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The aethereal radar operator [Canon A1 | FD 24 mm f/2 | Ilford Delta 3200 pushed to 6400]
(sopuli.xyz)
Shooting my first roll of Delta 3200 went well. The development, however, did not. In this picture there are examples of bent film, fingerprints, film getting wet when being put onto the spiral and sticking to itself – but they end up looking quite cool in my opinion.
The picture itself is taken from the operations center in the now retired Finnish Navy minelayer Keihässalmi.
Wow. I went to photojournalism school in the late 00s, and we were all using Ilford Delta 3200 almost exclusively. I am stoked to see some of it on my feed again. That's a real blast from the past. Excellent print, great way to lean into the impurities of the process.
I assume you are spooling and hand-developing your film? If so, how long have you been at it? Spooling is a skill that really takes a fuckton of muscle memory for sure.
Correct, hand developing in a tank. Started developing myself a bit over a year ago, after the local lab went bankrupt. This particular roll was developed with XT-3 at 26,5 °C (can't get the room colder than that during summer). Additionally, this isn't really a darkroom print, just a scan of the negative – I'm planning to get an enlarger at some point but unfortunately my current home doesn't have room for a proper darkroom.
Usually it goes without issues, this time I didn't let my equipment dry well enough before spooling the next roll, plus it was insanely humid so my hands got drenched in sweat in the changing bag. Water on the spools and sweat made it very difficult to get the film in, but at that point it was too late to try to roll the now wet film back into the canister.
C-41 I still send to the lab, don't have the required equipment yet.
I'll chain another comment here still. One thing that has surprised me getting into film photography is how recent some of the latest entries to the market are, especially the faster films. I would've never guessed that Delta 3200 is younger than I am (1997 vs 1998).
Can't wait to try this film at 6x9, to see how the grain shows then.