Identifying B&W film from Holga

JMC1969 · Jan 15, 2009

I'm not having luck w/ the search, so I hope this isn't redundant. We recieved a roll of film from a customer yesterday with not identifying marks on it. 120 black wrap that simply said "120 Film". Black wrap suggested that it was B&W film. The customer asked that we process it the best we could figure out. Being that it had the black wrap and shot in a Holga, we processed B&W at 400 speed. It came out pretty nice and definitely usable (hard to tell always w/ the light leaks). This roll of film came with the camera (in the package) at time of purchase and was unmarked on the outside. After processing the only edge Numbers/markings are "SGPFF" Who know what this means or what film it may be?

Thank You,
Jody

mabman · Jan 15, 2009

Googling for "SGPFF edge code" comes back with (there was a url link here which no longer exists) post, which indicates the film was JandC Pro 100.

JandC rebranded film. In more general searching, Pro 100 was known to have been made in China, and was most likely ERA 100 (as far as I can tell there is no 400 ISO film, only 100 ISO).

So, best guess, it's probably ERA 100.

Incidentally (and you may know this already - I believe you've indicated you work in a photo lab), if you're unsure of a B&W film and have the ability to do a 1-off in a standard daylight tank, you can always try stand development to develop any B&W film to completion. I've been trying this recently with great results using Rodinal 1+200, agitate first minute, let stand remainder of 2 hrs.

trotkiller · Jan 15, 2009

I'm sure ERA 100 is not made in 120...

Shanghai would be my guess... see here

PhotoJim · Jan 15, 2009

Shanghai film is fairly easy to identify. The film base is very, very thin. Foma is also thin but the base is very bluish and Shanghai looks more normal.

mabman · Jan 15, 2009

trotkiller said:
I'm sure ERA 100 is not made in 120...

Shanghai would be my guess... see here

You're right - I read somewhere they make 35mm, 4x5, and 8x10, so I just assumed 120 was a given

JMC1969 · Jan 15, 2009

It's definitely not Foma, that blue base is unmistakable and we sell Foma, so we get quite a bit of it back. Trotkiller, that link is the ticket. It looked exactly like that. Black wrap w/ 120 film stamped on it. I have never shot it film and this would be the first time it was processed in our lab. I can tell you this, CURLY almost explains it. I was hung to dry with weight, I removed it and it popped up like Bozo's tie and nearly hit me in the face.

Thanks everyone. I will try to find some more info on this so we have correct times. If you happen to know this it would be appreciated. We process with Kodak RS when doing bulk, small batches are sometimes done with Sprint. Sprint's site doesn't have times. For that matter I would like to know Sprint's times for Rollei Retro for personal use.

PhotoJim · Jan 15, 2009

For the handful of rolls I've shot, I've used times from the Massive Film Development Chart and they seem to be in the ballpark.

JMC1969 · Jan 16, 2009

PhotoJim said:
For the handful of rolls I've shot, I've used times from the Massive Film Development Chart and they seem to be in the ballpark.

I've never heard of it, but that is great. However, it doesn't list either. No times for Rollei in Sprint or Shanghai in Sprint and Kodak doesn't seem to be listed as a developer.

Never the less a very impressive list that i think i will have a use for, thank you,
Jody

JMC1969 · Jan 16, 2009

On another look it does list Tmax RS, but the search says "Sorry, no records were found"

mabman · Jan 16, 2009

Rollei Retro is a rebrand of the remaining Agfa APX emulsions, so you can use times for those.

pauliej · Jan 16, 2009

Jody, does your shop perform mail order development & printing of b&w film? Do you have a link to your shop's site? Just wondering. Thanks for your help.

paulie

JMC1969 · Jan 16, 2009

Thanks for the info Mabman on times.

pauliej said:
Jody, does your shop perform mail order development & printing of b&w film? Do you have a link to your shop's site? Just wondering. Thanks for your help.

paulie

Hey Paulie, Sure we can do that. Quite a number of people living in the beach area of Jacksonville mail it in as well as St Augustine customers.

Links:
Main site has a PDF of prices http://www.fototechnika.com/

Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/people/fototechnika/

MySpace, http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=312344861

Please feel free to ask any questions.

Jody

Identifying B&W film from Holga

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency