Dry-down in B&W Film? (recovering a time-capsule)

fparnold

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Joined
Sep 21, 2002
Messages
264
Location
Binghamton,
Format
Multi Format
Hello,

The long: I developed a roll of Tech-pan that had been shot 19 years ago (freezer stored until last year) in X-Tol (1:2, 6.5 min@ 72F), and when I took the negatives out during the wash to see if anything had survived, they looked incredibly thin and flat. I started a low curse, but finished washing and hung them to dry. They darkened as they dried, and when dry had what appears to be normal contrast and density. While I haven't printed them yet, I did run a few through the sc*****. The histograms were normal, and the skin tones perfect.

The Short: I'm now the happy possessor of a time capsule of pictures from HS Band, but am pretty sure that I've never seen B*W dry down that dramatically before. I shoot mainly Agfapan 100 (large) and Delta-100 (small) these days, but HP5 never did that to me either. Any comments? Had I not been stubborn, I might have been tempted to chuck those negs without finishing the process. The dry-down was more what I remember from color (low-contrast, bluish opalescence), than B*W.

Thoughts or comments appreciated.
 

Les McLean

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Joined
Oct 18, 2002
Messages
1,606
Location
Northern Eng
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Multi Format
Interesting that you detected dry down in film, I've thought for some time that my wet films appear very dense and lacking in contrast but when dry the shadow areas appear to become less dense and consequently the contrast is OK.
 
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