Orwo NP 80asa 120 dated best before Jan 1973

My local shop gifted me a brick of this film still in the plastic wrapper! I've no experience exposing/developing such a long expired film.

Basically, help!!

HC-110 dilution B. This is a good developer to suppress age fog. If you still get age fog, you can add some benzotriazole.

Don't forget that old film loses speed.

Patrick

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Thanks for the replies but I'm still a bit lost on how to rate and dev this film.

Try a roll at EI 50, just to see what it's like.

For times, see here: http://www.digitaltruth.com/chart/old/orwo_old.html

80 ASA would be the NP20 in that table.

or try the old "standard recommendation": When in doubt, try 10 minutes in your developer of choise.

Hi Fintan:
I was gifted a whole lot of Orwo film which seems to have an expiration date of 1990. I've been using the NP27 quite successfully.
I process in HC-110(B).
I have some slower speed stuff, but haven't really used it.
I have noticed that the base or film layer seems somewhat milky compared to the clear base of of a more modern film.

I just recently decided to experiment with some Kodak Plus-X that expired in 1976. I bought ten rolls for a buck, and thought it would be fun.
Last Friday I decided to go out and try it. Knowing that I would have to overexpose, I shot the film at EI50 (film is ISO125). Along with the Plus-X I shot a roll of TMax100 as well, also shot at EI50. Contrary to common sense, I semi-stand developed the Plus-X for 20 minutes, 1 minute agitation initially, and a couple of inversions at about 10 minutes. The Tmax was developed stand for 45 minutes.
The Plus-X definitely had more base fog, and was slightly denser. The Tmax is sharper, but they both print fine, but the Plus-X requires about twice the exposure in the enlarger to build similar density in the print.

If I can develop 30 year-old film with Pyrocat-HD, and you're using HC-110 which is a good developer for what you're doing, chances are you have some fine film to work with. It could also look like crap, depending on how it's been stored.

I hope that helps encourage you to have some fun with this stuff. Sometimes unpredictability helps in creating some unique prints.

- Thomas