Unknown film and unknown film speed.

Peter de Groot · Mar 12, 2011

I have been looking around on the site and the web but I coudn't find an answer. A while back I picked up some darkroom stuff that included a daylight bulkloader wich has some film in it. I want to figure out the film speed of the film. How do I do that?
Should I make a roll and take a subject and photograph at different iso settings and develop? And the frame that looks best is the speed I am looking for? I use rodinal for film developer. Or should I create a Zone test?

I will also send an e-mail to the person I got it from but in case she doesn't know anymore...

Thanks.

Worker 11811 · Mar 12, 2011

Cut off a few inches of film and, without exposing it to any light, develop it and fix it to see if there are any edge codes.

Obtong · Mar 12, 2011

The first few inches of the film in the loader will likely have been exposed to light. Put the loader in a changing bag and pull out maybe 12" of film for developing.

~Dom

Peter de Groot · Mar 12, 2011

that would be a good start. thanks.

MattKing · Mar 12, 2011

You may as well combine all three suggestions (yours and the other two).

Peter de Groot · Mar 14, 2011

I'll start tonight with developing a strip. Then I will do my sugestion. I#ll keep you posted.

Peter de Groot · Mar 23, 2011

I shot the film and developped it. It turns out that it is kodak safety film 5063. Iso propably round 400 originally. I will give it a go at iso 100.

jeffreyg · Mar 23, 2011

I believe it is Kodak Tri-x 400ISO.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

Worker 11811 · Mar 23, 2011

Kodak 5063 is Tri-X but it could be about 20 or 30 years old.

Peter de Groot · Mar 24, 2011

I checked the film this morning all dried up. I reckon the best iso value would be 100. I made a test film shooting the same settings from iso 50 to 400 and iso 100 looks good. So Now I am loading another 12 frames in the filmcan and shoot them at iso 100. I will post those results.
Thanks for the input. I think the film might be 10 to 15 years old. The person I got the stuff from had it laying on the attack for at least 10 years.

Rick A · Mar 24, 2011

Howzabout a panthermic developer such as Cachet 55 or such.

Peter de Groot · Mar 25, 2011

To do what? I have not heard of that kind of developer. Cause I think exposing at 100 iso will give me good results. I just shot today a small film and I plan on developing it this weekend.

Peter de Groot · Apr 13, 2011

If I shoot the film at iso100 I get good results. With iso 200 it is a bit underexposed. I develop in rodinal 1+50 and it looks good to me. Thanks for all the input.

Worker 11811 · Apr 13, 2011

How's the base fog look?

Peter de Groot · Apr 13, 2011

Not to bad. When compared to my brand new tri-x 400 shot at 160 iso it is not bad at all. Perhaps I will check it using a densitometer. But that will not happen for another week or two.

frobozz · Apr 17, 2011

OK, same story here - an unmarked bulk loader nearly fill of film, what is it? Sure looks like B&W. So I gave a few inches of it a generic B&W development cycle and the rebate marks showed up just fine. Only problem is that it only has the frame numbers! No markings along the top edge of the film. And no arrows or any other marks on the bottom, except for the frame number (and "frame-number A") imprint.

Anyone know who imprints their film like that? I'm going to guess it is maybe one of the Freestyle house-brand films really made by Kodak? Or some other low-cost generic type film... Probably ASA 125 or 400.

Duncan

Worker 11811 · Apr 17, 2011

Every few frames, in very small characters, you might find some codes.

I have a bulk roll of Freestyle's Legacy Pro 100. It is marked "100-753."
I have a bulk roll of Freestyle's Legacy Pro 400. It is marked "400-272."

Even if it's not Legacy, you might still find some codes written in very small letters, tucked in there, somewhere.
You might have to squint to see them.

frobozz · Apr 18, 2011

Is that along the top edge or the bottom? Maybe I just didn't develop a long enough strip, and had the bad luck to grab a part in between the codes. I got about 3 frames' worth. I'll toss a longer piece in with my next batch of film.

Duncan

Worker 11811 · Apr 18, 2011

On the film that I use, the code numbers are marked every fourth frame.
Yeah, you probably want to sacrifice about a foot of film so you are sure to get a code number or brand marking in the rebate area.

cmacd123 · Apr 18, 2011

frobozz said:
Only problem is that it only has the frame numbers! No markings along the top edge of the film. And no arrows or any other marks on the bottom, except for the frame number (and "frame-number A") imprint.
Anyone know who imprints their film like that?

The old Freestyle "english Profesional" AKA "Arista Profesional" were like that, and they came in 50, 125, and 400 Flavours. Made in England.

The only Kodak made private label stuff has been the Arista Premium. That has the name and speed almost every frame.

Unknown film and unknown film speed.

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