{"id":8513,"date":"2026-01-06T06:00:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T11:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/?p=8513"},"modified":"2025-10-07T06:54:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T10:54:20","slug":"extreme-film-review-no-2-ilford-delta-3200","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/06\/extreme-film-review-no-2-ilford-delta-3200\/","title":{"rendered":"Extreme Film Review No. 2 &#8211; Ilford Delta 3200"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve never been a fan of films faster than say ASA-800, they just don&#8217;t look good in my mind. But the modern high-speed offerings often have some of the widest latitudes in modern black &#038; white emulsions. Among them is Ilford Delta 3200, this is the fast film that lived. If I had to choose between Delta 3200 and TMax P3200 I would take Delta 3200. I feel it has a lot cleaner look and feel and a bit more contrast than its Kodak cousin. But it&#8217;s still a fast film so it isn&#8217;t my first choice. But it should be fun to see how it stacks up with Diafine.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/54775949088\/in\/album-72177720328916872\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.02 - Ilford Delta 3200\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54775949088_7fd2498f71_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.02 - Ilford Delta 3200\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Film Specs<\/strong><br \/>\nManufacturer: Ilford Photo<br \/>\nName: Ilford Delta 3200<br \/>\nType: Panchromatic B&#038;W, Tabular-Grained<br \/>\nFilm Base: Acetate<br \/>\nFilm Speed: ASA-3200 (True Speed, ASA-1000), Tested Latitude, +\/- 2-Stops<br \/>\nFormats Available: 135 (35mm), 120<\/p>\n<p>It is widely accepted that the true speed of Delta 3200 is ASA-1000, but for the sake of this test I&#8217;ll be using ASA-3200 as the benchmark EI as it is the &#8216;box speed&#8217; the speed that is printed on the box. I&#8217;ll be exposing it in the range between ASA-800 and ASA-12800. For the sake of transparency, there is no official listed time for Diafine and Delta 3200, instead I&#8217;ll be going with a time of 4+4 at 20\u00b0C. I shot the film through my Nikon F5 with the 28mm f\/2.8 lens with the aperture set to f\/11 and no filters attached. In the example images they&#8217;ll be shown -2, -1, 0, +1, +2 from left to right. All adjustments were done using the EV controls. The camera was mounted on a tripod and the shutter tripped using a remote trigger.<\/p>\n<p><figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/54838232006\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.02 - Ilford Delta 3200\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54838232006_0bf440ec76_h.jpg\" width=\"1600\" height=\"186\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.02 - Ilford Delta 3200\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Nikon F5 &#8211; AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 &#8211; Ilford Delta 3200 @ ASA-3200 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 4:00 + 4:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/54838460609\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.02 - Ilford Delta 3200\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54838460609_58dbdee54d_h.jpg\" width=\"1600\" height=\"195\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.02 - Ilford Delta 3200\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Nikon F5 &#8211; AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 &#8211; Ilford Delta 3200 @ ASA-3200 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 4:00 + 4:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll admit, I didn&#8217;t have high hopes for this roll. First, I was using a time that is an educated guess. Second, I don&#8217;t like these fast films. When I pulled the negatives out of the tank, I was impressed that there were actually images on the roll; they looked thin, but I had results. Now I know that the Delta 3200, despite stating 3200 on the box, performs far better at a slower speed, and this test showed that to be true. At the top end (-2 and -1), you lose a lot of shadow detail, and the images appear dark. I&#8217;m okay with the zero mark (ASA-3200), but it opens up nicely at the top end (+1 and +2) with an ideal performance somewhere between these two points. Which makes sense, as the only other fast film I&#8217;ve used Diafine with is TMax P3200, which instructs you to rate the film at ASA 1280.<\/p>\n<p><figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/54837368522\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.02 - Ilford Delta 3200\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54837368522_1ed683f708_h.jpg\" width=\"1600\" height=\"198\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.02 - Ilford Delta 3200\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Nikon F5 &#8211; AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 &#8211; Ilford Delta 3200 @ ASA-3200 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 4:00 + 4:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/54837368507\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.02 - Ilford Delta 3200\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54837368507_38e4bbad40_h.jpg\" width=\"1600\" height=\"197\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.02 - Ilford Delta 3200\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Nikon F5 &#8211; AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 &#8211; Ilford Delta 3200 @ ASA-3200 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 4:00 + 4:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<p>Now I have a love\/hate relationship with fast films, I don&#8217;t normally shoot films over ASA-800, but I have to say I like the results I got from Delta 3200 when developed in Diafine. The lighting conditions that I was working with were low contrast and overcast. But Delta 3200 performed well with plenty of contrast and the grain and sharpness were certainly tamed a great deal. Now I&#8217;m sure it would have performed better with a bit more light and a bit of filtration to bump it up. But if I had to choose the best results I would as I mentioned peg it right between the +1 and +2 frames so something between ASA-1600 and ASA-800, which in my past review of the film stock Delta 3200 performed best.<\/p>\n<p><figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/54838476698\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.02 - Ilford Delta 3200\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54838476698_9c31eb1680_h.jpg\" width=\"1600\" height=\"197\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.02 - Ilford Delta 3200\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Nikon F5 &#8211; AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 &#8211; Ilford Delta 3200 @ ASA-3200 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 4:00 + 4:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/54838557170\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.02 - Ilford Delta 3200\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54838557170_0b57428bff_h.jpg\" width=\"1600\" height=\"195\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.02 - Ilford Delta 3200\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Nikon F5 &#8211; AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 &#8211; Ilford Delta 3200 @ ASA-3200 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 4:00 + 4:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<p>As I mentioned earlier, I estimated the development times for this roll because no official times were listed. I no longer recall where I obtained the times from, but they were a combination of information I found on Flickr and my own calculations. Then again, isn&#8217;t that where most film development times come from? I&#8217;m glad I found a workable time for Delta 3200 and Diafine, as I like the results I got, and it provides a nice benchmark. And most importantly, by putting this information online, it can help the next photographer who is looking for that information. While I wasn&#8217;t too happy with the faster results, I think that with some tweaking, you might be able to get a bit more speed out of this combo if you need to achieve that speed when shooting Delta 3200. As for the slower-than-box results, those were fantastic and ones I&#8217;ll keep in my back pocket for the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve never been a fan of films faster than say ASA-800, they just don&#8217;t look good in my mind. But the modern high-speed offerings often have some of the widest latitudes in modern black &#038; white emulsions. Among them is Ilford Delta 3200, this is the fast film that lived. If I had to choose between Delta 3200 and TMax P3200 I would take Delta 3200. I feel it has a lot cleaner look and feel and a bit more contrast than its Kodak cousin. But it&#8217;s still a fast film so it isn&#8217;t my first choice. But it should be fun to see how<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/06\/extreme-film-review-no-2-ilford-delta-3200\/\"><span>Read More &rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[22,1707,2007,74,207,854,82,29,75],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8513"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8513"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8722,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8513\/revisions\/8722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}