Old Kodak Negatives - purple?

perkeleellinen

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Hi All,

Have a look at these negatives from the late 1960s, were those Kodak ones always purple or have they faded? I'm going to attempt printing from them tomorrow.

And who made Boots Safety Film?

Thanks!

 

koraks

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Looks like unmasked color film and given its age, it's plausible that the dyes have faded at different rates. Moreover, some of the dye couplers that should have remained colorless appear to have turned into colored dyes. I think the magenta coupler in particular was notorious for this, which would be consistent with the purple appearance.
You could probably get some prints from these alright, but filtration will be odd and you won't be able to get the colors to balance perfectly. But it's probably possible to produce some recognizable prints.
 

xkaes

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That looks like 126 film, so any 35-50mm lens should work fine. We hope to see the results. Just dial in a lot of magenta.
 

MattKing

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I don't know that the purple negatives are unmasked. A quick digital edit of the screen grab - essentially adding red - gives one this:
 

Don_ih

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What's the possibility it's cross-processed slide film? That's what I have that looks like that.

The purple seems too intense to result from red fading.
 

rcphoto

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Don_ih said:
What's the possibility it's cross-processed slide film? That's what I have that looks like that.

The purple seems too intense to result from red fading.
Click to expand...

I don't believe there was much (if any) 126 slide film made, and even less still that would have been cross processed.
 

MattKing

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rcphoto said:
I don't believe there was much (if any) 126 slide film made, and even less still that would have been cross processed.
Click to expand...

There was a whole whack of Kodachrome made in 126 - and lots of it was processed normally.
My Dad's slides include lots of them.
I don't recall about 126 in E4 or E6.
 

xkaes

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Obviously a rare specimen, meant for a museum!
 

MattKing

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MattKing

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MattKing

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rcphoto

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What a cool neighborhood! They don't make them like that anymore
 

MattKing

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And I was fed, clothed, sheltered and educated while living in that house through Kodachrome - my Dad was the Customer Service manager at the Kodak Canada Kodachrome and Ektachrome Processing facility for Western Canada for all the years (~22) that I lived there.
I've been known to joke that I have Kodachrome in my veins.
That now 70 year old house was still there when I last was in the neighbourhood. My darkroom was in the basement.
 

mshchem

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I love reversal film. I have my Dad's Kodachrome slides. Amazing history. When my uncle bought a one row corn picker in 1949! Pulled with a little Ford tractor, the ears of corn dropping into a wagon. Up until then they picked by hand.

Perfect processing by Kodak.
 

koraks

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MattKing said:
I don't know that the purple negatives are unmasked.
Click to expand...

You're right; if these are from the 1960s, it's also more logical they're masked. Unmasked color negative film had gone largely out of fashion by that time, I think.

Don_ih said:
The purple seems too intense to result from red fading.
Click to expand...
I think the density you see is mostly the result of the exposure of the digital shot on the light table. I suspect the negatives look more normal in real life.
Moreover, I don't think many people had their family summer holiday photos cross-processed.

 
OP
OP

perkeleellinen

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Thanks for the replies, all. The negatives were found in a Kodacolor envelope alongside small prints. I'm hoping to make enlargements. Family holiday snaps, mostly my Uncle and Aunt with their friends. I can't believe my uncle would have even known about cross processing! That negative is quite purple, the ipad photo has added some blue as the light box isn't pure white in the snap.

 

foc

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The purple looking 126 negative looks to me like Kodak C22 process, but it has faded.

IIRC all Kodacolor X (C22) films were masked.
 
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