Can you identify this film?

Hi all,
I've come across a bulk roll of film in the back of my stash that I can't identify. The label is ripped with the only discernible text being '125ASA' which should narrow it down a bit. I cut a bit off and developed it in RO9 1+25 for 5 minutes in the hope that it would tell me what it is but the only text printed on the film (other than numbering) is 'KH 21 1505 9822+' which doesn't tell me much; I was hoping for it to actually say the brand/variant.

The 5 minute develop time seemed about right to bring the text out nice and clear so I expect the dev time of the film should be around this figure, maybe a minute or two longer. The majority of film I have bought over the years is Adox, Kentmere and Fomapan, but the film can be ripped by hand so I doubt it's a Kentmere (from experience Kentmere will not tear at all) that said though, I have had a habit of buying random old films off ebay to play about with so it could be anything.

So... quick recap of known variables
Speed: 125
Text on film: KH 21 1505 9822+
Develop time: Around 5-7 minutes in RO9 1+25

125 ASA is important as well - if it is ASA rather than ISO, it is old....

MattKing said:

125 ASA is important as well - if it is ASA rather than ISO, it is old....

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I didn't think of that!. I was thinking of the possibility of Ilford FP4 (without the plus, which would be old) or Kodak Plus-X (which could be old, I'm not sure when it was introduced).
The Plus-X would fit in with the develop time given by the massive dev chart, stating 6 minutes in RO9 1+25, I'm just used to Ilford or Kodak film to be labelled as such.

Plus-X Pan film was introduced in 1954 according to Wikipedia.

The '21' might be DIN speed, though that suggests 100 ASA. Adox/Efke used to use 'KB' - See http://photondetector.com/tools_ref/filmdata/

Maybe Cine film?

MattKing said:

Plus-X Pan film was introduced in 1954 according to Wikipedia.

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I doubt it would be as old as that as it seems to have held up quite well, although Plus-X was removed around 2011, the ASA would likely indicate mid 90s or earlier

grahamp said:

The '21' might be DIN speed, though that suggests 100 ASA. Adox/Efke used to use 'KB' - See http://photondetector.com/tools_ref/filmdata/

Maybe Cine film?

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I've used a fair bit of Adox and Efke (mainly IR820 for the Efke and CHS variants for Adox. I think the CHS I used to use was the 25 or 50 though) so that could be heading in the right direction. I don't think I've purchased any Cine film, but I could be wrong. That's an interesting website you've linked to there

What about perforations? Kodak standard or BH (BellHowell - for cine cameras). Also picture of the processed film can help us too!

Nitrate or Acetate base?

Edit, looking at http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Film_perforations they appear to be BH with the very slightly curved corners which would make it post 1989, but it's hard to tell as it's a very small curve.

I've uploaded a photo of the film:


As far as I can tell it's acetate based.

The barcode on the edge of the film doesn’t seem to follow any known DX style that I’ve seen on any film that I’ve developed. The character/number sequence is probably what is coded into the barcode, which means it’s probably meant to be handled by a machine.

Adrian Bacon said:

The barcode on the edge of the film doesn’t seem to follow any known DX style that I’ve seen on any film that I’ve developed.

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No modern still film has BH perforations.
This film is a cine camera film.

Cine films have their own system of coding, for instance Kodak's Keycode.

this list of film stocks might help
https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3Wkn.../wiki/List_of_motion_picture_film_stocks.html

Ok, so it looks like I have a random oldish Cine film. When one of the bulk loaders is empty I'll pop some in a cartridge and see how well it works, I'll probably aim for Kodak Plus-X development times and will try to remember not to do anything too important with it

It turns out I didn't develop enough of the film to identify it. After developing another couple of foot I came across the text: Eastman 5231 226 00206 14 173 2010



According to the Kodak datasheet at http://pdfstream.manualsonline.com/7/7f2018da-8685-406d-ad38-bd336adf4e74.pdf Eastman 5231 is 35mm Kodak Plus-X Cine film. The final part of the code is also the year.

So, the film is Kodak Plus-X 35mm cine from 2010

Your images show a Kodak Keycode, the first image showing manufacturer, film, roll number and frames count per 16 frames.
The second image shows manufacturer, film, emulsion number, and production year.