[Leica] Delta 3200 (long)

[George Huczek <ghuczek@sk.sympatico.ca>]

   Last month I tested Ilford's Delta 3200 B&W film.  I had a limited
number of rolls, (some of which I distributed to my photo students, to see
how it handles with point'n shoots -- these tests are not yet complete --)
so I tested it under practical working conditions for which the film is
ideally suited, instead of concentrating on sensitometric tests.
   I used a Leica M6, with a 50mm Summilux (current version), hand-held,
without flash.  It was my intention to seek out very difficult lighting
conditions, which would cause great difficulty for most other films to
handle.  Normally, under such adverse conditions, I would use Kodak TMZ,
rated at 1000 or higher, and developed in T-Max developer.
   The situations I selected required a fairly high shutter speed to
capture action.  Two activities which I photographed were indoor roller
skating, and glow bowling.  (Glow bowling is done in a bowling alley with
dim, disco-style lighting.)  The lighting conditions in both of these
situations are very similar to what one would encounter in a discotheque,
with brightly coloured spotlights, flashing strobe lights, fog machines,
and "black lights" which light up glow-in-the-dark clothing and coloured
bowling balls.  To hope to capture the action I needed at least 1/60th to
1/125th of a second, and with apertures ranging from f/2 to f/5.6 at these
shutter speeds, these lighting conditions required a 3200 speed film.  This
"atmosphere lighting" would cause most photographers to put away their
cameras, or activate a flash.
   The conditions are tough to photograph!  The coloured spotlights keep
moving, and when white spotlights are directed at the spherical mirrors on
the ceilings, the pattern of catch lights reflected from the small flat
surfaces are very unpredictable.  Metering is difficult, and so is focusing
in the dim light, but the M6 handled both of these tasks very well.
Exposures were uniform on the contact sheets.
   Pictures from both locations turned out remarkably well.  The contact
sheets took longer than usual to expose, which suggests slightly higher
than normal base level fog with the film.  Prints required additional
exposure as well, but otherwise there was exceptional detail in the shadow
areas.  Printing on approximately grade 2 to 2.5 paper (on Ilford
multigrade RC with a dichroic colour head) 5x7 enlargements showed
noticeable, but acceptable grain, and high contrast, which is quite
acceptable for the difficult lighting conditions used to take the pictures.
 Most people would be happy if their films even recorded an image under
such lighting conditions.
   Film development was in HC-110, dilution B, without prewetting, at 14.5
minutes and 20C (+ or - 0.5C), with continuous agitation for the first 20
seconds, and two inversions every 30 seconds thereafter.  Water bath
temperature regulation was used.  Development was good.  
   In the future, I will experiment with different developers using this
film, since 3200 is the highest recommended speed with HC-110(B) .  If
higher speeds are required, HC-110 dilution A can be used to squeeze out an
extra stop, as can Ilfotec HC (1:15).  Pushing further to EI 12500 can be
done in stock ID11, stock D76, or T-Max (1:4).  If EI 25000 is required,
stock Microphen can be used, as well as stock XTOL.  I did not test any of
these developers and exposure indexes, so they are suggested here only as
starting points for further testing based on individual needs.
   Based on my limited tests, I have found that the film has outstanding
antihalation characteristics.  Bright highlights, surrounded by areas of
darkness, show very little, if any halation at all. There is no noticeable
"bleed" into surrounding areas.  (The 50 M-Summilux has good flare
suppression characteristics.)  The potential that this has for
photographing such things as twilight cityscapes, low-light surveillance
with strong backlighting, or indoor sports with ceiling floodlights,
becomes immediately apparent.
   I was surprised at the excellent tonal range the film can hold under
very dim lighting.  Typically, under conditions like the ones I
photographed, one can expect "soot and whitewash" prints, with strong
blacks and very high contrast, predominant grain patterns emerging in the
darker tones, little if any shadow detail, and completely blown-out
highlights.  The film does not behave like that at all.  The film holds
good shadow detail, suggesting a gently-rising toe, and sufficient
highlight detail so that with proper printing technique (i.e. flashing,
burning in, and split-grade printing), exposure can be based on the
shadows, and textured highlight detail can be rendered.  I would estimate
that the film has at the very least a 7 to 8 stop range in useful exposure
latitude.
   Delta 3200 is an excellent film, intended for special applications.
Fine art photographers will appreciate the potential that the film has for
producing strong grain patterns.  Sports photographers working in low light
without flash and photojournalists will appreciate the film's high speed
capabilities.  New opportunities are available for Leica enthusiasts to
explore the film's potential in extremely low lighting.  Combined with a
fast lens, hand held photography with Delta 3200 can take one right to the
very edge of available light.



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[o] -GH