We have had very little snow this winter. One morning in early March, we had snow that lasted more than a few minutes. It was early morning, and I had no pressing meetings. I grabbed the Minolta X-700 and loaded an unlabeled black cartridge from the box of expired 35mm film. The film cartridge was inside a smaller box labelled Ilford HP5 400. I went outside for a quick walk along Salisbury Road.
I have not exposed snowy scenes with any film stock. Snow confuses the camera's exposure meter. It will most likely underexpose your shots because it can't recognise the brightness of the snow. The X-700 doesn’t have the advanced "WYSIWYG" preview features of my Fuji X-T3, so I expected that my exposure would all be shit.
Ilford HP5 400 35mm film was a black and white photographic film that gained a reputation as a versatile and reliable choice for both amateur and professional photographers. This film has been a staple in the photography industry for decades, known for its fine grain, high contrast, and excellent tonal range.
The ISO rating of 400 made this film suitable for many lighting conditions, including low-light situations. It was ideal for capturing sharp, detailed images with a high level of contrast and emphasising deep blacks and bright whites. This made it particularly well-suited for portraits, street photography, and documentary-style photography.
Ilford HP5 400 was also known for its wide exposure latitude, which means it could handle a wide range of exposures without sacrificing image quality. This made it an excellent choice for photographers who needed to work quickly in changing light conditions or who wanted to experiment with different exposure settings.
The film was sold in 35mm format, one of the world’s most widely used film formats, and came in 36 exposure rolls. It was processed using standard black-and-white processing techniques and was compatible with various developers and fixers.
Ilford HP5 400 35mm film was a classic black and white film that has stood the test of time. Its current iteration, HP5 Plus, continues to be famous for black-and-white photography. Its versatility, reliability, and high-quality results have made it a photographer’s favourite for decades. It remains a popular choice for those who value the timeless beauty of black-and-white photography.
To compensate for the number of years that have passed since the film expired, I overexposed this cartridge of expired Ilford HP 400. I exposed it at ASA 50 and sent it to Boutique Film Lab for development. The cartridge was listed for 36 exposure, but I got 38 usable frames from the cartridge. The negatives were scanned with VueScan 9 on my Epson Perfection V600. I added meta-data using Exif Editor and imported the images into Adobe Lightroom, where they were converted to viewable images using Negative Lab Pro. I asked my regular lab, Boutique Film Lab, to pull the film -3 during development. At least, that’s what I have in my notes. I’m not sure if they did that or not.
| Name | Ilford HP5 400 |
|---|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| ASA | 400 |
| Features | High contrast. Wide exposure latitude. |
| Camera | Minolta X-700 |
| Lens. | Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm F1.7 |
| Exposed ISO | 50 |
| Price | FREE |
| Lab | Boutique Film Lab |
| Process | B+W, pull -3 |
| Scanner | Epson Perfection V600 |
| Software | VueScan 9, Negative Lab Pro, Adobe Lightroom |
