{"id":8517,"date":"2026-03-03T06:00:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T11:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/?p=8517"},"modified":"2025-12-03T07:05:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T12:05:50","slug":"extreme-film-review-no-4-ilford-hp5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/03\/extreme-film-review-no-4-ilford-hp5\/","title":{"rendered":"Extreme Film Review No. 4 &#8211; Ilford HP5+"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While it has taken me a while to come to like Ilford HP5+ the one thing that this film stock can take is punishment. And I&#8217;ve done a fair bit of pushing on HP5+ in the past with some excellent success. Last year it was pushing it to ASA-1600 and developing in Fujifilm SPD with some of the best results I&#8217;ve seen. I have also seen some excellent results back on the slower end of things. So I have high hopes for this roll.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/54776054040\/in\/album-72177720328916872\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.04 - Ilford HP5+\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54776054040_44ab35824f_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.04 - Ilford HP5+\"\/><\/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 HP5+<br \/>\nType: Panchromatic B&#038;W, Cubic Grained<br \/>\nFilm Base: Acetate<br \/>\nFilm Speed: ASA-400, Tested Latitude: +\/- 2-Stops<br \/>\nFormats Available: 135 (35mm), 120, Sheets<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll once again be setting the benchmark box speed of this roll to ASA-400, then shooting it between -2 and +2 stops, which translates to ASA-100 to ASA-1600. There are two listed times for Diafine and Ilford HP5+ a standard 3+3 time for ASA-640 and ASA-800, so I ended up developing this roll with a roll of Kodak TMax 400 for last month&#8217;s review. I used my Nikon F5 with the 35mm f\/2D lens and no filters attached. I set the aperture to f\/11, had the camera mounted on a tripod and used a remote release to trigger each shot and use the EV adjustment to make the changes during the shooting process.<\/p>\n<p><figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/54961421590\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.04 - Ilford HP5+\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54961421590_e57525a93b_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"130\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.04 - Ilford HP5+\"\/><\/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 35mm 1:2D &#8211; Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 3:00 + 3:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/54960231082\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.04 - Ilford HP5+\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54960231082_2520f43630_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"129\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.04 - Ilford HP5+\"\/><\/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 35mm 1:2D &#8211; Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 3:00 + 3:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<p>As soon as I pulled the negatives out from the thank I knew I had winners, there was very little difference between the frames, with only slight changes in density at the extreme ends of the test shots. I was not surprised at this, because HP5+ is known for its latitude. However, once I started scanning the negatives I started to see some problems at the -2-Stop frame. In all cases you&#8217;re losing almost all your shadow detail in these images. What surprised me is how nice the over-exposed frames (+1 and +2), which is something I never thought of HP5+ doing. Now all being said, even the -2 frames are still recoverable with a bit of work in post-processing.<\/p>\n<p><figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/54960231067\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.04 - Ilford HP5+\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54960231067_4e4020b805_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"129\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.04 - Ilford HP5+\"\/><\/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 35mm 1:2D &#8211; Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 3:00 + 3:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/54961367879\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.04 - Ilford HP5+\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54961367879_fba9939f69_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"122\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.04 - Ilford HP5+\"\/><\/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 35mm 1:2D &#8211; Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 3:00 + 3:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<p>One thing that I can say is that Diafine works nicely with HP5+, the contrast is decent, a nice middle-ground across all the frames, showing off both highlights and shadow detail without muddying thing up. Even at +1 your highlights aren&#8217;t blocked out, but if you do go that route I would personally add a pale yellow filter to knock that contrast back. The grain isn&#8217;t too visible and has a pleasing structure and the sharpness is maintained across all seven frames without too much increase at the -1 and -2 frames.<\/p>\n<p><figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/54961295563\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.04 - Ilford HP5+\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54961295563_db4bfc26f8_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"129\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.04 - Ilford HP5+\"\/><\/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 35mm 1:2D &#8211; Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 3:00 + 3:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/54960231062\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.04 - Ilford HP5+\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54960231062_500c87049c_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"127\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.04 - Ilford HP5+\"\/><\/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 35mm 1:2D &#8211; Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 3:00 + 3:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<p>While I did have  higher expectations for HP5+, I&#8217;m also not disappointed at these results. I would honestly say that you can easily shoot and develop between +\/- one-stop on the same roll and still get usable results, you could also push it to 1 1\/3rd stop in either direction and get the same results. I wouldn&#8217;t go any faster without adjusting your development. If I did take the film faster I would be using a dedicated fine-grain developer like Ilford Microfine, which you can probably do the same latitude and get good results. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While it has taken me a while to come to like Ilford HP5+ the one thing that this film stock can take is punishment. And I&#8217;ve done a fair bit of pushing on HP5+ in the past with some excellent success. Last year it was pushing it to ASA-1600 and developing in Fujifilm SPD with some of the best results I&#8217;ve seen. I have also seen some excellent results back on the slower end of things. So I have high hopes for this roll. Film Specs Manufacturer: Ilford Photo Name: Ilford HP5+ Type: Panchromatic B&#038;W, Cubic Grained Film Base: Acetate Film Speed: ASA-400, Tested Latitude:<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/03\/extreme-film-review-no-4-ilford-hp5\/\"><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":[22,1707,2007,74,102,57,82,29,75],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8517"}],"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=8517"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9041,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8517\/revisions\/9041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}