Kodak Direct Positive Panchromatic film 5246

PhotoBob · Mar 10, 2006

Hello everyone:
I have a bulk roll of 35mm direct positive panchromatic film and wonder:
1. What is it? A B&W slide film?
2. How will I process it?
3. What ISO do I rate it at?
4. Good for landscapes?
Thank you very much.

Kino · Mar 10, 2006

PhotoBob said:
Hello everyone:
I have a bulk roll of 35mm direct positive panchromatic film and wonder:
1. What is it? A B&W slide film?
2. How will I process it?
3. What ISO do I rate it at?
4. Good for landscapes?
Thank you very much.

5246 is a motion picture stock, color. Looks like you got hold of a roll of recanned mo pic neg stock from one of those strange labs that use short ends of movie film and send back transparencies (color print stock frames) from your processing.

I can't remember if 5246 has a remjet backing or not, but if it does, it is a pain to remove without scrubbing.

Do yourself a favor, take the roll firmly in hand, aim at a tree on the opposite side of the Grand Canyon and try to hit it...

My 2 cents.

Gerald Koch · Mar 10, 2006

Its MP color negative film ISO 250D and it does have a remjet backing. This means that you will have to develop the film yourself as labs will not process it because the backing screws up their baths.

srs5694 · Mar 10, 2006

A Web search turned up the information that it's a daylight-balanced ISO 250 film, but I don't know if that speed would need to be adjusted for still camera use. I've heard that Dale Labs still processes the stuff, although I'm pretty sure they've stopped sending out new ECN-2 film. (Dale is one of several outfits that used to repackage ECN-2 films in 35mm still cassettes and sell it to the public. To the best of my knowledge, all of these companies have either gone out of business or switched to delivering conventional C-41 films.) I'd recommend contacting them or searching their Web site for information on ECN-2 processing before sending them any of this stuff. I've not used them in ages, but they were pretty good the last time I did use them.

Helen B · Mar 11, 2006

Oops. If it says 5246 Direct Positive on the manufacturer's label then it isn't Vision 250D!

How old is it? Kodak re-use their numbers as we ancient cinematographers well know. Those lazy mathematicians haven't invented enough numbers yet to give a unique number to every 35 mm film that EK have produced.

It's a B&W reversal film as far as I remember.

Can you get hold of an old (70's? 80's?) copy of Photo Lab Index?

Vision 250D 5246 came out in the late nineties, so Direct Positive 5246 had probably been out of production for a while.

Best,
Helen

lonelyboy · Mar 12, 2006

5246 was a motion picture film with EI250 Daylight, replaced by 5205 VISION2 250D in Dec 2004.

Both 5246 and 5205 as well as all color motion picture picture negatives are having remjet on the back and prebath + remjet removal is part of a procedure in ECN2 processing.

MichaelBriggs · Mar 12, 2006

Helen B said:
.....

It's a B&W reversal film as far as I remember.

.....

Helen's right. Why would Kodak call a color film "panchromatic"?

In my 1976 edition of "Kodak Professional Black-and-White Films" I find "Kodak Direct Positive Panchromatic Film 5246". with this description:

"This extremely fine grain panchromatic film is for making 35 mm black-and-white transparencies directly from the camera exposure. The positive image is obtained by reveral processing; thus the intermediate negative is unecessary. The film is suitable for producing 35 mm slides from most general subject matter, as well as from photographs, ...."

Suggested ISO was 80 and procesing using the Kodak Direct Positive Film Developing Outfit or according to the formulas in Publication J-3, Small-Batch Reversal Processing of Kodak B/W Films.

It's not listed in the 1987 Kodak Prof. B+W Films, suggesting that your sample is quite old.

Kino · Mar 12, 2006

Well there you go, as Helen states, Kodak is well known for driving cinematographers and labs insane by constantly recycling old numbers AND changing stock ID numbers randomly.

Take motion picture B&W dupe neg stock; started as 5234 in 35mm acetate and 7234 in 16mm acetate, but when polyester came in, the polyester became S0-239 regardless of gauge (or perf OR wind in 16mm -- only the CAT number changed). Now it is 5234/7234 in acetate and 2234/3234 in polyester! God help you if you have more than a few hundred thousand feet in stock in several batches! Talk about confusing!

nworth · Mar 12, 2006

I became suspicious of the other replies because of the nomenclature you gave, so I checked some old references. Kodak Direct Positive Panchromatic Film 5246 is listed in Kodak Publication F-5, "Kodak Professional Black and White Films" dated September 1969. It is a black and white reversal film for making slides. The speed was ASA 80 in daylight, 64 for tungsten (class B panchromatic). I also found Kodak Pamphlet J-6 from 1971, "Kodak Direct Positive Panchromatic Film 5246 (35mm) Formulas and Processing." Processing was similar to other black and white reversal fims, and the instructions and chemicals for processing reversal TMAX-100 should work if the first developer time is adjusted. The pamphlet showed a first development of 8 minutes in D-67 at 20C for film processed on spiral reels in a small tank. Your film is very old, however. As I recall, Kodak stopped making Direct Positive sometime in the early 80s, maybe earler.

PhotoBob · Mar 12, 2006

THANKS

Thank you all for the information.
Perhaps if it is that old, I best not try it ?
Anyway, I appreciate your time and comments.

Kino · Mar 12, 2006

You can still shoot it as a negative stock; just stop after the first development and fix and wash as normal. The age and stock formulation will, no doubt, give you lower contrast images at "normal" processing times, so you might want to push it a stop or use a high energy developer.

Kodak Direct Positive Panchromatic film 5246

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