Overdeveloped an old roll of Verichrome

[Dshambli]

So as the title says, I messed up. There was this old Brownie that my great grandpa had, and it had an unused roll of Verichrome 620 film. I would've been better off waiting to get some D76, but I was impatient and decided to use Ilfosol S (for which I could find no development time). I did 16 minutes at 18 deg C, with a 1+14 dilution. There wasn't much hope for the film as it was, half of it is blank, but there are some frames that came out. There's one that might not have been taken by me. It's the first frame and I believed I skipped the first one. I can't really tell what it is. But my question is, what's the best way to bring out what's on a severely overdeveloped negative?

 

[Pgeobc]

Farmer's Reducer?

 

[Dshambli]

I hadn't heard of that before and had to look it up. You think that would help? I assume something like that would affect only the density and still leave it really contrasty right?

But what about printing, is there a way to print overdeveloped negatives effectively? For example, different papers etc?

 

[tomalophicon]

Maybe a low contrast filter or paper, and extended developing times, with some good dodging and burning-in.

 

[keithwms]

Well first try contact prints; you might get perfectly acceptable prints, even if the neg looks very thick.

If you can't get good prints just by increasing exposure, i.e. if the tones are clumped and the result lacks contrast, then try printing to variable contrast paper with a high contrast filter. If that fails then consider bleaching a bit. But before bleaching, get a good scan. Scanners can get a lot of detail out of an oiverexposed / overdeveloped neg.

 

[ic-racer]

00 filter and multigrade paper.

 

[Jim Jones]

If shadows and highlights in the negative are both too dense, Farmer's Reducer or Potassium Ferricyanide will increase contrast and reduce density. If the negative is contrasty, this might not be the best remedy. Use any reducer with caution; it is easy to overdo it.

Getting good scans of a dense negative can be difficult. If it doesn't work, try a macro lens on a DSLR with plenty of light behind the negative. Fortunately [?], most Brownies didn't make perfectly sharp negatives, so you don't need the best equipment or technique to get the most out of those overdeveloped negatives.

 

[Ian C]

Here are four different negative reducers, each with somewhat different characteristics.

Each has a description of its reducing properties: proportional, sub-proportional, or super-proportional depending on what you need. Note: Reducer IV is actually a bleach as explained in the description.

http://stores.photoformulary.com/-strse-Toners-fdsh-Reducers-cln-Reducers/Categories.bok