127 colour film - processing as BW film

Paul Howell said:

As color film has less silver than B&W I would use Rodinal or HC 110 at 1:100, agitate for 30 seconds then put it in back of a refrigerator for 24 hours and let go to max density then print grade 00, if there is a usable image.

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One learns every day, so this refrigerator thing is something I'd like to try. Thank you !

Cholentpot said:

I've done the overnight cold method. It's strange and it works.

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Any idea why and how the long time and cold acts like this? I mean, I've a very faint idea how, but without understanding the cause and effect. Thank you !

Minox said:

Any idea why and how the long time and cold acts like this? I mean, I've a very faint idea how, but without understanding the cause and effect. Thank you !

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No clue. It's something I've tried in the past. I do pre-chill the water though.

I think the idea is development to completion, I read an article written by William Mortensen in which he discusses the process. In the case of very old film, unknown development times, just let the film develop to max densities, no need to worry about how long in the developer. Color film has less silver as it uses color couplers which add to the density, the long cold stand will hopely develop all the silver in the film adding density. I have experimented with the long cold stand, got some nice negatives, just not worth the trouble.

Paul Howell said:

I think the idea is development to completion, I read an article written by William Mortensen in which he discusses the process. In the case of very old film, unknown development times, just let the film develop to max densities, no need to worry about how long in the developer. Color film has less silver as it uses color couplers which add to the density, the long cold stand will hopely develop all the silver in the film adding density. I have experimented with the long cold stand, got some nice negatives, just not worth the trouble.

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I have a fuller picture now (pun not intended) on what is going on with this sort of film upon processing. Thank you !

The more I think about it, William Mortenson was a pictorialist who also ran a photography school from the 1920s to early 60s. Ansel Adams hated him and his work. As a pictorialist he wanted soft looking images, high density negatives printed grade 1 on graded paper, by using a very long stand with highly diluted developer his images would have sharer edge or auctaince, shooting LF I doubt grain was not much a factor for him The irony for Ansel Adams that that both his and Mortenson negatives are housed the the University of Arizona's Center for Creative Photography .

Paul Howell said:

I read an article written by William Mortensen in which he discusses the process.

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I read most of William Mortensen's books and I highly recommend them to any film photographer. Mortensen had his own system that covered all stages of the process: choosing the subject, lighting, exposing, developing, printing, and finally, presenting the images. He mentioned many times that using just part of the system would most likely produce disastrous results. That includes developing to completion, so be careful.

Minox said:

I've a very faint idea how, but without understanding the cause and effect

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As for cold development, there is a claim that it results in lower fog levels. I never had a chance to test it. That said, my default approach to processing Kodak Verichrome is HC-110(B) at about 6 degrees Celsius. The development time is around 10 - 12 minutes with normal agitation. (This is for orthochromatic Verichrome that pre-dates Verichrome Pan.) For fixing you have the option of stopping the development and gradually bringing the film to room temperature using several water baths with increasing temperature, or fix at low temperature extending the fixing time accordingly. Your final wash has to be extended as well. A snip test will tell you clearing time at low temperature, extend it twice and you will be good to go. I prefer the second option. I put the chemistry and the tank loaded with film (dry) into a water bath inside a small insulated container with the lid open in the fridge overnight to get to the target temperature. You can use double gloves (cotton inside rubber) to reduce heat transfer from your hands while agitating.

The reason why cold development could work must be complicated. There is an interplay of a single developing agent activity vs. temperature, super-additivity (when using two or more agents) and pH shift.

Another (unverified) claim is that active developers and short development times work better for expired film.



Kodak Verichrome type 127, develop before February 1946, developed in April 2022; HC-110(B), 11 minutes at 6 degrees Celsius.

Thank you for your detailed description, Romanko, really appreciated indeed. I have a much better understanding now, and will try to put into practice next time. Very informative and on my amateur language, which is great.

Again, many thanks !