B&W Latent Image

[photobackpacker]

Now I know I am the only one on this forum who has sheet film sitting in the darkroom awaiting development...... for several weeks....ah, well months, really. After all - it is hunting season.....

Has anyone ever seen a definitive study of degradation of the latent B&W image over time? If not, opinions are welcome.

 

[panchromatic]

No study here, but my experience is i've found B+W that have been sitting a few months and have developed without any noticable side effects. My guess would be that it would more very dependant on storage enviroment, such as temperture, and maybe humidity.

I'm sure someone with more experience can chime in with a more exact answer.

 

[George Papantoniou]

I guess that if you are a perfectionist (an obssesive person, I mean) you should not do this. The degradation will start with the shadow detail, which is something that you will not want to lose... on the other hand the highlights won't change...

On the other hand, if you're a normal person (like no one of us here is), there is no problem. Whatever may happen to your latent image, it will be possible to correct when printing the negative.

 

[Monophoto]

My experience is that there is not observable degradation in the image itself.

On the other hand, my memory of why I made the exposure does deterioriate rapidly over time.

 

[Donald Qualls]

I routinely leave exposed B&W roll film for weeks, occasionally months. I've processed film (Verichrome Pan and Plus-X, as well as B&W processing of Kodacolor) that had been left for up to 20 years after exposure. Start getting into multiple years, and things get iffy (multiple decades sometimes works, though).

The big problem is a) when you need more holders and forget those were loaded and exposed, as opposed to empty and left in "exposed" condition, or b) when you sell off a bunch of "old, disused film holders" with your exposed film still in it...

 

[Marv]

"On the other hand, my memory of why I made the exposure does deterioriate rapidly over time."

Amen, Monophoto!!