very old new stock film

RobertCovington · Feb 18, 2012

Bought a view camera last year and the women I bought it from asked me if I wanted the darkroom equipment--well that was a yes and the darkroom had about 150 pounds of paper and film---the film is my concern at the moment because it spans several decades from the late 40's to the 80's when the man passed--mostly kodak panatomic, tri x pan, royal pan etc----I want to attempt to expose and develop this film---any ideas of what iso to use as I know the film speed in most cases is severely degraded---then the next issue is a starting point for chemistry to develop--I can rotary process, tray process, maybe attempt develop by inspection---Im hoping someone out here has direct experience with old film--will def post scans as we proceed

werra · Feb 18, 2012

With film of that age it really is a lottery. With more chances to win with slow emulsions.
As a start I'd decrease a stop of EI for two decades and use standard development time for given film in given developer as a start. Expect fog, blotches from interleaving paper etc. How was the film stored?
I developed some Perutz P21 (original iso100, shot it at EI25) 9x12cm film, expired in 1968, today morning, very low base fog. OTOH the same emulsion of similar age is deteriorated beyond usability in 120 format.

RobertCovington · Feb 18, 2012

Thank you for the input--I was think 4 stops of ei for the 1950s stock but 3 sounds better---do you use any restrainers in your chemistry? Also the best I know this film just sat in this cool darkroom for its life

fotch · Feb 18, 2012

Hello Robert and welcome to APUG. Your one lucky person as some of it is bound to be good.

werra · Feb 18, 2012

Cool darkroom sounds promising, if it was dry as well.
No, I use no restrainers. Mostly just Rodinal, have experimented with HC110 with no apparent difference in results. With especially rotten emulsions I use straight paper developer, usually gets at least something but not necessarily something pretty. Paper developer diluted 1+2 can get quite useful results, developing times are very short.
But as a start give a try in whatever your main developer is.

RobertCovington · Feb 18, 2012

I am about to order some pyrocat-- DR5 been reversing most of my film for the past year--they wouldn't like this stuff the lab tech gets a little feisty when my tmax100 gets a little stale--any other experiences with old film more than welcome

jcoldslabs · Feb 18, 2012

In the last year I shot both Verichrome Pan and Tri-X 120 that expired in the 1960s. The results were better than expected. I used HC-110 dil. B at 66F degrees for the recommended time, more or less. There was fog and loss of shadow contrast, but overall I was pleasantly surprised. I shoot these old films in non-critical cameras--old faux-TLRs, Dianas, etc. I rate them at least a full stop more than box speed.

Good luck. Old film can be fun and you can't beat the price. I'm at the wrong computer at the moment but I'll try to dig up and post some examples later on.

Jonathan

RobertCovington · Feb 18, 2012

Im confused Jonathon--you increase the speed of the film? HC110 good I have some unopened bottles on the shelf---this is all 4x5 so im thinkin pinhole camera use or homemade lens for my 4x5

RobertCovington · Feb 18, 2012

a quick inventory-in case anyone has specific exp
loads of 1960s--1070s tri x pan film packs 16 4x5 exposures
50-60s panatomic x and royal pan
loads of 1980s super pan xx
loads of 1990s tmax100

Sirius Glass · Feb 18, 2012

Welcome to APUG

clayne · Feb 18, 2012

I can tell you this, most are secretly envious of your find.

cantore · Feb 18, 2012

clayne said:
I can tell you this, most are secretly envious of your find.

+1

I was just wishing that could happen to me!

Wade D · Feb 19, 2012

Recently I have been using Plus-X in 120 & 4x5 that expired in 1987 and was not stored well. At first I tried half box speed. The negatives came out a bit thin with the expected fog. I'm now exposing it at ISO 50 and aside from the fog exposures look OK. Film developed in D-76 1:1 at recommended times for that era.
Not great results but passable. HC-110 or Rodinal might have produced less fog but I don't have them.
Anyhow 1+ stop for film of that age that was stored poorly worked. YMMV

werra · Feb 19, 2012

RobertCovington said:
a quick inventory-in case anyone has specific exp
loads of 1960s--1070s tri x pan film packs 16 4x5 exposures
50-60s panatomic x and royal pan
loads of 1980s super pan xx
loads of 1990s tmax100

My opinion:
tri-x packs are practically useless, need special back and are b*tch to process, having thinner base than separate sheets. probably are heavily fogged as well due speed.

super-xx and tmax are as good as new, shoot at box speed and process by specification. I use 80-s/90-s iso100 and slower routinely.

panatomic x and royal pan are the ones needing experiments to find out optimal EI and processing

And yes, there is a small envious bit present for sure esp. regarding super xx.

werra · Feb 19, 2012

werra said:
I developed some Perutz P21 (original iso100, shot it at EI25) 9x12cm film, expired in 1968, today morning, very low base fog. OTOH the same emulsion of similar age is deteriorated beyond usability in 120 format.

An example of given P21:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/werra/6901325099/in/photostream/

RobertCovington · Feb 20, 2012

Sounds like some great advice---and obviously worth experimenting with--Found an old film pack back in the stuff as well ---beautiful day in south georgia so I am going to load a bit of each and see what I come up with---will post some scans--

snederhiser · Feb 20, 2012

Hello Robert;
Had a special project in my photography class and ran across a box of Defender Pan. At the time this film was 25yrs + being WWII surplus. Exposed normally and developed in Replenished D-76 for 12 to 15 minutes. The results were outstanding, even suprising my instructor. Experiment and adjust as necessary, most are envious. Super-XX Pan is considered by many to be the best film Kodak ever put out. Have a ton of fun, Steven.

very old new stock film

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