Mystery Film to develop

Ian Grant · Oct 20, 2013

Prof_Pixel said:
The orthochromatic (non-red sensitive) version of Verichrome was available from 1931 to 1956. The panchromatic version (Verichrome Pan) came out in 1956.

You're only out by nearly 50 years

Verichrome was introduced in 1907 or 8 as a result of research into Panchromatic emulsions by Mees & Sheppard.

Ian

Prof_Pixel · Oct 20, 2013

There were many films that went by the name 'Verichrome' over the years. The two versions I mentioned were the ones I used in the '50s. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_discontinued_photographic_films for more information.

pentaxpete · Oct 20, 2013

I too started by the 'See-Saw' method in 1951 when I joined the School Photo-Soc and teh Chemistry Master showed us how to make up our own developers from the base chemicals -- I had my Mum's 1930's Kodak Brownie 'Hawkeye' Box camera and I cycled over 5 miles to a wonderful 'Emporium' in London where all manner of ex WWII gear was sold by an Old Gent who would take down packets and bottles and blow the dust off !! There I bought some ex RAF 120 film for 6 pence a roll -- I darkened out our bathroom with an old blanket and put some RED Paper round the bulb as I was told the film was 'Orthochromatic' and could be developed under 'RED' light -- I mixed up a couple of spoonfuls of home-made developer, stop bath was my Mum's Vinegar, and Hypo Crystals made the fixer and 'see-sawed' the film through - well, the Grey and foggy images I produced I thought were the 'Bees-Knees' !! REAL PHOTOGRAPHY !!

BMbikerider · Oct 30, 2013

Bruce Robbins said:
Here's some good info on old Ilford products that might be interesting if not useful:
http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Ilford/Chronology.html

!

There is a reference in the text of the link to Ilford Hyfin Developer. It was sold as a one shot high accutance developer similar to Agfa Rodinal. The developer came as a powder in two wallets each enough for 500cc of working solution so out of one pack you could process 4 films. I used it around 1963/4 and If anything I found it to be better, much better than Rodinal but the developing time of 18 mins for Pan F and FP3 were 18 mins @ 68F. Just a bit too long for me at the time.

3 or 4 years ago I wrote to Ilford to ask if they would release the formula so I could make up my own and they refused point blank. No explanation given. I would dearly love to try it once more

pentaxuser · Oct 30, 2013

BMbikerider said:
3 or 4 years ago I wrote to Ilford to ask if they would release the formula so I could make up my own and they refused point blank. No explanation given.

What did Ilford actually say? I presume that it wasn't a one word answer which was "NO"

pentaxuser

TheToadMen · Oct 30, 2013

Ilford Hyfin Developer

BMbikerider said:
There is a reference in the text of the link to Ilford Hyfin Developer. It was sold as a one shot high accutance developer similar to Agfa Rodinal. The developer came as a powder in two wallets each enough for 500cc of working solution so out of one pack you could process 4 films. I used it around 1963/4 and If anything I found it to be better, much better than Rodinal but the developing time of 18 mins for Pan F and FP3 were 18 mins @ 68F. Just a bit too long for me at the time.

3 or 4 years ago I wrote to Ilford to ask if they would release the formula so I could make up my own and they refused point blank. No explanation given. I would dearly love to try it once more

Maybe this helps?

Hyfin was Ilford's high definition developer. In my ancient formula notebook (created by copying down formula's given to me by much older photographers when I was a wee lad in a camera club) I have a formula given to me by the Vice President who did/had worked at Ilford:
- Metol 0.5g
- Sodium Sulphite (anhyd) 5g
- Sodium Carbonate (anhyd) 5g
- Water to 1 litre.
Development times 15-25 minutes. Requires a minimum of 600ml of chemistry per 35mm or 120 film. This formula is very similar to Crawley's FX1 developer with the omission of the Potassium iodide.

Source: http://www.film-and-darkroom-user.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=6548.
I have no idea of the validity of this formula or any way of checking it, though.

See also this old thread: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Ian Grant · Nov 2, 2013

BMbikerider said:
There is a reference in the text of the link to Ilford Hyfin Developer. It was sold as a one shot high accutance developer similar to Agfa Rodinal. The developer came as a powder in two wallets each enough for 500cc of working solution so out of one pack you could process 4 films. I used it around 1963/4 and If anything I found it to be better, much better than Rodinal but the developing time of 18 mins for Pan F and FP3 were 18 mins @ 68F. Just a bit too long for me at the time.

3 or 4 years ago I wrote to Ilford to ask if they would release the formula so I could make up my own and they refused point blank. No explanation given. I would dearly love to try it once more

Hyfin was quite different to Rodinal much grainer and greater edge effects. Ilford's equivalent of Rodinal was Certinal.

There seems to have been deliberate mis-information given out by ex-Ilford emplyees in Essex and none of the formulae are what's claimed, they are all published formulae for different products.

Ian

leicarfcam · Nov 3, 2013

Regardless of brand I always develope old B&W film or unidentifiable B&W film in HC110 Dil B for 1 hour. Give the initail agitation of 30 seconds once you pour in the developer then again at 30 minutes..

Jarvman · Nov 6, 2013

Just processed it then... total disaster. Can see that there is something on the film, but its undiscernable. Can make out the faint outline of a car and a few blotches for faces. Not sure whether it was down to my eneven processing technique. It's very blotchy and there are what appear to be drag marks on it. Oh well

TheToadMen · Nov 7, 2013

Jarvman said:
Just processed it then... total disaster. Can see that there is something on the film, but its undiscernable. Can make out the faint outline of a car and a few blotches for faces. Not sure whether it was down to my eneven processing technique. It's very blotchy and there are what appear to be drag marks on it. Oh well

Could you scan and post some negs?
Just to see what is has become?
Even an outcome we didn't expect or want may teach us some good things.
And maybe we can deduce together on APUG what the causes are for this outcome?
Bert

Regular Rod · Nov 7, 2013

Jarvman said:
Just processed it then... total disaster. Can see that there is something on the film, but its undiscernable. Can make out the faint outline of a car and a few blotches for faces. Not sure whether it was down to my eneven processing technique. It's very blotchy and there are what appear to be drag marks on it. Oh well

What developer did you use? Did you pre-soak?

RR

pbromaghin · Nov 7, 2013

Right, Jarvman. You got these guys riled up. You can't stop now.

Jarvman · Nov 7, 2013

I used D-76 full strength for 12 minutes using the sea saw method in the tray. Which was an utter nightmare in the dark. Wish I'd bought a tank that accomodates 116 film and tried a clip test first. No I never pre-soaked. I'll scan the 'results' at some point.

Jarvman · Nov 13, 2013

Regular Rod said:
What developer did you use? Did you pre-soak?

RR

Would pre-soaking have made a big difference?

Regular Rod · Nov 14, 2013

Since I started pre-soaking, even with ILFORD films for which it is not recommended, I have not had any streaking, or uneven development and no air bell scars either...

RR

Jarvman · Nov 14, 2013

But would it have had made any difference to the activity of the developer? So if even if I did pre-soak might I still be looking at a blank film? I should've definitely done a clip test first

Mystery Film to develop

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