Black-and-white negative · Black & white
Ilford Delta 100
Ilford's fine-grain 100 speed for pictorial work.
Ilford Delta 100 printed on Kodak 2302: fine grain and crisp detail. Original vs Ashigrain.
At a glance
- Exposure index
- 100
- Introduced
- 1992
- In production
- Process
- ILFORD ID-11 (stock)
About the film
Ilford 100 Delta Professional is a medium-speed, fine-grain panchromatic black-and-white negative rated ISO 100/21°. Ilford dates it to 1992: the company's own timeline says 100 Delta joined the range that year, after its first Delta film, which was built on core-shell crystal technology.
The same timeline later lists improved Delta Professional films. By September 2002 the film was sold as Delta 100 Professional, in a sheet published by Ilford Imaging UK at Town Lane, Mobberley. Ilford's timeline says a management buy-out in 2005 formed HARMAN technology Limited, which trades as Ilford Photo in Mobberley, Cheshire. HARMAN technology publishes the current sheet, dated November 2018, and recommends the film for pictorial and fine-art photography. It comes in 135 on acetate base, in 120 on clear acetate and as sheet film on polyester, the roll and sheet films with an anti-halation backing that clears in development.
Sources for this history
- ILFORD PHOTO History, HARMAN technology Limited
- ILFORD DELTA 100 PROFESSIONAL fact sheet (September 2002), ILFORD Imaging UK Limited
- ILFORD DELTA 100 PROFESSIONAL technical information (November 2018), HARMAN technology Limited
The look
Ilford Delta 100 Professional is a medium-speed ISO 100 panchromatic black-and-white negative with fine grain, made for pictorial and fine-art photography. It prints on Kodak B&W Print Film 2302 by default, or on a colour print film for a near-neutral image with the print's own tint.






Best for
- Fine-art landscapes
- Portraits in soft light
- Still life and detailed studies
Compare camera films
Science & sources


A medium-speed panchromatic black-and-white negative rated at ISO 100. Its curve and spectral sensitivity are digitised from Ilford's 2002 sheet, cross-checked against the 2018 edition; the spectral shape is relative, read from a spectrogram made with 2850 K tungsten light. Ilford prints no MTF or granularity, so its sharpness and grain are proxied from Kodak T-Max 100. It prints on Kodak B&W Print Film 2302 by default.
Response curves and the evidence behind the model
Compare manufacturer data with Ashigrain’s response on the same axes. These curves show how the model is calibrated to its sources; they do not establish a match to photographed film.
Characteristic response
RMS granularity
Density variation (σD). Where the datasheet gives a single grain value, the response away from that point is an approximation.
| Channel | Density | Datasheet-based σD | Model σD |
|---|---|---|---|
| N | 0.3 | 0.004187 | 0.004071 |
| N | 0.6 | 0.005927 | 0.005764 |
| N | 1 | 0.007652 | 0.00744 |
| N | 1.5 | 0.009372 | 0.009113 |
Model limits
These images show the film model in use. Spectral response, lighting and viewing conditions include approximations. Halation, bloom, grain size, weave and flicker are not fully measured for each film. The look of real film also depends on development and print timing.
- Custom lighting spectra, camera metering and the spectral reflectance inferred from fixed-white-balance footage are assumptions used by the model, not measurements of this film.
- The source gives a daylight ISO speed but no colour balance. Daylight calibration and spectrally neutral silver density are assumptions.
- The characteristic curve uses a relative log exposure axis with no lux-second scale and no marked normal exposure; its normal-exposure point is assumed.
- The spectral sensitivity is the envelope of a wedge spectrogram made with 2850 K tungsten light, used relative to its own printed scale. The spectrogram-to-sensitivity conversion is not printed, and the 2850 K light is not divided out.
- Neither edition prints an MTF or granularity. Both are proxied from Kodak T-Max 100, the tabular-grain Kodak black-and-white negative of the same speed, so the sharpness and granularity shown are that film's, not measurements of Delta 100.
- No push curves are published; push and pull use a generic model.
- The sheet's reciprocity power law is applied above 1 s. The sheet gives no upper limit to its validity.
- The anti-halation backing is described only for roll and sheet film, not 135, so halation is off by default. Its strength, radius and bloom are not measured.
- Characteristic response outside the published exposure range is an extrapolation, not measured film data.
- In the print branch it prints on Kodak B&W Print Film 2302 by default. Black-and-white print timing is modelled.
Reciprocity: modelled from 1/10000 s to 100 s, following the datasheet's corrections for long and short exposures. Exposure time stops at the ends of that range.
Film guide: assumptions and practical choices
Sources
- Exposure index: ILFORD DELTA 100 PROFESSIONAL fact sheet, September 2002, p. 1
- Characteristic curves: ILFORD DELTA 100 PROFESSIONAL fact sheet, September 2002, p. 4
- Process: ILFORD DELTA 100 PROFESSIONAL fact sheet, September 2002, p. 4