Shooting Ilford Delta 3200 at the Natural History Museum
Dippy no more! The complete skeleton of a blue whale now adorns Hintze Hall as visitors come in through the main entrance. This was the image I was happiest with on the roll and I also had good success in printing it out. 1/200s 20mm F1.8.
Having previously bought several rolls of (expired) Kodak T-MAX P3200 I’d been keen to try out Ilford Delta 3200 to see how it performed in comparison. However, after buying two rolls last year the clocks promptly rolled forward and I quickly ran out of low light opportunities with which to shoot them. Forgotten until now I decided to load a roll up for my recent trip to the Natural History Museum. I hadn’t been back since the blue whale skeleton had been installed in the Hintze Hall and it was also the final few days of the Titanosaur exhibition which I was also keen to visit given my lifelong love of dinosaurs.
The museum is as impressive on the outside as it is on the inside, look at for all the small details in the architecture. It is moments like this that you really see the value of carrying an ultra wide lens like my 20mm F1.8G. 1/800s 20mm F8.0.
A head on shot of a complete sailfish. This was the final view of many a prey item when it was still swimming in the oceans. 1/15s 35mm F1.4.
By filling the frame with one part of this elephant skeleton and shooting from a low angle I was able to produce a real sense of scale. 1/50s 35mm F1.4.
As with the rolls of T-MAX P3200 I shot this roll of Ilford Delta 3200 at ISO 800 (it’s true native ISO) on my Nikon F100 and I used both my 35mm F1.4G and my 20mm F1.8G lenses. Both wide and fast so I could use slow shutter speeds to shoot good exposures even in the darkest of environments. This is also one of the few times I’ve used my 20mm lens with my F100. I really should use it more (generally).
A side-on profile of the blue whale that has been named ‘Hope’. Even more than 130 years after it passed away it continues to inspire people learn more about nature. 1/100s 20mm F1.8.
There’s plenty of impressive and attractive looking architecture to photograph inside. Note the climbing monkeys on the right hand side. 1/125s 20mm F1.8.
Going on a weekend wasn’t ideal given how busy it was but with a bit of patience I was able to take the photos I wanted without too many people getting in the way. The museum is not universally busy in any case, unsurprisingly it’s the dinosaurs that people are most keen to see and even a well-thought-out one-way system can’t quite manage to contain the sheer numbers of people as they gawk at the giants of the past. If you want to visit with photography in mind, then I would recommend coming during the week just so you aren’t having to jostle for position especially if you want cleaner architectural shots. However, I found that this museum is better lit than some parts of the Science and V&A museums which certainly helped.
The titanosaur was the main reason I visited as it’s exhibition was soon to close after being open for many months. It truly is colossal and it’s great to be able to get up close. Sadly this is not the actual skeleton but a model recreation. 1/30s 20mm F1.8.
Despite what you might think when initially looking at those teeth this was very much a herbivore. 1/30s 35mm F1.4.
Some of the actual fossilised remains such as these leg bones were on display. The visitor to the left gives a sense of scale. It really is incredible to think that animals this large was roamed the earth in large numbers. 1/25s 35mm F1.4.
So, about what the results? Even though I did shoot the roll at ISO 800 and managed to get good exposures this is still a high ISO film and the levels of grain reflect that. However, it isn’t that much worse than Ilford HP5+ and if you don’t start pixel peeping (or grain gazing perhaps?) there is still plenty of detail to be enjoyed and it has good tonality. I could have done with some better scans though, some of the corners are out of focus as the film wouldn’t sit entirely flat. That aside I am very happy with the images, and I even did some test prints of the vertical shot of Hintze Hall on both A4 and A3. The results of the larger print are perfectly acceptable when viewed at normal viewing distances.
Moving onto a different part of the museum, this was the most interesting crystal I could find to photograph. It’s a good showcase for the good dynamic range of this film. 1/30s 35mm F2.8.
The dinosaurs were by far the most popular but at least with a lot of the fossils off the ground I could photograph them without an army of children in the way. 1/20s 35mm F1.4.
I certainly wouldn’t want to sit on this Santa’s lap! This was a rather comical addition to the museum around Christmas time. 1/50s 35mm F1.4.
I still have one roll left, not to mention the two or so rolls of Kodak T-MAX P3200 that also needs shooting. After this roll however I am less keen to shoot these outside and keener in shooting them in another lowlight indoor setting, which to be fair means I won’t be limiting myself to just shooting in winter. Whilst I ponder where to shoot next, I think I can rule out photographing another blue whale.
Many of these old mammal specimens are very faded due not only to their age but also to past lack of conservation. 1/200s 20mm F1.8.
Arranged in dramatic poses to make it as exciting to visitors, you’d be in real trouble if you saw this out in the wild! They perhaps fit the more romanticised imagination of generations past. 1/125s 20mm F1.8.
More than just a museum, new buildings have been added in more recent times to facilitate cutting edge research. They provide another good opportunity for architectural photography. 1/40s 20mm F4.0.
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