use workhorse. If you like this film, you can save a bit of money by buying it as a bulk roll . You’ll need a bulk film loader tool to do this and HP5+ in 50’ or 100’ variety .

HARMAN technology Limited TECHNICAL INFORMATION HP5 PLUS HARMAN technology Limited TECHNICAL INFORMATION HP5 PLUS

HP5 PLUS hit shelves in late 1989 when it replaced the original HP5 formulation. Unlike Kodak Tri-X, which varies in film speed between formats, all HP5 PLUS formats have a native ISO of 400 – or if you prefer, ASA 400, DIN 27 or GOST 350. I opened this article with a statement that could loosely be described as “the HP5 PLUS” problem. In my opinion, the film is too often labelled as a response to and subsequently considered inferior to Kodak Tri-X by many photographers. Perhaps this is a geographic bias, with those from North America favouring one and those from Europe the other? It certainly appears that the rest of the world simply get on with the business of making photographs.Content contributor - become a part of the world’s biggest film and alternative photography community blog. All our Contributors have an ad-free experience for life. After that first roll I developed many more ILFOSOL 3. At first I always exposed my scenes at box speed – 400ASA but later on I chose to try other approaches. I develop mine in HC-11, quite practical for pushing the first two stops (only 11 minutes for 1600 with upside down turn agitation every 2 minutes at 20C, although I find my tap water requires longer durations than what’s recommended, so 12:30 for me), about to take a systemic approach to taking it to 3200 for even greater versatility. It boasts exceptionally fine grain, outstanding resolution and sharpness, and is best suited for bright conditions and sunny days. According to Ilford, the main difference between the two is that DELTA PROFESSIONAL films use a newer emulsion. This gives them the advantage of a lower grain-to-speed ratio (marginally cleaner, sharper look).