Developing old Ilford Pan F

[Melvin J Bramley]

I have been asked to develop a roll on 20 year old Pan F.
Apparently old Pan F has latent image issues.
Where do I start?

 

[Kodachromeguy]

Ugh. I suggest you cut off a short piece of the roll and develop that piece in a developer that reduces (or does not exaggerate) fog. If there image data, adjust as needed for the rest of the roll.

 

[JensH]

Hi,

yes, every PanF has an instable latent image, the film should be developed soon after exposing it. Better in the first weeks, not months.
If the PanF was exposed 20 years ago, you will hardly get any image.

Apart from that, a 20-year old film may (depending on storage conditions) need more light, so you would get an EI of ca. 25.

If it is 120 film one more problem can be artefacts from it's backing paper.

 

[Melvin J Bramley]

Hi,

yes, every PanF has an instable latent image, the film should be developed soon after exposing it. Better in the first weeks, not months.
If the PanF was exposed 20 years ago, you will hardly get any image.

Apart from that, a 20-year old film may (depending on storage conditions) need more light, so you would get an EI of ca. 25.

If it is 120 film one more problem can be artefacts from it's backing paper.

The film was exposed about 20 years ago; no idea how it was stored.

 

[loccdor]

I don't think you'll get much from that film.

 

[Vaughn]

Just use the most active developer you can find and cook the hell out of it.

And then whoever asked you to develop the film can just throw it away since there will be nothing on it worth printing, but who knows, maybe scanning will be able to draw something out of it.

 

[cliveh]

Develop in D76 at 1:1 for 15 minutes at 20C

 

[Melvin J Bramley]

Just use the most active developer you can find and cook the hell out of it.

And then whoever asked you to develop the film can just throw it away since there will be nothing on it worth printing, but who knows, maybe scanning will be able to draw something out of it.

I have some old Rodinal.
My usual developer ID11 and if needed Ilfosol.

Any reccomendaations?

 

[Craig]

Develop in D76 at 1:1 for 15 minutes at 20C

I think Microphen would be a better developer in this case. The film is going to need all the speed enhancing it can get, a dilute developer won't help here.

I think this is a salvage operation, not developing for quality.

 

[Vaughn]

I have some old Rodinal.
My usual developer ID11 and if needed Ilfosol.

Any reccomendaations?

No specific ones… but basically I would just double the normal development time with whatever developer I had around.

 

[loccdor]

Yeah, ID-11 stock and double it, then pray.

 

[Don_ih]

I have 40 year old Pan F. The frame numbers can only be seen if the film is drastically overdeveloped. It has lost no speed and gained no fog. I'd advise dropping it in working strength dektol for 4-5 minutes. That should fully develop any image that remains. I'd do a test strip, first.

 

[DREW WILEY]

No worse than trekking to the South Pole in flipflops and Bermuda shorts if you expect success. Pan F forgets what it was within six months. But developing it anyway is easy enough to do.

 

[mshchem]

Develop in D76 at 1:1 for 15 minutes at 20C

This is how I would approach the situation. I probably wouldn't do anything too much different than the recommended processing time. 20 years ago is 2006 not 1954. Develop as normal.

 

[Taylor K Nankervis]

Never liked Pan-F for its latency decay. There is a lot of agreement that it should be developed immediately, but maintaining the integrity of the negatives against time is a problem too. Even a week after exposure is problematic. I last used the film in 2016 but did not process it for 9 or 10 months, and the negatives were disturbingly anaemic and insipid.