Developing Film Exposed Long Ago

[Svenedin]

I have found a lot of threads about using old film but these have all concerned exposing expired film now and then developing it.

This enquiry is about developing film that was exposed a long time ago but never processed.

A colleague, who knows I am interested in film photography, has asked me whether I could develop some old film for him. I do not know all the details as yet, but I gather the film in question is 35mm TMax (possibly TMax 400) that was exposed in 1990/1991. My colleague is quite keen to see what is on these films because he took some photographs of a broadside fired by the USS Missouri during the First Gulf War. These films are somewhere in his father's attic so we do not know the exact details as yet.

Back in the early 1990's I developed a film that had been exposed in the early 1960's (so about 30 years between exposure and development). I was advised by the chap who ran the camera shop to significantly extend the developing time. This was a Kodak film but I cannot recall anything about it except it was old enough to say "Safety Film". To my delight the film came out and I was able to print some shots of my father as a young man. I do remember that the film was quite badly scratched and far from perfect.

So I have developed a really old film once before with success but this may have been luck. Does anyone have any thoughts about what I should say to my colleague? Should I say I will try but make no promises?

 

[Kirks518]

I developed film last year that was exposed in the 30's or 40's, another roll from the '50's, and another from the mid '70's (dates are guesses based on clothing, cars, license plate expiration, and music posters). I did all three in HC-110, I think dilution H, stand developed for about an hour(?). The rolls from the '50's and '70's came out really well. The roll from the 30/40's was fair.

The biggest concern I have about your roll(s) is that they were in an attic for X years. Not sure how the summer heat in an attic will affect the film, but I can be pretty sure it isn't in a positive way.

 

[Svenedin]

Yes that is a good point. Attics tend to be extremely hot in Summer and very cold in Winter. Also wild swings in temperature between day/night.

It's good to hear that you had success with some very old film though.

 

[revdoc]

I've developed film exposed 10 years prior. I used Rodinal 1+200, stand developed for 1 hour. The results were fine.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

... Should I say I will try but make no promises?

Yes. That's all anyone can say, really, since the film's storage conditions were probably not good.

Looking forward to hearing about your results.

 

[tokam]

About 3 months ago I found and developed a roll of TMax 400 that I would have shot around 1990. I processed it in HC-110 dil. H for 10 mins at 21 C.

Very high base fog with increased grain and low contrast. I am confident that the exposure was accurate as I would have been using a Canon T90 which always gave good results exposure wise. The development time I used involved a bit of interpolation from tables for the temperature and according to my notes I gave 5 inversions each minute. If I had to do it again I might increase development by 20%.

 

[tedr1]

I developed some Ilford HP5+ that had been stored under favorable conditions for ten years, normal processing was used and the negs have been used to make high quality prints. I agree that attic conditions are unfavorable and twenty plus years is a long time. I would only take on such a project with no guarantee given.