ORWO DK 5

[Greg_Zauswoz]

Hi everyone,

I was recently given 5 meters (35mm bulk film) of ORWO DK 5 document film. This stuff was made in former communist East Germany. It expired in Aug 1984. So far all I was able to find out on the net was that it used to be ISO 3 when it was fresh. Can anyone confirm this information?

That would be the first problem though. As a rule of thumb I had fairly good results shooting expired film about one stop overexposed per decade expired. In this case I would have to shoot the stuff at about ISO 0.5? Not so sure whether that would work ...

The other problem is how to develop this stuff? If anyone has any hints (other than the usual develop 3 frames, check results, change dev time ... repeat until happy) that would be greatly appreciated. Has anyone ever developed the none expired ORWO DK 5 or any experience with this film at all?

Many thanks in advance,
Greg

 

[Ian Grant]

Most document films are very basic slow film emulsions very fine grain, highish contrast & resolution and also usually Ortho so you can work in safelight conditions, usually Red filter.

They will develop in a print developer, but may need a low contrast developer to tame the contrast, in your case that'll have dropped anyway in 26 years,. In general such slow emulsions don't age as badly as most 100.400 ISO films.

A developer like Rodinal used highly dilute 1+200 or 1+300 usually work well to control the contrast, diluting a print developer by a factor of 5 is another option/

Tetenal make Dokumol for use with more modern but similar films, but test it with something you have first to make sure it's usable.

Ian

 

[Greg_Zauswoz]

ORWO DK 5 original instructions

I just opened the film and found the original instructions inside. I attached them for those who are interested.

 

[Ian Grant]

There you go then RO9 is the Orwo pre-WWII formula of Rodinal as made by Calbe, the strenght was changed to bring it unto line with modern Rodinal recently so 1:25 is now the equivalent of the older weaker dev at 1:20.

So it's not a particularly high contrast film but it's panchromatic. Most film devs should be OK

Ian

 

[Greg_Zauswoz]

Thanks for your help Ian. I will give that a try and report back with the results.

 

[georgegrosu]

I not worked with ORWO DK 5, but I made enough experiments with positive and dup positive films b&w.
Find here "ORWO formulaic - photografic instuction for processing of materials" - Edition 1982 - 5 DK data. Dead Link Removed Dead Link Removed
I make same tests with Orwo DP 3 fresh and expired in 1986. Photographic differences were not found major.
http://www.filmotec.de/English_Site/Products/DP_3_e/VI-TI-DP3e_5.pdf (ORWO duplicating Positive Film DP 3)
A picture made with three fresh DP. Dead Link Removed
I make same test with positive b&w Kodak 5302.
http://img691.imageshack.us/f/pozitivan35mmscalagri.jpg//
http://img691.imageshack.us/f/pozitivan2007redusa.jpg/
http://img407.imageshack.us/f/pozitivan35mmcatelg.jpg/
This materials have a sensitivity 3-6 ISO, according to developer procedure.
I make test and with POTA developer.
George

 

[cmacd123]

5302 is a motion picture positive film, so it is probably lower contrast than a Microfilm. it is also Blue (only) sensitive

The trick with Microfilm is that the grain is fine, and all the same size, so the exposure latitude is rather narrow. (I made microfiche in a past life, and found that any document that seemed a "little off" should get bracketed exposure even in the Microfilm camera.)

 

[georgegrosu]

5302 Kodak is a b&w positive only sensitive to blue radiation. It is designed to work as a positive - contrast 2.6.
I use it as negative when trying to reduce contrast to a 0.8 - 1.00.
Films with low sensitivity (~ 3-6 ISO) have a small grain.
DP 3 is a panchromatic film is designed to work like dup positive - contrast 1.6. I use it as a negative when trying to reduce contrast to a 0.8 - 1.00.
By reducing the contrast I fail to increase exposure latitude.
George

 

[adash]

Hi - and yes, I know this thread is a bit old - but I'll bite it - I just developed my first roll of DK-5 and even at EI 1.5 it doesn't show too much of a recognizable image. After 7 minutes in R09 1+100 @15 ged. Celsius, the base got densely, but uniformly fogged, the tail is pretty black, but there is nothing on the film! Only a few spots, which at first look like defects, but later appeared to be the sun, and one or two images with a recognizable skyline, but nothing more.....