* High sharpness for 400
* clears faster in processing than Tmax films

* The old "T-grain" highlight blocking

I’ve used Delta 400 for a couple of years, but now that I’ve discovered Xtol developer I went back to take another look at the competition.

I did a comparison of 35mm Agfa APX 400, Kodak T-Max 400, Tri-X, Ilford HP5 and Ilford Delta 400. G2; Zeiss lenses; TTL exposures at 400 with brackets at 200 and 800. Processing in Kodak Xtol for Kodak’s recommended times minus 10% (which has been my standard for Delta in the past). Negs were examined as a 2700 dpi scan (equivalent to a 37” x 56” enlargement on screen) for graininess, sharpness, overall tonality and the proverbial highlight “blocking.”

TMax and Delta 400 were very slightly sharper than the “traditional-chemistry” films, resolving extremely fine detail like distant tree branches or clothing threads just a tad better than the others. They had grain that was extremely fine, but also very visible.

Tri-X and HP5 had the smoothest (almost invisible) grain, but resolved a little less fine detail, almost as if they had been slightly blurred by a PhotoShop™ filter - maybe just their thicker emulsions acting as diffusers during the scan? (Actually the HP5 fell sort of between Tri-X and Delta 400 - with more visible grain/sharpness than TX and less than the T-grain films).

The Agfa 400 had the most grain, and slightly less sharpness than TMax/HP5, but it was not as grainy as Tri-X developed in D-76, and certainly acceptable.

All the films exhibited SOME compression of highlight tones, but this is typical of my scanner. The TMax and Delta 400 highlights were slightly more compressed, but not all that different.

The biggest difference I saw was in shadow separation - Tri-X and HP-5 were clearly better than the others at drawing out shadow details, with AGFA APX 400 right behind them. Based on shadow detail, I’d have to rate TMax and Delta 400 at 200, Tri-X and HP5 at 400, and Agfa 400 at 320 using this developer/meter combination.

Conclusion: At print sizes of 6x9 inches or 9x13 inches you will probably see very little difference in sharpness or grain among these five films. The best of these films with poor developing (especially overdevelopment) will look a lot worse than the worst of these films with good processing, especially with Xtol.

Delta 400 and T-Max will have either a little less highlight detail or a little less shadow detail depending on exposure, while the “old technology” films will have somewhat more tonal detail at the cost of a little sharpness.

Based on these tests I'll be experimenting more with HP5, but the differences reallt were very small.

Customer Service

n/a

Similar Products Used:

Agfapan 400, HP5, Kodak TMax and Tri-X

A 400 or 800 that gives you exactly what you want

exact development and exposure

This film will perform the way you want it if exposed and developed VERY carfully

Customer Service

great always

Similar Products Used:

Kodak fugi

Nice grain.

none

Strangely, Delta 400 is much better than T-max 400 as I find that T-max 100 is better than Delta 100, in terms of 'grains'. T-max 100 is the best, but when it comes to T 400, it's like blowing up the T 100 so that you see the grains. But D 400 is different, it is solid, the grains are well in place as they should be. The contrast is good too.

Similar Products Used:

Delta 100, HP5, FP4, T-max 100, 400, 3200, Tri-X 400

very smooth grain and very smooth tonal range

none that i see

This is my first time to try this particular film and printed some on Ilford's cooltone multi-contrast paper. The smoothness of the tones is great. i used these for people pictures (wedding candids) and i stronly recommend this film for this type of work.

Similar Products Used:

delta 3200, agfa 100, HP5, tri-x, t-max

Delta 400 is a sharp grained film with excellent latitude. Its as crisp as most B&W films with a lower ASA rating. Its become my favorite B&W film for range and its smooth, clean look. I shoot nothing but this on my medium format cameras, and nearly exclusively on my 35mm.

None that I can identify.

Great film. Certainly the crispest and coolest 400 ASA rated B&W film out there.

Customer Service

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Similar Products Used:

Kodak Tri-X,Kodak TMax, Delta 100, Ilford X2

Excellent lattitude (i find it has better latitude than even Tri-X)... balance thats between too sharp and too romantic (haze via grain)

none

great sharpness at 400 and an excellent gray scale balance (probably wins for photojournalism style art where tri-x gets the nod for sheer composition due to its romantic grain and greyscale)

Customer Service

NA

Similar Products Used:

Tri-X, Delta 100, T-max (i really dislike T-max)