Old film, any data availble?

[Shootar401]

I have a pack of "Eastman Super-Speed" 4x5 film. The emulsion dates from the mid-late 20's judging by the develop by 1930 date on the box. My film data books only go back as far as 1938 and nothing is noted in them about this film.

Can anyone fill in the gaps? ASA speed, dev times, etc?

 

[StoneNYC]

I have a pack of "Eastman Super-Speed" 4x5 film. The emulsion dates from the mid-late 20's judging by the develop by 1930 date on the box. My film data books only go back as far as 1938 and nothing is noted in them about this film.

Can anyone fill in the gaps? ASA speed, dev times, etc?

Wow!

Now, I've developed film "successfully" from as old as 1947... Not super great but usable and identifiable, not something I would use in a show but surprisingly decent that I could SCAN well enough, but 1920's! I don't know... Especially being a "fast" film, it's got to be extremely fogged.

I would highly recommend using HC-110(B) as your developer, it helps lower fog issues.

A good rule of thumb is 1 stop slower for every 10 years past the expired dated...

So if you find the speed, you would want to reduce it by .... 8 or so stops...

 

[Shootar401]

I don't expect anything to come out of it, but since the film was 50 cents at an antique store it is worth the experiment.

One of the tricks I've learned is to take ten exposures of 1/60th / sec while moving the darkslide out a half an inch after each exposure. That was I will have a 9 stops of exposure from normal to 9 stops over exposed on one piece of film. I can adjust from there.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Please post up your results should you get any. Curious.

 

[ic-racer]

It is like finding some uncooked steaks and hamburger from the 1930s. If you are hungry get some fresh food...

 

[Jim Noel]

IIRC the original film speed was 100 Weston. This was long before the days of ASA or ISO.

 

[Shootar401]

fogged, well actually totally clear developed in hc110 dil. B for 7 mins.

I used night vision goggles while loading which has a small IR illuminator not sure if film this old is IR sensitive. I should try again. never had an issue with modern films.