Expired Film and Rodinal

[Darkroom317]

I just shot a bunch of expired film and am wondering how I should soup them. I have a fresh bottle of Rodinal and some D-76 that is from probably the late 90s. The D-76 was stored in a good place and is dry (powder of course. Should I risk expired film in expired developer, use the Rodinal, or buy a fresh packet of D-76?

If Rodinal what dilution?

The films are:
Plus-X Pan: 1987 and 1996
Tmax 100: 1992

 

[photomem]

I have not done it myself (yet), but I have heard good things about stand development with 1:50 or 1:100 dilution for expired film. I am sure someone with more experience will respond with more details, but this might give you something to research in the mean time.

 

[Darkroom317]

I've been wondering this for a while, what is stand development?

 

[photomem]

There is stand development where you put the film in a tank of usually 1:100 rodinal and just leave it for an hour. Then stop, wash, fix. Dont agitate or anything. Semi-Stand is usually the same hour, but you agitate briefly (around 30 seconds) at the beginning, around 30 seconds at 30 minutes, and then stop, fix, wash at an hour.

 

[werra]

Dry kept D76 should be absolutely OK to use. Or you can go with Rodinal. These films are no so expired at all, I'd go with straight 1+25 Rodinal.

 

[Darkroom317]

Forgot to mention: these photos are of a steam locomotive. I want an older look. Which would better for the this?

 

[photomem]

I think the older look would be better served on the printing side of things. Toning is an option, another that is pretty cool is to get a piece of plexi, scratch it, and print through it. Combine it with a light sepia tone, and instant vintage.

 

[Whiteymorange]

My own experience with expired film is that HC110 gives me the best image with minimal fog. 1:31 (B) at 6 minutes just did a wonderful job on a roll of Plus X from ... well, I don't know how old it was. I found it in a box of stuff from an auction. It had the old purple-on yellow labeling. 60's?, 70's? Film from the 80's and 90's that has just been shot is probably not going to require much in the way of special treatment unless it was exposed to a lot of heat in storage. I agree that the "vintage" part of it may be best handled in printing.

 

[Ronald Moravec]

Shoot a test of 6 exposures so you are not guessing. 6 exp is 12" of film, all you need for a test.

I would toss expired chemicals. May be good, maybe not. Sometimes you can`t tell by looking. If it turned tan, it is definately no good or compromised.

 

[Darkroom317]

Here are some shots I did a few months ago. This is Plus-X Pan (1987) in fresh D-76.

What do you guys think?

 

[Athiril]

1+100 semi-stand should serve well for that... though I am not sure how the T-Max will respond.

Generally with old film like that, I like to overexpose and underdevelop

 

[Darkroom317]

Results

I developed a couple of rolls of Plus-X Pan expired 1996 (Frozen) using the regular development with Rodinal 1:50
Tell me what you think.
For the older rolls I am thinking of buying Benzotriazole to add to the developer
How much would I add to Rodinal 1:50

 

[werra]

Turned out quite OK, didn't it?

 

[fschifano]

Ten year old expired film can be more or less ok if it had been stored cold. Depends on the film, the speed, etc.; but you'll get something from it. Ten year old D-76? Maybe, maybe not. I would not be surprised if it has gone bad. If it mixes up clear, ok. If not, then it's safe to assume that it's gone bad. In any case, I wouldn't trust it without testing it on something unimportant. Is it worth it? Not really. A package of D-76 costs about $7. A roll of film is about $4. Are you going to waste a $4 roll of film to save $7 worth of developer? Bottom line, if you want to use D-76 then get some fresh developer.