Developing old Verichrome film

[htmlguru4242]

I found a roll of 120 format Kodak Verichrome film tonight. It is marked "verichrome", and says "Brownie 2" on the paper. It has been exposed, but probably about 40 to 50 years ago. I was thinking of developing it. Does anyone have any ideas if this is possible or if there are any precautions / special care I should take with developing it. Also, what would the approximate developing times be??

 

[Donald Qualls]

Yes, it's possible. Papagene (on this forum) pretty routinely processes found film in that approximate age range. Alan Gage (don't know if he's on here or what his user name is) also does so, and I've done it a few times (20-30 year old film, in my case).

That Verichrome is easy, though -- you can develop by inspection with a RED (not amber or green) safelight, since it's orthochromatic. The later version, Verichrome Pan, was similar in response to modern films like Plus-X and Tri-X, but if it doesn't say "Pan" on the label, it's the ortho version.

I'd strongly recommend either adding some antifog agent or using a low-fog developer such as HC-110, though others will say Diafine is best. The only times I've used Diafine on old films, I got nothing I could scan or print -- but it might well have been the film that was at fault (badly fogged by light or heat) rather than the process.

 

[htmlguru4242]

Excellent, I'll try that out, and see what type of results I get. I don't have any HC-110 on hand, but its pretty cheap.

It strikes me as odd, though, that a film called verichrome (roughly "true colors") would be orthochromatic...

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Not so much, considering that before ortho films, all emulsions were blue-sensitive, and gave sometimes unrealistic effects. "Ortho-chromatic" = "correct-colors", from Greek. "Verichrome" is a pun on this, based on the Latin version of "Ortho", as in "veritas", truth, "vérité" in French.