My favourite B&W film is ilford HP5 and I rarely shoot any thing else when it comes to B&W.
I love the contrast and grain it produces and depending on which developer I process with I can get plenty of looks from one film stock.
I have been reading quite a few blog posts and watching some youtube videos where various other photographers recommend shooting HP5 at 1600 iso as it don’t seem to loose any sharpness and the increase in contrast/grain doesn’t impact on the image.
I like grain and contrast so I was not all that bothered if they increased but as a test I was interested in how sharp the images were, so I shot a roll with my Nikon F100 and 50mm f1.4 which is a very sharp lens and processed it using ilfotec HC 1+15.
The results were great, the sharpness was impressive and the grain didn’t impair the look at all.
Rating HP5 at 1600 may become my standard from now on as it gives me extra versatility to be able to shoot in more lighting situations while keeping the look I like from using this film stock.
Thanks for looking
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You can find more lovely film stuff on my film only blog at ……..
tim dobbs photography 