GA — 080 Black and white

IlfordDelta 100 Professional

Very fine grain, sharp and detailed, with firm contrast and deep blacks

Manufacturer
Harman Technology
ISO
100
Type
Black and white
Process
B&W
Formats
135, 120, sheet
Status
In production

Status checked [2]

After: beach cabin under storm clouds, with the preset inspired by Ilford Delta 100 (GA — 080 / P) applied (simulation). Before: the same beach cabin under storm clouds, base development without a preset, in color.
fig. 1 · GA — 080 / P · simulation on a digital RAW, not a film scan Drag, tap or use the arrow keys

Character

Contrast
Firmer than Ilford's Plus films according to Analogue Wonderland; other reviewers find it softer, so the sources disagree
Grain
No RMS published; 'fine grain' (datasheet), 'exceptionally fine grain' (Ilford)
Latitude
ISO 100; good quality from EI 50 to 200 (Harman)
Best for
Pictorial and fine art work, detail-rich scenes (Ilford)

Ilford Delta 100 Professional is a medium-speed, fine-grain, panchromatic black-and-white negative film, rated ISO 100/21° and made by Harman Technology under the Ilford name [1]. Ilford credits its Core-Shell crystal technology and sells it in 35 mm, 120 and sheet film [2]. It is the slowest and, according to reviews, the finest-grained of the Delta range, next to Delta 400 and Delta 3200 [3] [4].

Look and color

Delta 100 turns colors into grays according to its own spectral sensitivity, not the eye’s:

  • Blue renders light. Harman’s spectrogram, measured under tungsten light, gives blue more weight than a luminance conversion does [1]. darktable’s built-in “monochrome | ILFORD DELTA 100” preset is built from the same datasheet [9].
  • Measured on our test RAW files. With the style, which combines those weights with a tone curve and grain, a sky came out 7.6 L* lighter, while skin stayed level (+0.1) and a pink shirt came out 2.2 L* darker [14].
  • No review describes how Delta 100 renders skies, skin or reds, so this section relies on the datasheet.
  • Reviews speak of a “soft and subtle transition of tones” [5], a film that “handles the highlights, mid tones and shadows equally well” [6] and a “near perfect balance of sharpness, detail and contrast” [7].

Tonality

  • Curve. Harman publishes one characteristic curve, for ID-11 stock, 8½ minutes at 20 °C. Base plus fog sits near 0.07 and the toe is short. The straight section has a slope of about 0.7, then 0.8, and shows no shoulder up to a density of about 1.8 (our reading of the graph) [1]. Harman gives no average contrast figure.
  • Contrast: the sources disagree.
    • Firmer: Analogue Wonderland finds “a stronger contrast in the image” than the Plus range, with less exposure latitude [4].
    • Softer: in a comparison with Acros 100 and T-Max 100, Emulsive finds Delta “a bit lighter than everything else”, “softer and muddier”, with a little more latitude [8]. Mr Leica writes that it renders “more grey tones” than T-Max 100 [7].
    • Test comparisons also depend on the developer and the scan.
  • Latitude. Harman gives good results from EI 50 to 200, and notes that this range comes from practical evaluation, not the ISO method [1]. The datasheet adds a rescue guide, with lower quality expected, for film exposed below EI 25 or above EI 400 [1].
  • Long exposures: no correction from 1/10,000 to 1 s. Beyond, Harman’s formula gives adjusted time = metered time^1.26 [1].

Grain and sharpness

Film Diffuse RMS granularity Developer
Ilford Delta 100 not published [1] –
Kodak T-Max 100 8 [10] D-76
Fujifilm Acros 100 II 7 [11] Microfine
Ilford FP4 Plus not published [12] –
  • Harman describes only “fine grain” and gives no granularity, resolving power or MTF figure [1]. Ilford’s product page says “exceptionally fine grain” [2]. RMS values measured in different developers are only roughly comparable.
  • Reviews mostly agree it is very fine. “Very fine, sharp grain” in 35 mm, and “a marked difference” in detail and crispness against FP4 Plus [6]. “The finest grain of the entire Delta range” [4]. PetaPixel finds it smoother than T-Max 100 and on par with Acros II [5].
  • One dissent. Emulsive finds Delta “a little fuzzier” than Acros and T-Max up close, with a grain structure “pretty similar” [8].

Spectral sensitivity

Under 2850 K tungsten light, sensitivity rises from about 354 nm to a plateau near 430 to 485 nm, dips slightly around 500 to 510 nm, peaks around 560 to 575 nm, then falls steeply from about 630 nm to the bottom of the chart near 655 nm [1]. That is a much earlier red cutoff than Delta 400’s, which runs to about 698 nm [13], but it weighs little once the tungsten light is compensated for. In practice, skies turn lighter than in a luminance conversion [14].

fig. 2 · spectral sensitivityILFORD DELTA 100 · DATASHEET HARMAN DELTA 100
Spectral sensitivity of Ilford Delta 100 compared with the human eyePanchromatic response under 2850 K tungsten light: sensitivity rises from about 354 nm to a plateau near 0.77 between 430 and 485 nm, dips slightly to 0.74 around 500–510 nm, peaks at about 0.91 around 560–575 nm, then shows a small dip near 605 nm and a bump near 620 nm. It falls steeply above 630 nm and leaves the chart at about 655 nm. 400450500550600650700 10.50 λ (nm) relative sensitivity
Panchromatic response under 2850 K tungsten light: sensitivity rises from about 354 nm to a plateau near 0.77 between 430 and 485 nm, dips slightly to 0.74 around 500–510 nm, peaks at about 0.91 around 560–575 nm, then shows a small dip near 605 nm and a bump near 620 nm. It falls steeply above 630 nm and leaves the chart at about 655 nm. The datasheet curve is measured under 2850 K light; it is shown converted to equal energy, as used for the style. The style's B&W channel mix is derived from this curve. Source: datasheet p. 1, traced pixel by pixel from the graph image in the PDF.

Datasheet digest

Harman Technology datasheet Delta 100 Professional Technical Information, edition 2023-04. Read the datasheet on ilfordphoto.com Source: manufacturer. The Grain Archive does not host datasheets.

Key figures for Ilford Delta 100 Professional
ItemValueSource
ISO speed100/21° in daylight[1]
Exposure index rangeEI 50/18 to 200/24, best at EI 100; a practical evaluation, not the ISO standard method[1]
Diffuse RMS granularityNot published (described only as 'fine grain')[1]
Characteristic curveBase plus fog about 0.07, short toe, straight section with a slope of about 0.7 then 0.8, no shoulder in the plotted range up to a density of about 1.8 (ID-11 stock, 8½ min, 20 °C; read from the graph)[1]
ID-11 stock, 20 °C, EI 1008½ min (spiral tank, intermittent agitation)[1]
Ilfotec DD-X 1+4, 20 °C8 min at EI 50, 10½ at EI 100, 12½ at EI 200[1]
ReciprocityNo correction from 1/10,000 to 1 s; longer: adjusted time = metered time^1.26[1]
Spectral dataWedge spectrogram under 2850 K tungsten light[1]
Bases35 mm: 0.125 mm acetate, DX-coded cassettes; 120: 0.110 mm acetate; sheet: 0.180 mm polyester[1]
Resolving powerNot given; no MTF curve published[1]

Names, status and history

  • 1992. Wikipedia, Analogue Wonderland and PetaPixel give 1992 as the launch year of Delta 100, in a range positioned against Kodak’s T-Max [3] [4] [5]. The sources differ on Delta 400: 1990 for the two reviews, 1992 for Wikipedia.
  • Same name since. We found no rename or respool of Delta 100. Analogue Wonderland reports a formulation upgrade in 1995, with better shadow detail and latitude; we found no second source for it [4].
  • Formats. The datasheet lists 35 mm in 24 and 36 exposures and 30.5 m (100 ft) bulk, in DX-coded cassettes, 120 roll film and sheet film [1]. On September 30, 2026, Ilford listed 35 mm, 120 and sheet film [2].
  • Datasheet. The current edition dates from April 2023, published by Harman Technology [1].

Alternatives

  • GA — 020 Ilford FP4 Plus

    Ilford's classic-grain ISO 125: reviews find Delta 100 finer and crisper in detail; FP4 Plus is more forgiving of exposure

  • GA — 042 Ilford Delta 400 Professional

    Same Delta family at ISO 400; its spectral curve runs to about 698 nm against 655 nm for Delta 100

  • GA — 047 Kodak T-Max 100

    Kodak's tabular-grain ISO 100, with a published RMS of 8 in D-76; a PetaPixel review finds Delta 100 smoother

  • GA — 023 Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros II

    Fujifilm's ISO 100, RMS 7 in Microfine; one review finds Delta 100 lighter and softer next to it, another finds them on par for grain

Get the look in darktable

The GA — 080 / P preset, inspired by Ilford Delta 100 Professional, is a darktable 5.6 style of 5 native modules, with no LUT. It sits on top of your own exposure and tone mapping.

Measured on test RAW files, CIELab
ZoneMetricBefore → after
skyL (whole style)55.3 → 62.9
skinL (whole style)78.2 → 78.3
pink T-shirtL (whole style)47.3 → 45.1

Settings, all measurements and limits of the Ilford Delta 100 preset

GA — 080 / P · darktable preset

Delta 100 Professional
for darktable

Full pack · 87 presets · yours to keep
.dtstyle file, darktable 5.6 or later

$20 Get the full pack

Try the free pack first · What the full pack contains

See real photos

Scans of real Ilford Delta 100 Professional film, published by others:

Questions about Ilford Delta 100 Professional

Is Ilford Delta 100 still made?

Yes. On September 30, 2026, Ilford's product page listed Delta 100 Professional in 35 mm, 120 and sheet film, with a link to check availability. Ilford's current datasheet for it is dated April 2023. It is a black-and-white negative, so it needs a lab or a home setup that develops black-and-white film.

Is Delta 100 better than FP4 Plus?

They differ rather than rank. Parallax Photographic saw a marked difference in detail and crispness in favor of Delta 100, and Analogue Wonderland finds it more contrasty, with less exposure latitude than the Plus range. Ilford publishes no RMS granularity for either film, so grain cannot be compared on paper.

Can you push Delta 100?

Ilford rates it for good quality from EI 50 to 200, and gives times for each in its developers; in Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 at 20 °C that is 8, 10½ and 12½ minutes. For film exposed outside that range by accident, the datasheet offers only a rescue guide, with lower quality expected.

Is Delta 100 a T-grain film?

Ilford credits its Core-Shell crystal technology, and Wikipedia calls the Delta range tabular-grain films. The datasheet itself uses neither term. It says only 'fine grain' and publishes no granularity figure, so how fine it is comes from reviews, not from a measurement.

How is Delta 100 different from Delta 400?

Speed and grain, mainly. In darktable's presets and on our reading of the datasheets, the two give similar gray conversions, but the spectrograms differ: Delta 100 falls off from about 630 nm and ends near 655 nm, Delta 400 runs to about 698 nm. That difference has little effect on the weights.

Sources

  1. 1DS Harman: Delta 100 Professional Technical Information (April 2023)
  2. 2M Ilford Photo: Delta 100 Professional 35mm, product page Accessed September 30, 2026.
  3. 3C Wikipedia: Ilford Delta Accessed September 30, 2026.
  4. 4C Analogue Wonderland: Ilford Delta 100 film review (Paul McKay, updated September 21, 2022) Accessed September 30, 2026.
  5. 5C PetaPixel: Film Friday, Ilford Delta 100 perfectly blends contrast and tonality (Zeb Andrews, July 3, 2026) Accessed September 30, 2026.
  6. 6C Parallax Photographic Coop: Ilford Delta 100 film review Accessed September 30, 2026.
  7. 7C Mr Leica: Ilford Delta 100 review, 35mm and 120 black and white film Accessed September 30, 2026.
  8. 8C Emulsive: Film review, comparing Fuji Acros 100, Ilford Delta 100 Professional and Kodak T-Max 100 (Daniel Marinelli) Accessed September 30, 2026.
  9. 9M darktable 5.6.0 source code: color calibration presets (channelmixerrgb.c)
  10. 10DS Kodak Professional T-Max 100, technical data F-4016 (June 2018)
  11. 11DS Fujifilm: Neopan 100 Acros II (135), data sheet AF3-0258E (February 2020)
  12. 12DS Harman: FP4 Plus Technical Information (November 2018)
  13. 13DS Harman: Delta 400 Professional Technical Information (November 2018)
  14. 14B The Grain Archive: Ilford Delta 100 style, validation measurements

DS: datasheet · M: manufacturer · C: review or community · B: Grain Archive measurement