Help me identify some film

henryyjjames · Dec 24, 2022

Hey, my grandparents just gave me some undeveloped film from probably decades ago. Does anyone recognize these rolls? Any idea if it’s black and white or color? Any suggestions on how to develop it?

Thx!
PS merry christmas !

Sirius Glass · Dec 24, 2022

henryyjjames said:
Hey, my grandparents just gave me some undeveloped film from probably decades ago. Does anyone recognize these rolls? Any idea if it’s black and white or color? Any suggestions on how to develop it?

Thx!
PS merry christmas !

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Clip off enough of the leader, 2" or 3, and develop in black & white developer. The edges of the film may tell you.

AnselMortensen · Dec 24, 2022

Whatever it is is most likely bulk loaded... those are generic film cassettes sold for bulk loading.
Chances are good that it is a B/W film, so Sirius' advice is on point.
Can you read anything on the tape?
Not readable over the interwebs.

henryyjjames · Dec 24, 2022

AnselMortensen said:
Whatever it is is most likely bulk loaded... those are generic film cassettes sold for bulk loading.
Chances are good that it is a B/W film, so Sirius' advice is on point.
Can you read anything on the tape?
Not readable over the interwebs.

I can’t read anything on the tapes either, it’s very faded.
The lead is probably exposed to light, no? So wouldn’t it just be pure black? Could develop and inspect under a low red light ?

Sirius Glass · Dec 24, 2022

You need to develop an unexposed section to read the edge print.

Paul Howell · Dec 24, 2022

By clipping a section that is beyond the leader you will also see how much base fog has developed over the years.

henryyjjames · Dec 24, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
You need to develop an unexposed section to read the edge print.

Ok that’s what i thought. They feel very light so there might only be a few frames.

Sharktooth · Dec 24, 2022

Since there's no commercial label, they're almost certainly bulk loading cassettes, as AnselMortensen already stated.

That being said, if they feel light, they're probably just empty cassettes. It would be easy to check, but you need someone who's familiar with bulk load cassettes, so they could check in a darkroom, or with a changing bag. Don't do this yourself if you've never done this before, since you risk exposing any film, if there is film in there.

henryyjjames · Dec 24, 2022

Sharktooth said:
Since there's no commercial label, they're almost certainly bulk loading cassettes, as AnselMortensen already stated.

That being said, if they feel light, they're probably just empty cassettes. It would be easy to check, but you need someone who's familiar with bulk load cassettes, so they could check in a darkroom, or with a changing bag. Don't do this yourself if you've never done this before, since you risk exposing any film, if there is film in there.

I bulk load myself, so I’ll take a look when I get home. I’m literally at my grandparents right now for Christmas and they just gave them to me a few hours ago. I’m thinking they are either empty or they only have a few frames in them. They feel similar in weight to a roll with 12 frames.

Sirius Glass · Dec 24, 2022

henryyjjames said:
Ok that’s what i thought. They feel very light so there might only be a few frames.

Can you snap the cassettes open in a changing bag or darkroom without damaging them? If they only have a few frames you can tape film from a bulk loader and fill them up.

revdoc · Dec 24, 2022

Definitely bulk loaded. I bought quite a few of the same cassettes some years ago, and still have several with various films loaded. I'd say they'most likely empty, since there's no leader visible. They can be popped open easily... squeeze one end gently and you should be able to get the end cap off with your fingers. (Fingernails might be needed.) You'll most likely find the spool has a bit of tape attached to a small stub of film.

BTW, these are good cassettes. Mine open and close easily, and the light traps work well, without scratching the film. I've used mine several times and they still work like new.

AnselMortensen · Dec 24, 2022

If you hold one with the felt trap facing away from you and turn the spool counterclockwise (toward you), you should hear a
'tick tick tick' if there's any film in there.
If nothing, it's completely empty.

pentaxuser · Dec 25, 2022

It might be worth using a film retriever in the total darkness. It will either not make contact with any film because there is none in the cassette, make contact with the small amount that remains on the spool and pull out only a few millimetres or pull out a number of inches of film which you may need to feed onto a reel to get to the unexposed area of film to see if there are edge markings

If there is still film there. come back to us after you developed the first few inches, tell us what the edge markings reveal if it is a film that is unknown to you.

Where Photrio come into its own is that there are often enough experienced "old stagers" here who can then help

pentaxuser

Help me identify some film

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