Development times for Svema Foto 65

[ntenny]

Hi---

I took a flyer on a cheap auction and bought some 20-year-old Svema Foto 65 (nominally 80 ASA) to play with. It may well be fogged beyond usefulness, but I thought I might as well find out, so I've just shot a smoke test, rating it a little low.

Anyone know how to develop this stuff? I'm using HC-110 for preference, but if someone has a time for a different developer I can try to extrapolate from that. I'd like to avoid using Diafine (I'm tray-developing, and I'm nervous about getting solution B into solution A in the dark).

Thanks

-NT

 

[srs5694]

I'm not sure about Foto 65 -- I believe that Svema changed their products sometime after what you've got was made -- but I've got some Svema FN64 and I've developed it in several developers, each time exposing at EI 64:

• Dead Link Removed 2+1, 12:00 at 20C -- Came out a bit dense. I have yet to try it at a shorter time, but my notes suggest trying 10:00 or 11:00.
• PC-Glycol 1+1+48, 10:00 at 20C -- Good density, but a hint of unevenness in the development.
• Rodinal 1+25, 6:15 at 20C -- Excellent results.
• Rodinal 1+50, 11:00 at 20C -- Very good results.
• XTOL 1+1, 11:00 at 20C -- Hideous results. Good density, but uneven development with huge and ugly ugly ugly grain. Very surprisingly bad.

I've also seen suggestions of D-76 1+1 for 8:00 at 20C, but I've never tried that. Your box may have a developing time stamped on it. That's the time in the Soviet standard developer #2, which is similar (perhaps identical; my sources are contradictory) to Agfa/Ansco 12.

Overall, I like this film in Rodinal 1+25 best; that combination produces a nice old-fashioned feel and good tonality. Rodinal 1+50 seemed to lose a bit of the film's charm, but maybe that was just the subjects I shot on that roll. My DS-12 roll seemed similar to the Rodinal 1+50 results, but it might do better with less development. PC-Glycol was a bit uneven and XTOL produced unspeakably hideous results. My guess is that phenidone and/or the phenidone/ascorbate combination just doesn't work well with this film. I intend to develop the rest of my stock in Rodinal, although I may give DS-12 another try.

 

[ntenny]

Thanks for the suggestions. From the times you posted, I inferred "not wildly different from Efke 100", so gave it 7 minutes in HC-110 dilution B.

The results...well, the development looks reasonable, but the film is, as you might expect, a bit messed up. There's a bit of a light leak at one end (I assume from the box, which seemed seriously inadequate for light protection), some very large light streaks across the image, and a bit of random mottling all over the negative, including in the unexposed borders.

The result may actually look kind of interesting, but I wouldn't count on this film to produce a reasonable image of the object being photographed. However, this *was* the top sheet of a stack that didn't seem to be very well protected, and further down things may not be as bad. Research continues.

-NT

 

[srs5694]

Good luck with it. My Svema FN64 was just a few months past date when I bought it, and I immediately dropped it all in the freezer, save the roll I shot first. Thus, mine's in good condition and produces good enlargements, with no undue fog or weirdness on the negatives. I've got an 8x12-inch enlargement from this film hung on my wall, in fact. I pull the film out when I want a certain feel to the prints. In current products, I'd say that Efke 50 is probably closest to the Svema.

 

[Doubrovsky]

Hi

So nice to be reminded of this stuff. Biggest part of my APUG portfolio (there was a url link here which no longer exists) was shot in late 80-s - early 90-s on Svema 65 which expired in 1967 - sheet film 18x24 cm. I don't remember what developer I used. I recall there was in Russia so called Developer #2. Anyway, the film was so slow, I used condensed versions of developers and even added paper developer sometimes. But I like uneven development and odd effects.

I used Svema 65 only because it was the only film available in my circumstances. As soon as Kodak and Ilford appeared in Russia I used them or, when I had no money, didn't shoot at all but never bought cheap Svema.

 

[Sino]

Victor,

that actually is a really inspiring portfolio with a lot of funny quotes!

-Sino.