Processing old B&W film

It is many years since I last processed B&W film.However I find (when clearing my garage!) that I have a dozen mainly Adox KB17cassettes unprocessed.

I recognise that the images may be degraded – even lost –but I want to try processing.

I have the necessary equipment, but chemical technology has(presumably) moved on.

Formerly I would have processed in Neofin Blue – two filmsper phial. I believe thatNeofin Blue still exists. Is it the same? An advantage of Neofin Blue (if Iremember correctly) is that effectively it fully develops, so giving extra timefor my old films will not be a problem.

Can anyone recommend developer, fixer and any otherintermediary chemicals - or make any otther suggestions please.

StuartatThrelkeld

How old is old? I have used HC 110, DDX, and Extol to developed old stock films, some going back to the 70s, as well as a few rolls of film that have been shot in the 60s but left un developed. In my experiance high speed films such as TriX do not hold up as well low speed films.

HC-110 is a fantastic developer for old and fogged film, since it generates very low volumes of fog in itself, possibly due to very short developing times.

You may be lucky. I processed a roll of Verichrome Pan that was stuck in an old box camera since the 1960s, and it came out with results that were OK after a few tweaks in the digital domain.
If all goes well, you're sitting on a time machine.

Is it just my screen or do the rest of you see things like COLOUR SIZE FONT in brackets all over the place. This makes the post very difficult to read. What might be causing this? Is it one of the glitches that results from the migration to the new server

If it is something the OP is doing then someone needs to advise him of the solution. It is going to make reading his posts very difficult. Not in his best interests


pentaxuser

pentaxuser said:

Is it just my screen or do the rest of you see things like COLOUR SIZE FONT in brackets all over the place. This makes the post very difficult to read. What might be causing this? Is it one of the glitches that results from the migration to the new server

If it is something the OP is doing then someone needs to advise him of the solution. It is going to make reading his posts very difficult. Not in his best interests


pentaxuser

Click to expand...

.
I felt awkward.
I thought I was the only one seeing " COLOUR SIZE FONT "

Ron
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I (the OP) see the extra code too; but why? I copied from an e-mail what I thought was plain text - certainly what I saw was plain text. Help welcomed. StuartatThrelkeld

It may have copied from the email with the formatting hidden, this happens sometimes. Anyways, I would try HC-110, it works really well, you may have to adjust times due to the film being older, I am not sure exactly the time needed... Im sure alot of people on this forum could help though

Mark Antony used to contribute to these forums. I'm sure you can find him via a member search here on APUG. I seem to remember he specialized in processing old films. If you can get hold of him you may be able to receive valuable advice from him regarding starting points of how to treat your film, or how to approach it at least.

StuartatThrelkeld said:

I (the OP) see the extra code too; but why? I copied from an e-mail what I thought was plain text - certainly what I saw was plain text. Help welcomed. StuartatThrelkeld

Click to expand...

If you were to first paste the copy into Notepad, you would see exactly what you copied. Then you could copy that text in Notepad or whatever part you wanted and post it exactly as you intended.

fotch said:

If you were to first paste the copy into Notepad, you would see exactly what you copied. Then you could copy that text in Notepad or whatever part you wanted and post it exactly as you intended.

Click to expand...

That's usually what I do to, because Notepad strips ALL formatting from the text. It's a great tool for that.

HC-110 dilution A. Super short dev time for most films so fog isn't as likely to manifest. YMMV.

Obviously keep the oldies for fun experimental work. Fresh film only for the important stuff.

Dont be surprised if you need to develop longer than the data books tell you; like 2x as long for old film.

I am not sure if it is the gelatin has dried and hardened and is slower to slow the diffusion of the developer in, or because some of the exposed silver halides have lost the electron that exposed them with time, but I have experience with some mid 60's once 100 iso Ferrania stuff that times of 18minutes in straight d76 worked well. In with the exposed there was unexposed. It shoots well at ISO 12 now.

I agree that HC-110 works well, is low fog, and does give fast development times at Dil A, but if diffusion is inhibitted by the dry film, then even that won't help.
I would suggest that trying a developer temperature water only pre soak (with testuing on a limited amount of old film, ie snip test) may allow the short acting Dil A of making it to the halides suspened in the gelatine to reduce them to metallic silver within the recommended often much less than 5 minute development time.

I would consider clipping a few frames from one film, and develop judge negative denisty in the edge markings, if nothing else.
You can judge by how dense the first few frames are after fixing and then decide what time adjustments the rest of the roll is likely to need.

Yesterday I developed an Ilford SG Pan plate that had been shot in 1952. I developed in D-76 1:1 for ten minutes. The plate could have been exposed yesterday, the results were outstanding.

However, I have had very little luck with roll film of that era, that had partially fused to the backing paper, which I assume may have off-gassed and fogged the film. The fog was very bad.

Much depends on how the exposed film was stored. Also, I have this anecdotally based theory that anything at or below 50 ASA will last forever, whereas otherwise, the faster the speed, the less likely the latent image will keep.

try it in coffee with a little ansco 130

just stand develop it for about 30mins
it will be a little foggy but that is ok
the images will print and electrify well ..

have fun !
john

Many thanks for your comments (including on HMTL elimination)
The consensus appears to be - use HC-110 at lower than normal temperatures with a good plain water prewash - but there is doubt in my mind as to whether for longer or shorter times. Would anyone like to clarify my mind?

What is a bit of code between lines, I read it easily, but then I am having another go a James Joyce's Ulysses - After Molly Bloom's soliloquy code is nothing! - Actually the code might help

John