frobozz
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So how do you identify old B&W 120 film after development? I have some old Panatomic-X and some old Verichrome Pan that I did some test shots on and I thought I remembered which one I hung where in the drying cabinet, but I figured I could always just look at the edge markings later to verify that. The edge markings don't help!
Both of them have a weird code printed near the beginning of the film (around frame 3) kind of between frame numbers on that edge, but it looks like a batch or date code, not a film type ID (One is 41198M and the other is R01504). And then they both say Kodak Safety Film on the other edge. One says "Kodak Safety Film 6040" but Google doesn't bring up anything on that number. I did find one chart that says 6041 is Verichrome Pan, and that is indeed the one I thought was VP, so that is probably it. The other one says "Kodak Safety" and then "Film" printed in clear on a long right-pointing dark triangle.
The Panatomic-X was significantly farther out of date, and indeed the one with the triangle Film printing is way more base-fogged... but then given the relative film speeds I could have believed the VP would have more fog so even that doesn't nail it for me.
Am I missing some secret way to tell the difference? Why didn't they just print the dang film name on the edge? Obviously I need to just pay more attention in the future...
Duncan
Both of them have a weird code printed near the beginning of the film (around frame 3) kind of between frame numbers on that edge, but it looks like a batch or date code, not a film type ID (One is 41198M and the other is R01504). And then they both say Kodak Safety Film on the other edge. One says "Kodak Safety Film 6040" but Google doesn't bring up anything on that number. I did find one chart that says 6041 is Verichrome Pan, and that is indeed the one I thought was VP, so that is probably it. The other one says "Kodak Safety" and then "Film" printed in clear on a long right-pointing dark triangle.
The Panatomic-X was significantly farther out of date, and indeed the one with the triangle Film printing is way more base-fogged... but then given the relative film speeds I could have believed the VP would have more fog so even that doesn't nail it for me.
Am I missing some secret way to tell the difference? Why didn't they just print the dang film name on the edge? Obviously I need to just pay more attention in the future...
Duncan
