HP5 Plus in HRX-3 New

Al fresco diners at the Crieff Hydro Hotel.

Since I began using Spur developers, I'd say that Ilford Delta 100 in Acurol-N has been my favourite combination. Nice and sharp, fine-grained and robust tones. Sometimes, though, a little extra speed is desirable for hand-holdability when out with the family since it can be anti-social expecting people to hang about while I set up a tripod - and I'm already anti-social enough as it is. So I've been having fun with some HP5 Plus.

These pics are from a roll of the faster Ilford film which has to be rated at 250 ISO when developed in HRX-3 New since this fine grain developer - as do many others of its type - causes a slight loss of speed. The camera was my old Nikon F. The first two pics were shot using the 35mm Nikkor-S Auto whilst three and four come courtesy of a 24mm Nikkor-N Auto. Both lenses date back to the mid-to-late 1960s.

Mill pond at 19th century Barry Mill

The 35mm is a lovely lens to use. It's sharp enough but there are lots sharper. It also exhibits just a little flare which lowers contrast around highlights and - dare I say it - endows pics with a little "Leica glow". I think it "draws" something like a very good copy of a pre-war Elmar. The Mill Pond shot above shows some of that lovely character.

The 24mm is a more business-like lens which is sharp and contrasty when stopped down a little. The photograph below is of a large patch of burdock growing close-by the mill pond. The sun was shining down on it so I held the camera just above ground level, pointed it upwards and just guessed at the framing.

Beneath that is a snaking boardwalk on the Carnoustie golf links. At the far end of it is the 17th green of the Buddon course while the end I was standing at leads to the 18th tee.

HP5 Plus is a very fine film and it's tempting to standardise on it for just about everything. In a fine grain developer like HRX-3 New, it's perfectly suited to 35mm photography. I've yet to do any wet prints from these negs but, just looking at them on the enlarger baseboard, grain seems very well controlled. As others have pointed out in the past, notably Barry Thornton, films such as Tri-X and HP5 Plus can also appear sharper in a print than naturally fine-grained, slower emulsions.

In 120 size, HP5 Plus might be just about perfect. In D76 it can be rated at 800 ISO with pretty good results for indoor use or night-time snaps with a fast lens. HRX-3 New, which I've found produces slightly smaller grain than D76, would be ideal for all other shooting. There's a lot of good, sound, common sense in sticking to just one film possibly with a couple of developers, one for normal shooting and one when pushing it a stop.

HRX-3 New and HP5 Plus is another great combination. We may have lost some photographic materials over the years like Plus X film and lots of much-lamented enlarging papers but it's good to know that there are still plenty of film/developer pairings out there to keep life interesting.