Thanks! PS you have a warm house...
~Stone
Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk
C22 dev as a starting point 20 minutes at 20C, bleach 10min, fix 10min. Bleach and fix times are a bit overkilled, with fresh chem they will go to completion faster (5-6 min).
For C41 film dev time is a bit longer, 22-23min, for those Agfacolor CN17 films I use slightly less, 18 min.
All those times are with replenished Tetenal ergoline minilab C-41 chemistry, separate dev/bleach/fix. Between steps I rinse 2x15 inversions with water. After final wash ca 1min in C-41 stabilisator. That's basically it.
My usual room temperature is ca 22C, so the actual times are accordingly a bit shorter.
When you process color film THAT old you must remember that much, much speed is lost through the decades, probably four, or even five, stops. Thus, the film has been grossly underexposed and that underexposure also attends to the manufacturer's markings on the borders (which were also exposed back in the seventies before you bought the film). Thus, in your immediate case the ONLY thing you could have done was to give GROSS overdevelopment in hopes of getting something. I would have developed for about three times normal in your dire case.
And, wblynch is correct with the advice to blix longer. Old film is a pain but can be at least partially ressurrected. Blix is, indeed, 'to completion', as wblynch says. - David Lyga
Wow! Excellent and interesting advice. I'm humbled!
This weekend I'm developing another roll and increasing development and blix times.
I'll keep you posted on the results.
Many thanks guys.
Regards, Barry
STONE!!! YOU SAID (and you err): "The speed loss is often in the exposure level, so if the film was already previously exposed he wouldn't be losing any more speed"
WRONG! Let me remind all, including Stone, that, true, the exposure was proper AT THE TIME. But with decades passed, THAT exposure is NOW GROSSLY INSUFFICIENT. The film has steadily been losing speed through the decades, INCLUDING THAT WHICH RECEIVED SUCH ANCIENT EXPOSURE. The ONLY way to ATTEMPT to resurrect it is to give a LOT of development in order to get WHAT REMAINS out of the waning, feeble, age-agonized, incapable-of-self-sustainment, halides! - David Lyga
Stone, interesting how you claim that the 25 year old shots were fine. I wonder if they were overexposed from the onset. It really does not make sense but I am glad that you brought that monkey wrench into the equation. I have no direct answer for that but I continue to hold that very old latent images are prone to fading before they are developed. We'll see what others have to say.
I really see no validity to your admonition about Pan F's 'latent image death after three months'. Do others agree with this? -David Lyga
StoneNYC, what you present is a valid point but I would say the old-shot photos are not perfect.
I found the roll of film I shot before my half-and-half roll and those were developed at the time. Compared to the 12 years later developed roll you can definitely tell the difference.
Yes, the old-shot photos can look perfectly usable, but there is degradation.
Even 40 year old found film can be processed to return usable results. But those old exposures degrade with every year they go undeveloped. They aren't losing speed they're losing strength.
The OP, Smigsy, has 35-40 year old unprocessed film....
I hope he isn't put off by this conflict and will report back with his findings.
Yes and based on his current findings which produced practically nothing at normal dev times of 3 mins 15 secs he certainly shouldn't be conservative this week-end with his next attempt. I'd certainly go with the very long times and lower temps suggested. Better that he develops the hell out of these films to see if that works. I see no reason why sticking to normal times or only slightly longer times shouldn't produce blank films again - not what he wants.
pentaxuser
Excellent input guys.
This weekend I'll process a portion of another film at 38deg, with dev time of 9mins and blix of 8mins and see if I can get a usuable image.
Whatever the results may be, it should point me in the right direction to make any changes for the rest of the film.
It's o.k. STONE all opinions count. No need for the boxing gloves!
Barry
After developing a portion of Kodacolor II at the times and temp mentioned earlier, the film is completely green!
Barry
After developing a portion of Kodacolor II at the times and temp mentioned earlier, the film is completely green!
The fogged leader is a darker green. When closely viewed under strong light, like before there is the faintest portions of images and some borders. There is no name and frame numbers either.
Just to recap. Like before, I used fresh chemicals with a Jobo CPE2 & lift.
With recommended development times before I had the same very faint images etc. but with the normal orange colour.
I don't know what the next step is! Do I throw the remaining films in the bin and assume the film is just too old to be processed now?
Barry
Normally, I'm not one to give up too easily, but yeah if the content was not so important I would have thrown them out years ago.
Developing them with b&w chemicals is probably my next step then.
Stone, I don't think it's worth trying to post pics of the film. No detail would be visible.It's just a plain green strip with lots of little square holes along both edges!
I'm 100% sure the canisters are not re-used. They're original Kodacolor II clearly marked as C41. And I have earlier Kodacolor X marked as C22.
Barry
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