1970s undeveloped film ... advice sought

crookedfootball · Jun 4, 2011

A colleague of mine recently told me that she has a bunch of undeveloped b&w film from a journey to the Soviet Union in the 1970s. I (perhaps foolishly) suggested that I would give it a go .... so before I start, does anyone have advice for developing film that old. How much should I extend development time? Are there likely to be fogging issues etc. I gather the film has been stored in a garage (in the UK) so I'm guessing that it has been exposed to a range of temperatures over the years (and maybe some humidity).

Pinholemaster · Jun 4, 2011

You could do a clip test by developing a few inches (cm) from the beginning of the roll using standard development so you can examine the results, and then make adjustment from there.

dasBlute · Jun 4, 2011

This guy goes around and finds old cameras, looking for ones with film.
I think he does stand development for most, there are some descriptions
of his process...

http://westfordcomp.com/updated/found.htm

removed account4 · Jun 4, 2011

i only expose and process out of date film these days
not from the 70s but i have used film from the 80s+90s
and tmax3200 ( 15years out of date ) shelf stored as well ...
i use 2 different developers ...

can you get your hands on instant coffee, washing soda and powdered vitamin c -
one developer i have used for processing out of date film is caffenol C ...
i spike it with a glycin based print developer ( ansco 130 ( formulary 130 ) )
and get great results -- I stand developing my film for about 20-30 mins ...

the ansco 130 WITHOUT the caffenol c works well too, 1:7 or 8 at about 72ºF
hand tank agitate 1 full min 1st then 10seconds / min for about 8.5 mins ...

good luck !

john

snapshot2000 · Jun 4, 2011

Last time I had old film to develop (it was Kodachrome, exposed in the mid 80's) I used Diafine and it worked perfectly. Since it's develop to completion, there are no worries about how much time is needed. You might try one roll and see how it looks. Could be a little tough if it's tri-x, but you'll probably pull out whatever is left of the latent image.

resummerfield · Jun 4, 2011

It sounds like a very interesting project! I would suggest stand development, and start with a clip test as Pinholemaster suggests.

crookedfootball · Jun 4, 2011

Many thanks for all the suggestions so far.

woosang · Jun 4, 2011

I have developed rolls from the 1960s and I do what jnanian says to do. Remember stored ia garage, expect kittle, a few frames per roll. Give it a red hot go

removed account4 · Jun 5, 2011

woosang said:
I have developed rolls from the 1960s and I do what jnanian says to do. Remember stored ia garage, expect kittle, a few frames per roll. Give it a red hot go

i processed a roll of 116 film ( 70+ year old ortho film froma box camera i was given ) in caffenol c ... it came out great !

YMMV!
john

hpulley · Jun 5, 2011

HC-110 dilution B (1+31) is great for old films. I've developed exposed film from the '50s and it came out great. HC-110 has excellent anti-fogging characteristics which makes it particularly suited and it is old enough that there is development data for most films.

DBP · Feb 25, 2015

I would try Diafine first.

480sparky · Feb 25, 2015

You might try to contact Rescued Film Project. They might be willing to help you.

http://www.rescuedfilm.com/

Simonh82 · Feb 26, 2015

This is an old tread, I guess the film has been developed by now. It has only been bumped because of the potentially spammy posts from JHoldenCasting.

Paul Howell · Feb 26, 2015

I posted a few days ago I found an exposed roll of GAF 500 B&W in a Vivitar ES rangefinder I bought on line. I usually develop expired film in HC 110, had none on hand so I mixed by last Diafine quart kit. I used 4 minuets rather than 3 to give part A more time to soak in if the emulsion had dried over the years. Base fog is present but not bad, appears to have shadow details. I don't have access to a scanner to post a few frames, I will print in the next few weeks. GAF 500 was not my favorite film when it was made, don't know how well it will print. Too bad Diafine is now $50.00. I might try divided D 76.

1970s undeveloped film ... advice sought

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