Ilford Delta 100 .
Delta 100 sits at lowest speed and finest grained “professional” black and white film in the Delta range. It’s a film with a strong lineage going back to the 90s and tweaked in the early years to improve shadow detail. It’s barely been touched since leaving us with a film that has some of the finest grain in any film available, good contrast and wonderful detail.
Those characteristics do come with a note of caution — it is not as forgiving as Ilford FP4 which has a wider latitude, but if you’re a seasoned shooter or you can trust your light meter, the results are worth it. You get stronger contrast and finer detail making it the natural choice for architecture where it renders strong geometric forms well and landscapes with its excellent tonal detail. If there’s enough light a case could be made for street photography, but Delta 400 is a more natural choice here.
It can also be used for portraiture although many photographers elect to shoot Delta 400 because it has a little more character owing to the increased grain, or FP4 or HP5. But if you’re a landscape or architecture photographer, it’s a hard road ignoring Delta 100. It should be one of the first films to reach for before heading out.
- + Landscapes — great detail, fine grain, good contrast
- + Architecture — renders geometric forms strongly
- + Street photography — if you have enough light
- − Portraiture unless you want an extremely clean look — choose Delta 400 or FP4
- − Situations with fading light — choose Delta 400 or T-Max/Ektapan 400
- − When you want a little more contrast — choose T-Max/Ektapan 100
more from their film.
Delta 100 Professional uses Ilford's Core-Shell crystal technology, a tabular grain structure that produces extremely fine grain at ISO 100. In 35mm, the grain is effectively invisible at normal print sizes, becoming apparent only at significant enlargement. In 120 and 4x5, it is a non-issue entirely — the tonal character and crisp separation become the defining qualities rather than the grain. Box speed is ISO 100, and Ilford's published EI range runs from EI 50 to EI 200: one stop either side. This is a film that asks for careful metering. Unlike HP5 Plus, which is broadly forgiving across a wide range of exposures, Delta 100 rewards accurate exposure and yields noticeably different results when you stray beyond that ±1 stop window. Reciprocity failure applies to exposures longer than 1 second — use the formula Ta = Tm^1.26 to calculate adjusted times.
The push and pull range is deliberate rather than elastic. Ilford publishes full development tables for EI 50 (pull) and EI 200 (push) — both are well-supported and practical. Pulling to EI 50 is useful for controlling contrast in bright, high-contrast light, and Ilford recommends PERCEPTOL for the finest grain at this rating. Pushing to EI 200 gains one stop with a modest contrast increase; Ilford classifies EI 400 and above as accidental exposure requiring rescue development, not an endorsed shooting EI. Contrast at box speed is medium, with a character that is noticeably crisper than FP4 Plus — clear tonal separation with good shadow detail.
Store unexposed film in cool conditions (10–20°C) in original packaging. Refrigeration or freezing is acceptable — allow adequate acclimatisation time before opening to avoid condensation. Process exposed film promptly.