While enjoying my new camera I've come across something that suprised me a bit, its manual ISO setting ranges between 6 and 6400, is there actually 6400 ISO film? I've only ever seen 25 to 1600, so I can easily assume that 6 isn't that big of a stretch from 25, but, 6400 is quite a difference, and, another question about it if anyone has used it, how much of a quality drop is there between it and more 'typical' film speeds?

Ilford makes a 3200 ISO film and so does Kodak..... if there is a 6400 I've never seen it. Donald (DHolman) uses the Ilford quite often for his night shots. He seems to get really great results from it.

I would bet they must work fantastic for night shots, kind of coincidental with the challenge this month hmm? Maybe I should check it out

Yea, I think (without getting into some weird custom film) that Ilford Delta 3200 and Kodak T-Max P3200 are the fastest consumer available films out there. I prefer Ilford Delta 3200 over the TMax (it's what I shot the Trolloween pics on my website with). I've pushed it to EI 6400 with really good results. Some of the guys I talk to have pushed it to EI 12500 and even to EI 25,000 with good results. Both films are more contrasty than slower speed b&w films. One thing you need to realize, once you push ID3200 above 3200, in most places you are in the land of custom processing. If you do your own developing, that's not a problem. Right now, I've only found two labs in Seattle that will process my Ilford Delta when I shoot it at EI6400. They both still do hand processing. The problem with the other labs is that they use automated equipment and they aren't programmed to accept the ID3200 at anything higher than 3200. An interesting side note, both 3200 films are not truly ISO 3200 film. They're really ISO 1000, but the shape of the characteristic curves allow them to work so well when used at 3200 that they were rated there. So, when you shoot it at 3200, you are really already pushing the film almost 2 stops. -=>Donald

Interesting fact about the ISO 3200, but now I'm curious too...is there an ISO 6400 film? And the Delta 3200 is still sitting in my camera bag....I think June is the month to finally try it out.

What do you photograph with 6400? Bullets?

Thats pretty interesting DHolman, I really had no idea, maybe now I just need to find a place where I can find 3200, I've still never seen it for sale anywhere

Blah...thing ate two of my posts. Oh well...third time's a charm they say (who the hell are "they" anyway and why do they have so much to say?). 3D - Great for low light situations or medium light to get your shutter speeds up high. Above was taken at 9-10 at night, no flash with the only light coming from a streetlight probably 10-15 away. Crak - any good camera shop should sell it. Probably not a chain store like Ritz or Tall's. Coudl also order online from a store like B&H (www.bhphotovideo.com). They have a really good film selection. -=>Donald

Yeah, not only more speed but also more contrast. Ilford doesn't even produce any (noticable) extra grain when pushed. The Ilford HP5 plus is fantastic at 3200, while Kodak is a complete let down imo....especially Tri-X (which students are usually told to use) behaves very, very, very inconstistant and gives terrible ammounts of grain. And I wouldn't reccomend having pushed film developed at the average lab, unless you know them. Most labs can't even manages to cut slide film into even pieces without cutting through one or two photos. Developing yourself is cheap and easy .....and toxic and dangerous, but what's life without any riscs ? ;) All the info you need is inside the box and also comes with the chemicals. So the whole idea behind this pushing is that you take your favorite film with you and if the weather or lights are bad, you just pick a speed that does suit your need at that specific moment. Especially with Ilford you don't even need to make a small step, cause without much loss of quality you can go for 1600 or 3200 right away. This whole idea doesn't work the other way around btw. Fuji Neopan 1600 doesn't get any better/less grainy when used at 800. In fact, just buy the Ilford film you like the best and don't even think about the speed. Just take the film with you wherever you go and pick the speed on location. @Donald - yeah indeed, they only change the DX codes. Although Kodak is getting very old and is no match for Ilford imo.....Kodak's new T films are disgrace - they took so much time to develop this "new" version.....the biggest change is the box ;) Ilford seems to learn much quicker from customers atm. Although Neopan 1600 is still my favorite for "Worst b/w film ever" ;)

Rork - I agree ... compared to the Ilford Delta 3200, the Kodak T-Max P3200 was crap. The grain was horrendous and ability to resolve was pathetic when compared to Ilford. Of course, there may be some situations where the TMax 3200 shines, but I haven't found it. I'm kind of ticked off. They stopped selling the ID 3200 in the 3 packs here. Used to get 3 rolls for $9 -=>Donald

6400 does exist, but it's a real speciality film, and isn't stocked because of this. They do make all kinds of crazy film speeds, and technically since any speed film is just altered to sit at a different level of push or pull processing (from a non-defined 'mean') Every film speed is available that there is a camera, or light meter to support. As for the thisBW, that BW topic, I gotta go with Fuji Neopan 1600, grain the size of golfballs, and comes out of a minilab looking like a lith print, Stunning.