Help Identifying Obscure Negatives

Hello everyone!

I'm working on a project which I'm describing at the end of this post for anyone interested in order to keep the "wheat" separate from the "chaff".

My hope is that I might be able to get some help identifying the occasional obscure negative film so that I might set up a more accurate scanning profile for the negatives in question; if you use any of the SilverFast scanning applications (or possibly Vuescan), then you likely know what I'm referring to and why. Right now I am on an enforced pause trying to determine the characteristics of the next set of negatives I'll be scanning.

I've looked at the Tom Philo and Vuescan lists, but the film in question (see below) isn't mentioned in either. The Kodak list is only useful for Kodak film, and the much referenced Fuji list link doesn't work anymore. I've also scoured what other online sources I could find, all to no avail. And that's what brought me here (and hopefully the correct forum for the question). Is anyone familiar with the film described below?

Thank you in advance.

Film Information:
- Acquired either in the United States or in South America in the early 1980s; determined by the content, which I know was shot between May and September, 1984.
- I am guessing the ISO is between 100 and 400 (only 200 and 400 film would have been available if it was acquired in South America, or 100, 200, or 400 if in the United States, based on other factors).
- 35mm colour, 36 exposure.
- There is no brand identification anywhere. It may have been an off-brand if acquired in the United States. or either AGFA, Fuji, or Kodak if in South America.
- Top edge has a Film Code "N50N31" and magenta dots between the sprocket holes.
- Bottom edge has fram numbers, both whole and half-frame (eg. 1 1a) and no marks between sprocket holes.
- The first frame is numbered 0, and the final frame is numbered 37. In case it matters, the tape that would attach the film to the spool hub is right after frame 37.

The Project:
About 14 months ago, I began scanning and cataloging my family's entire visual media collection. By my estimation, there's well north of 15,000 photos, transparencies, and negatives in that collection, the oldest dating back to 1928. In addition there are also 25-50 reels of 8mm film in various lengths, and around 200 video tapes (a mix of 8mm, Betamax, and VHS) in the collection. To date I have processed about 4000 discrete images from the collection. It's a very slow process that I'm fitting in around my real world obligations while running against the clock because most photos prior to 1965 have zero identifications on them to tell me who or what is in the image. While I can extrapolate certain things, it is the relatives and friends that are harder to determine; the number of people who can assist me is dwindling rapidly due to their age.

To go with this project, I paused for about 4.5 months to write a program to contain the catalogue. This database application is complete enough to be functional, but not enough to be practical. If anyone knows VisualBasic .NET and SQLite, I could use help with that too...

Welcome to Photrio.
It may help if you post a backlit photo of some example negatives, showing the full rebate and space between frames, frame numbering, sprockets, mask appearance, etc.
Some of us have strong visual memories
Feel free to blur any appropriate content of the negatives.

MattKing said:

Welcome to Photrio.
It may help if you post a backlit photo of some example negatives, showing the full rebate and space between frames, frame numbering, sprockets, mask appearance, etc.
Some of us have strong visual memories
Feel free to blur any appropriate content of the negatives.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the suggestion. I will endeavour to do this shortly.

MattKing said:

Welcome to Photrio.
It may help if you post a backlit photo of some example negatives, showing the full rebate and space between frames, frame numbering, sprockets, mask appearance, etc.
Some of us have strong visual memories
Feel free to blur any appropriate content of the negatives.

Click to expand...

Here's an example of the same strip, one processed using the Silverfast Kodachrome mode, and as a generic (i.e. no film profile) negative. One thing that did pop up in the scan, but was not visible to the naked eye is the "SAFETY 3" legend on the top edge. Also, I did try to find a strip in which no blur was necessary in order to provide something with high fidelity. This is the strip best suited for that, although the curved notch overlaps the 5.

That looks to me like a "house brand" film, packaged for drug stores/supermarkets, etc.
In the '80's, a lot of that type of generic 35mm color negative film was produced by 3M/Ferrania.

This is how I do it: https://tinker.koraks.nl/photography/flipped-doing-color-negative-inversions-manually/

You may or may not be able to experimentally determine which of the available profiles works for your film. One of the challenges is that in ca. 40 years' time, the film will not necessarily be as new, and there may be significant variation between samples.

AnselMortensen said:

In the '80's, a lot of that type of generic 35mm color negative film was produced by 3M/Ferrania.

Click to expand...

No doubt; here in Europe, also Agfa. IDK how common that was in the US.

Ferrania made film had edge markings of either green or purple or orange dots. They also had edge markings of dots and plus sign in the same colour combinations.



Agfa film, both branded and private label, had purple squares or triangles in the edge markings.





Fuji private label had the same markings as branded but with the Fuji name removed.




Konica private label edge markings looked very similar to Kodak negatives.

I hope this helps.