I am a little bit behind in my processing .......

[Noelb]

A long time ago, 29 January 1988 to be precise, I was a newspaper photographer in Australia covering a royal tour with the late Princess Diana and Prince Charles. I shot at least 5 rolls of Ilford HP5 on that day, rated 800. For reasons that escape me now, I didn't process 5 rolls from that day but think it is probably about time that I do.

My question is, does anyone have any idea of a suitable processing regime for such old film? As I have 5 rolls I can do a few clip tests but it would be good to have an opinion from someone who has a better idea than do I.

Believe it or not this is a serious request.

Cheers from Downunder.

Noelb

 

[eric]

Maybe you can find someone in the area that can do Process by Inspection. I need to find a used 5x7 safelight housing for my 5x7 inspection filter.

 

[pnance]

B&W will probably process normally, I would either snip a piece off to test develop with, or process one roll at a time. Starting with normal processing, adjusting as you go along.

 

[fhovie]

Add a little extra benzotriazole to your developer to restrain the fog. Maybe .5g per liter or so. Snip off a little from one roll and see if it works out before doing them all.

 

[fschifano]

All I can offer is some recent experience I've had with old exposed films, some of it dating to the mid 1990's, with some possibly earlier. Two rolls of Delta 400, 1 of TMY, and 1 of HP5+ were in the batch a friend found stashed in the back of his refrigerator. The HP5+ was likely the oldest of the bunch. All appeared to have been exposed at box speed, or so I was informed when he handed the film over to me. In any case, I developed all the films as I normally would fresh film. There was more than normal base fog on all the films, but the images were useable and some were quite good. Benzotriazole might be a good idea, but it might cause some speed loss. Since the film is already underexposed by a stop, I would give it a pass and take my chances by processing as you would for 1 stop under exposed, fresh film.

 

[copake_ham]

Beside the processing question; when did you leave your employer?

Could the film still be considered their work product?

You may have some very valuable pics - so after you resolve the processing question and assuming you have some unique, historical pics, make sure they are YOURS before you try to market them!

 

[MartinB]

HP5 processed 20 years after shot

NoelB,

In the late 1990's I found a roll of HP5 that I shot around 1978 and hadn't processed so it was around 20 years old by the time I processed it. I think I used Microphen and processed it as though it was shot at EI 800. I probably exposed the film it at box speed when I took the pictures but I thought it may have lost some shadow detail in the intervening 20 years so boosted it 1 stop.

The negatives came out fine and I have made some good prints from them. A bit grainy and some background fog but not too different to my other negatives shot and processed bck in the 1980's. I will see if I can dig up a photo to post.

I recommend a clip test just to be sure, even if it is only the unexposed leader to check on fog levels and whether the edge markings look OK. There is usually around 2 frames worth of unexposed film before the 1st frame.

Martin

 

[Noelb]

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I will soon process the films and will report back on my success (or otherwise).

Cheers from Downunder

NoelB