Film: Ilford Ortho Plus B+W 80 ISO

ILFORD Ortho Plus is a silver-based black and white film that was released in November 2019. Normal b+w film is sensitive to blue, green and red light (panchromatic). Ilford Ortho Plus is only sensitive to blue and green light not red light (orthochromatic). This makes it quite different.

The light-sensitive silver compounds used in photography are naturally sensitive only to ultraviolet and blue light, so very early photographic materials were only blue sensitive. Old movies from the silent b+w era used film that was sensitive to blue and green light (orthochromatic) which made it much faster more “normal” looking: close to normal but not quite, which is a large part of why these old movies look different. Manufacturers discovered how to extend sensitivity to red light (and even into the infrared) which is how all normal films are today.

Why bother with ortho?

The industrial and commercial world used lots and lots of orthochromatic material for copying and for making photographic plates, particularly in the printing industry because it is insensitive to red light and can be used in darkrooms with a safe light, which is much easier to work in than total darkness.

In today’s digital era, Ilford Ortho Plus is a bit of of a curiosity. I believe Ilford were very courageous (in a “Yes Minister” way) for brining this to market: they must have identified an opportunity with the new generation of film photographers who are willing to experiment with new and interesting products. Kudos to Ilford.

How does it compare to normal b+w film?

Ilford Ortho Plus film is 80 ISO which is relatively slow. Well, it’s a medium speed film but it’s slow compared to 400 ISO film like HP5 and Tri-X. The resulting images have grain and sharpness similar to those 400 ISO panchromatic films which nI consider very good.

The film’s red-insensitivity changes the way scenery is rendered: red appears much darker than normal, including pale human skin. In particular, skin blemishes (which are often reddish) are enhanced by the film making it challenging for portraiture, unless a weathered and rugged look is desirable.

Ilford Ortho Plus gives good delineation between blue sky and cloud without filtration over the lens. I’d judge the effect is equivalent to a yellow or orange filter on panchromatic film.

The most surprising result in my testing was the way areas in deep shadow was rendered: it appeared much darker than I expected. This could be partly explained by erroneous processing on my part: I found two Ilford data sheets which recommended developing times of 6 minutes and 10 minutes, I chose the longer time since I’d rather have overly-contrast negatives than under-developed. It could also be that my scanner and software combination (Plustek OpticFilm 8100 with SilverFast 8.8) did not have a profile specific to the Ilford Ortho Plus film.

Testing & Results

For the testing I used a Canon EOS 630 film camera set to 80 ISO, and a Canon EF 20-35mm f3.5-4.5 lens with UV filter. For several scenes I took a frame with the Ortho film and matched it with one on an iPhone 8 as a baseline for colour rendering. I converted the colour images to monochrome (using simple desaturation) and adjusted the grey levels in the resulting “mono” image and the scanned “ortho” image to look as similar as possible. For some images they match closely, others they differ significantly.

All photographs were taken around Darlinghurst, Sydney.

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Other images from the roll of Ilford Ortho Plus taken on the same day…

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Conclusion

The images from the Ortho Plus film were interesting, with similar quality to Ilford HP5 Plus (my go-to film) but several times I was caught out by the film’s low sensitivity and the show shutter speed caused unwanted camera and subject movement. That’s not a fault with the film, it’s an indication that I am spoiled with faster films and wasn’t prepared.

While they were interesting, I don’t think they were sufficient for it to become a regular part of my photography. However, thanks to Ilford for releasing an interesting new film to market. Please support Ilford by buying their products!