Old roll of Verichrome Pan 120

[RichardJack]

Hi,
I came across a roll of Verichrome Pan, it must be at least 30 years old. I had an old Bronica that I wanted to test for light leaks and gave it a try. I quickly found that there was little information about developer times/combinations with anything other than D76 on the web. I had Rodinal on hand. I tried it at 1:25, 8min @ 68F. It was about 1 minute to much and the film showed signs of it's age, some fogging. Verichrome Pan was never my film of choice, I preferred PXP for it's tonal range. But Verichrome Pan had finer grain and a very wide latitude. it's the film that was produced for the 620, 127, and Instamatic cameras that used a fixed 1/125 @ f8. I don't think it was ever produced in 35mm. If you find some give it a try.
I think the over-development and Rodinal increased the grain, next time it will be D-76.

 

[bvy]

Looks good in any case.

HC-110 is a good choice for older films -- based on my research and experience.

 

[hacked - sepiareverb]

bvy beat me to it, HC110b is my choice for old verichrome pan. I use it at about 64F and get very good results from even very outdated films. Just ran a bunch for a friend, she'd found it in her parents basement, six rolls exposed in the late 60s and early 70s that had been in the basement since. Some fog indeed, but usable image on most of them.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I am wondering how much time is needed to get the best results from Verichome Pan 620 expired June 1978 with replenished XTOL in a Jobo processor. Or should I use Rollo Pyro?

 

[jpentecost]

So here is my roll of Verichrome Pan ! I suspect from the mid 60's. I found it in the studio of an Animator called Bob Bura (who shot the Trumpton series of children's films) . What do people suggest I process it with ? How long/How strong? I have some Ilfosol in the darkroom, But am happy to get something else if required ..

 

[hacked - sepiareverb]

For that Verichrome Pan I would develop for 7 minutes at 64F in HC110b. You will have fog, but that will most likely depend on storage conditions over the last 40 years. Sometimes the fog is not even, but that seems to be from high humidity storage as far as I can gather.

 

[bvy]

I developed a roll of this using HC-110 (A) at 50F for 5:30. I came up with these numbers by doing a clip test described here:
http://foundfilm.livejournal.com/12334.html

Results were good. Film had some fog, but storage was dubious from what I was told.

 

[hacked - sepiareverb]

That sounds like an excellent time/temp combo bvy. Will try that on the next round here. Thank you!

 

[outwest]

VP is my all time favorite for old cameras. 9 minutes in PMK pyro.

 

[jpentecost]

I have ordered some HC-110 and will develop it for 7 minutes at 20 (Celsius) And I'll post the results here .. Storage ? Lord knows. Been in a dark cold studio for the last 25 years (Bob retired in 1990 and the studio has been untouched since then).

Does anyone know when spools went to plastic? Not in any time I've been using 120 (620 was on metal spools but never 120) so it must be before about 83 at least.

 

[jpentecost]

Here are my two found images .. I suspect that they were actually shot out of focus .. and that may be why the film was not developed int he first place ..

 

[Sirius Glass]

Here are my two found images .. I suspect that they were actually shot out of focus .. and that may be why the film was not developed int he first place ..

So you knew that the photographs were out of focus before you developed the film ... well evidently you never have instant photographs.

 

[jpentecost]

So you knew that the photographs were out of focus before you developed the film ... well evidently you never have instant photographs.

Not quite sure I understand this .. This film was exposed 5 years before I was born .. I found it in someones studio .. the fact that the whole roll is out of focus might suggest why the roll was left for so long ..