Processing old(er) film - live and learn...! what went wrong?

[Sparky]

So - I had four old rolls of Pan F sitting around. They're maybe 2 or 3 years old, young enough that I really didn't think I'd have to worry too much about modifying my development routine for them. So - I processed them in Formulary WD2D+ (something I'd been trying lately, and that worked for some freshly shot pan f quite nicely) and guess what? THIN as HELL! I wasn't even able to get any edge numbering/printing. What was REALLY weird was that the density that I DID get appeared to drop off rapidly near the edges! The strangest thing I've ever seen. I can hardly believe that I could have lost 2-3 stops of latent image over not such a long time period... (could have been because I shot those without a meter too - and I was guessing - but I'm not so far off normally!).

But the lack of edge numbering and the weird falloff at the edges (there's almost no way it's optical - I've shot too much on that setup to have had that happen for that reason) makes me think something was up perhaps...

anybody else ever have similar symptoms??
Is this sort of extreme speed loss typical?
I could see it for 20 year old film, maybe.. but 2 or 3 year old film?

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've experienced that density loss at the edges with old color transparency sheet film (at least 10 years out of date and not in the original sealed package). I could get reasonable if somewhat low contrast results with it by doubling exposure and pulling one stop (E-6).

Surprising to see that happening with a slow B&W film, but I'd suspect something in the environment (presuming it's not something more obvious like an agitation problem).

 

[PHOTOTONE]

I mix up WD2D from scratch, and process my 35mm. I find that the published times for most films are too short, and result in , for me very thin negatives that do not print well. I have since upped my developing times, and now I get negatives that print well for me. Example, Agfa APX-100, I went from 9 minutes to 12 minutes at 68 degrees.

As an additional comment....some films just do not stain well. Thats a fact. Your Pan-F is quite new and should have processed well in conventional developers, perhaps it is one of those films that doesn't take to the pyro stain very well?

 

[Sparky]

David - No, I wouldn't expect it from a freshly exposed older film - I certainly wouldn't even have compunctions in that regard with a 20 year old roll - but the rub here seems to be that the 'latent' image is about 3 years old (at most). I found a thread on photo.net suggesting there can be a 3 stop loss in latent image for, say, a 20 year old film. I wonder if certain emulsions have a lower efficiency in this regard. But then again - who knows... I may have contaminated the dev...

Phototone - I've previously gotten some really good results from the WD2D on PanF - I dunno. Maybe the stain is the clue - I'm not seeing too much stain on there - if any. It's hard to tell, as I tossed them in the garbage straight out of the fix... and they're still a bit bluey from the anti-halation stuff. I'll look more closely at the roll that WAS successful and try to take it from there.

But still - going from 9 to 12 minutes isn't much of a jump - if I'm not mistaken that'd be approximately an additional stop/contrast grade/N-number. This film was 4-5 stops lacking.