Really Old Azo

[ineffablething]

I happened across an ancient box of grade 5 azo and decided to try it out. It's from the 1950's. After less than a minute in Dektol it turned black. Is this paper beyond saving?

W.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

If it turned black after a minute in Dektol with no exposure, it's probably beyond saving, but you could test it and see if there is a development time at which it isn't fogged (say 15-30 sec. or 15-30 sec. with some benzotriazole added to the developer), and see if you can get a useful exposure with that development time.

 

[matt miller]

I bought some 80 year old Azo postcard stock a while back. I was able to get a "decent" image with a long exposure and about 12 seconds in amidol. It's still posted in my gallery here.

 

[sanking]

If it turned black after a minute in Dektol with no exposure, it's probably beyond saving, but you could test it and see if there is a development time at which it isn't fogged (say 15-30 sec. or 15-30 sec. with some benzotriazole added to the developer), and see if you can get a useful exposure with that development time.

David is probably right. But I am a bit surprised that AZO from the 1950s or 60s would be that bad. I tested some material from 1946 and it had a very low B+F, while the stuff from 1926 only had a moderate amount of fog.

Sandy

 

[jgjbowen]

Perhaps someone opened the box of Grade 5 to see what was in it. It never ceases to amaze me how folks on Ebay take pictures of photographic paper by actually opening up the box and black envelope and taking a picture of the act paper.

 

[Photo Engineer]

OTOH, the chemistry to get grade 5 AZO is / was more extreme than used for grade 2 or 3, so it may be more delicate. I have no idea, just a suggestion.

PE