Old Plus-X I just found

I was going through the garage a few days ago and found 2 unopened boxes of Plus-X 4x5. Obviously being in the garage they were not stored in optimal conditions. The expiration date is 1989. I'm going to load up a few sheets and see what I get. If there is a lot of age fog I will add some KBr to the dev.
Any thoughts on what I might find or has anyone run across old film that worked or didn't? Thanks for any comments or advice.

I recently found some film (Verichrome Pan) in my father's old folder cam that had been exposed more than 25 years ago. I developed it and there was a lot of base fog, but believe it or not, very recognizable images. I didn't add anything to try and reduce the affects of fogging, so you might be pleasantly surprised. It might not be the film to use for that once in a lifetime shot, but..

Let us know how it goes.

I was recently given several bricks of 35mm Plus-X with an expiration date of August 1997. The donor said they'd been refrigerated since purchase. I've shot several rolls and developed them in Rodinal or HC-110 and haven't had any fog, and the tonality looks pretty good. They do seem grainier than I remember Plus-X being, but that could be the developers; when I last shot Plus-X, in the 1980s, I used D76 1:1.

I've used Plus-X pack film that expired in 78/79. A few sheets were fogged pretty bad but I did get several usable images. Also had some Tri-x, same storage conditions and exp. date that came out perfectly. Just a little bit of base fog but they were nice. I guess it's a gamble.
This stuff was stored in an air-conditioned room though. I think it's the cycling of hot and cold, damp and dry that really takes a toll on film but you never know how it'll turn it out.

While Xtol is not my first choice for Plus-X, it does seem to give lower fog levels with older film
Mark

A friend found 4 rolls of Varichrome pan in his mother house, she though they were shot in the 60s or 70s, fashion looked to be 60s. I developed in Dianfine, 3 mints, 3 mints, not much base fog, some negative were about right on others somewhat thin, not sure of the camera, most likley some sort of a box camea. Dianfine seems to make sense to me, most film that old will have lost speed, if not better to over develop than under develop.

I also dug out some old (Jan. 1996), unrefrigerated Ilford FP4+ the other day and shot a roll and developed it in PC-Glycol (with metaborate instead of carbonate or borax) at 7:30 at 70 degrees. I rated it at ISO 64 since I normally shoot with a yellow filter over the lens.

All negs came out fine with no fogging, except they were slightly underdeveloped. Next time, I would increase the developing time to 8:00 or use carbonate at 6:30 if I wanted to accept the slight increase in grain that the faster developer would bring. I might also lower the ISO to 50 just to give it that tiny bit extra exposure. But it's still very usable.

Larry

Some of the old films had thicker emulsions which would require increased development time.

gainer said:

Some of the old films had thicker emulsions which would require increased development time.

Click to expand...

When dealing with a REALLY old film (I have some ancient Super-XX which may be from the 30's or 40's even) does it make sense to use stand development for a really long time?

Also, have you used Orthazite to help clear the base fog in old film?

Thanks,
Nathan