Expired Orwo NP20, cont'd

[Michael L.]

On and off, I've been continuing my experiments with long expired and possibly inappropriately stored Orwo NP20 films (see my earlier posting (there was a url link here which no longer exists)). I have a lot of them.
I've used Microphen to develop some of these ancient NP20 rolls, but while this developer allows the films to be exposed at box speed (80ASA/20°DIN), it tends to yield negatives that are a little too harsh, at least to my eye, and I've been considering alternatives. Rodinal, otherwise my standard developer, is ruled out, as it would further reduce the already lessened film speed, so I decided to try Kodak HC-110, well known for its good pushing properties.
Exposing an NP20 roll at ASA 80, I souped it in HC-110 dil. H (1+63) for 14 minutes (pure guesswork) with minimal agitation, i.e. 30 secs initially and 3 gentle kips every two minutes. The negatives came out a little thin, but perfectly usable; next time, I'll set the film speed to 64 ASA and perhaps develop a tad longer. I'm posting two examples in the picture section above, depicting a quaint old front door in my neighbourhood; the pictures are raw scans of prints made on equally expired Orwo paper, grade "normal".
The combination of HC-110 and NP20 looks promising, I think. What do you think of the quality?

 

[pentaxpete]

prints look a bit Dark to me

 

[Michael L.]

Thanks for your comment, Pete. Do they look dark? They seem allright on my monitor, but our display settings may be different. The prints themselves are bright enough - if a little flat, due to the thin negatives and fogging of the age-old paper (Orwo BN 1 of 1986 vintage). I keep trying to tame that fog, but I may have to switch to more contemporary paper for Orwo negatives.
From another NP20 roll I've just added raw scans of a couple of prints on Orwo BN 1 and Tura chamoix of equal antiquity. Fogging is evident on the BN 1 paper, whereas the chamoix prints are quite acceptable, I think.
The paper problem apart, I'm rather impressed by the the tonal scale rendered by the long-expired Orwo NP20 film. HC-110 1+63 really seems to bring out whatever's left of sensitivity in these old films, albeit with some increase in graininess; 14 minutes probably represents some pushing.

P.S.: I really like your "Shadows and Chairs". It made me wish I could do colour.