I don’t know if you feel like I’m going to exaggerate here, but in my opinion, Ilford Photo is the leading manufacturer of black and white film, paper and chemistry. Probably not in sales, but certainly in diversity. I counted eleven different kinds of film on their website in 35mm. In the 1980s, especially the late 80s, Kodak was king. The phrase “Kodak moment” was on the lips of the general population and if you asked the average person who Ilford was, I doubt many would know. None the less they were making an impact in photography.

I thought it would be fun to look back at Ilford Photo at a random time, 1987. First, let’s have a look at their advertising.

Advertising

The first features two men ready to arm wrestle, and the header reads “INTRODUCING ILFORD MULTIGRADE FB. ONCE AGAIN, KODAK HAS A REAL FIGHT ON ITS HANDS.”

The ad doesn’t mess around, saying that Kodak’s paper is “pretty good,” but their new paper is “better.”

“You’ll get brighter whites, greater contrast and less safelight sensitivity than Polyfiber Paper gives you. Your prints will have deep, rich blacks and the superb quality you’ve come to expect from ILFORD, with all the advantages of graded fiber base paper.”

The ad ends with “Ilford, we invite comparison” and I have to say, I love this…it’s a passive confidence and when I look at this ad I think of Kodak as the one on the left, talking a big game, with Ilford on the right in a quiet confidence.

The other ad has a nice layout of their paper product line, both fiber and resin coated. The ad informs you that “Now you can grade your own papers and get an A+ in saving money.” A clever play on words.

This ad tells the reader that you’ll get high quality but save money as well. I couldn’t help but wonder how these numbers compare to today’s cost.

It says here that you get 25 8×10 RC sheets for $19.95 USD that comes with the manual and basic filters (probably just square gels) and that it’s a $39.02 value. That’s $109.60 in 2025 cash.

The ad ends the same as the other, “inviting comparison.”

News

Several people of interest involving Ilford made the news. Peter Krause former president of Ilford, received the 1987 Technical Achievement Award from the Photographic Manufacturers and Distributors Association (PMDA) – Petersen’s Photographic Match, 1987

It was also announced that “Andrew Watson, a former president of Ilford, passed away recently at the age of 52. At the time of his death, he was chief executive of MicroColor International in Midland Park, NJ.” – Studio Photography Magazine July 1987

George Ashton also passed on March 10^th. Ashton, who was once the Public Relations Manager and member of the Technical Services Committee for Ilford had a notable career. Contributing Editor to Darkroom & Creative Camera Techniques, Director of Paterson, Ltd, Assistant and Contributing Editor for the British Journal of Photography, British correspondent for Popular Photography, and was also affiliated with Technicolor U.K. – Darkroom & Creative Camera Techniques May/June 1987

Dr. J.D. Kendall, who had passed the previous year, was remembered in The Photographic Journal in their May issue. Kendall was responsible for the discovery of the unique developing properties of what would ultimately be called Phenidone. As Darkroom and Creative Camera Techniques notes:

“it had a superadditive effect with other developing agents such as hydroquinone; by weight the new chemical was much more active than metol; less susceptible to a build-up of bromide; lack of allergic reactions; and better keeping properties than metol. Ilford introduced the chemical under the trade name “Phenidone” during a metol shortage brought on by a war-related lack of sulfur.”

Switching to Powders

Ilford Photo had reduced prices on many of their chemicals, they also switched to powder, making them cheaper, and easier to ship. It also meant the shelf life was greatly increased, and some would say to indefinite measures. As Modern Photography says in the May issue, this change was made to both Cibachrome, and black & white chemistry. This meant formulas like ID11, Microphen and others could be kept on the shelf longer and purchased for less.

Ilford also said they were to begin “importing black-and white safelight filters intended specifically for use with its paper. These filters transmit more light than the customary OC filters, an advantage made possible by the particular sensitizing dyes used in Ilford’s black-and-white papers, which make them “safer”—that is, less sensitive—to the safelight’s illumination.” – Popular Photography May 1987

In the fall, Darkroom Photography and Petersen’s Photographic Magazine both announce the inclusion of the 220 format in Ilford’s HP5 film in the United Sates. Only available in a five pack for $26.71 ($75.02 in 2025)

Also, around that time it was learned that XP-1 400 had been reformulated. As Darkroom Photography states “Talk has it that Ilford has reoptimized their XP-1 400 chromogenic B&W film so C-41 processing produces results equal to, and possibly a bit superior to the use of the XP-1 processing kit. It’s worth checking out; our commercially done one-hour lab C-41 results look excellent, though we’ve not yet made a formal test of both processes. For those who prefer to do their own home processing, Ilford will continue to market the XP-1 kit. – Darkroom Photography September 1987

Reviews

In the March/April issue of Darkroom and Creative Camera Techniques Magazine, contributing editor Paul Schranz completed a series of tests on Ilford Photo’s Universal Black & White Chemistry. Ilford’s Universal line included a film and paper developer, stop bath, fixer, and wash aid. Schranz praised the developers for using a Penidone/hydroquinone formulation, also known as PQ.

“Aside from the FDA listing for Phenidone as a non-toxic chemical, it has characteristics that make it particularly useful as a print developing agent. Compared to metol, only about one-tenth the Phenidone is needed in a developer formula. The smaller quantity enables the formula to have a lower pH than an MQ developer, and consequently higher activity. In my opinion, Phenidone gives slightly better contrast than metol, but it is Phenidone’s stability that makes it a great developing agent and mine by choice.”

He also says that “Phenidone is far less sensitive to bromide than metol and is rejuvenated by the hydroquinone in the formula thus making it a stable, consistent developer useful particularly in high volume industrial and school darkrooms. Both the Ilford Universal film and paper developers are PQ formulations.”

Schranz gives a detailed breakdown using Kodak TMAX 100, and the results can be found on this table.

Photos

I want to cap things off by showing you some photography that utilized Ilford Photo film and paper.

The first is interesting actually, it’s right on the cover of the December issue of Darkroom Photography. The image was shot on Panatomic-X at ISO 16, developed in Rodinal, and printed on Ilford Galerie before being hand tinted.

Here’s a few others I found during my research.

Thanks for reading! This review on Ilford in 1987 was adapted from a YouTube video released in 2023.