Unidentified Film Object : anybody helps ?

Raphael · Aug 15, 2012

Hi all,

I found a set of old cameras at a "garage" sale, and I was surprised to found a film still in one of them, a nice Walz Envoy M35.
Here is the roll :

It's obviously an very old Ferrania dia film. But I have some questions :
- Is this emulsion can be processed by modern E6 chemistry ? (or it's E4 ?)
- Is there any chance to salvage some pictures ? I presume the latent image long gone ago, or the camera opened during all theses years, but I am curious !

Many thanks,

Best Regards,

Raphael

darkosaric · Aug 16, 2012

Hi,

just give it to the lab for E6 developing and see if there is anything there . You could get some nice "time traveling" photos.

cheers,

Michael W · Aug 16, 2012

Get a clip test - the lab processes a few frames. You can assess those results to know how to proceed.

R.Gould · Aug 16, 2012

Probably E4, I doubt if you would get any colour out of it, the dyes are most probably long since gone, but might be worth trying processing it as black and white, you have nothing to lose and might get something,

E. von Hoegh · Aug 16, 2012

It's worth saving the old casette, too. As I remember, Ferrania was a pretty nice film, I tried it on a trip to Italy in the late 70s and might even have some slides still.

nicholai · Aug 16, 2012

That's one beautiful cassette.

railwayman3 · Aug 16, 2012

darkosaric said:
Hi,

just give it to the lab for E6 developing and see if there is anything there . You could get some nice "time traveling" photos.

cheers,

It's not E6...that would ruin anything on the film, and could contaminate the lab's chemicals. I think it's one of the post-war films based on the old Agfa color chemistry. One of the specialist labs could handle it, e.g. Dead Link Removed

darkosaric · Aug 16, 2012

railwayman3 said:
It's not E6...that would ruin anything on the film, and could contaminate the lab's chemicals. I think it's one of the post-war films based on the old Agfa color chemistry. One of the specialist labs could handle it, e.g. Dead Link Removed

That is pretty expensive for a possible empty film. Maybe it is best just to develop it in Rodinal or some other B&W developer at home?

gmikol · Aug 16, 2012

A little digging around suggest that Ferrania "Dia 28" film is mid-1960's vintage.
Some other digging around suggests that E-3 wasn't phased out until 1974, so that almost certainly makes it E-3 if it's not a Kodachrome-type film

So I would guess your best bet is to process as B&W.

FYI--In digging around, I came across this document:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/cis111/cis111.pdf

Which provides instructions on how to scratch-mix E-4

--Greg

Photo Engineer · Aug 16, 2012

If it is E4 or earlier, then it will ruin the E6 process as the film emulsion will come off the support at the high E6 process temperature.

PE

Raphael · Aug 16, 2012

A few precisions

Hi,

Many thanks to all of you who answered this thread.

I should add that I intended to process it at home with rotary processor and E6 kit (if it's actually E6 !), so I am able to do anything possible (clip test, etc...), or even B&W developping. I even planned to use almost exhausted chemicals, in the eventuality of bath contamination. The consensus here says it would be a wise choice, if ever it is E4 film or earlier.

I am totally agree for the nice vintage cassette, I have scruple to even open it !

Thanks for the link about the process 22 UK lab, I ignored that a pro lab still do these forgotten process. But as Darko said, this film probably don't worth the bucks.

BTW, when digging the net around, I found a cool blog of a buddy fond of ancient and alternative process .

Best regards,

Raphael

wogster · Aug 16, 2012

Raphael said:
Hi,

Many thanks to all of you who answered this thread.

I should add that I intended to process it at home with rotary processor and E6 kit (if it's actually E6 !), so I am able to do anything possible (clip test, etc...), or even B&W developping. I even planned to use almost exhausted chemicals, in the eventuality of bath contamination. The consensus here says it would be a wise choice, if ever it is E4 film or earlier.

I am totally agree for the nice vintage cassette, I have scruple to even open it !

Thanks for the link about the process 22 UK lab, I ignored that a pro lab still do these forgotten process. But as Darko said, this film probably don't worth the bucks.

BTW, when digging the net around, I found a cool blog of a buddy fond of ancient and alternative process .

Best regards,

Raphael

If you do try E6, then watch the temperature, some of those ancient process films, can't take the heat, instead of 38C, you might find 25C more to the films liking, of course that means that you need to shift the times, but base fog probably means you need to do that anyway. Personally I would just process as a B&W negative and be happy I got something out of it.

Photo Engineer · Aug 16, 2012

E4 will wash off at E6 temps. I keep telling people.

PE

Raphael · Aug 17, 2012

many thanks

Hi,

Mr PE, many thanks for these informations. So, a good prooftest for detecting pre-E6 film would be a pre-wash at 38°C...

So, if I cut a piece of the the film leader, I can check then if it's E6 compatible.

If not, I'll go the B&W way. Anybody has a guideline about developper and time ? Preferably with Rodinal, or DDX (I have them on shelf).

Thanks again to all,

Best regards,

Raphael

Unidentified Film Object : anybody helps ?

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