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" ;)