Ways to find out if paper has been exposed to light with minimal chemicals?

Samuelg · Mar 24, 2014

Hello again apug, its been a while but funds have forced me digital for a while. I got two boxes off Kodak Polyfibre off a lovely old lady on freecycle, one box of 100 8x10 and another of 50 11x14, she didn't seem to know what they were really so she might have sorted through them for photos under a bright lamp for all i know

The boxes are a bit damaged and not light 100% tight but i'm thinking a stack of 100 8x10 kept in a non ideal way, the ones in the middle might slightly work?

So my question is, i have an enlarger and some paper fixer. I also have promicrol and rodinal film developer. I've got trays and safe lights and a makeshift darkroom, at a push can i use either of those film developers for paper to test its viability before i buy paper developer? Which isn't expensive but i certainly can't afford paper as well so buying paper developer with no use isn't ideal... bloody george osbourne.

I'm not looking for perfect result just wanting to see where is and isn't already exposed

Thanks
Samuel

Rick A · Mar 24, 2014

The best waty to find out is to develope a sheet without exposing it first. Just pop into the DR and pull a sheet under safe light, cut it in half, develope half then fix and just fix for the other half.Compare the two halves and see which looks exposed. This test will also let you know if you have age fogging.

Samuelg · Mar 24, 2014

But can i use my film developer in a tray to get a vague idea?, my paper developer went very very bad

bdial · Mar 24, 2014

You might be able to use the Rodinol, I think it was originally formulated for use with film or paper, but it would a much more meaningful test if you use a paper developer.
Paper developers include restrainers to limit base fog that isn't really a problem for film.

Rick's procedure will tell you what you need to know.

Rudeofus · Mar 24, 2014

I have done test developments of photographic paper in Promicrol 1+9, and while the image came up much slower than in regular paper developer, they would eventually (after five minutes of development or so) turn out almost identical.

So yes, you can test that paper in Promicrol, just give it more time in the developer. Make sure you test the whole sheet of paper, more than once I ran into paper that was fogged at the rim but was fine inside. Also note that paper is somewhat translucent, if the previous owner indeed put the whole stack out into open light, there is a good chance that the top five or ten sheets are fogged, but that further down in the stack the paper will be usable.

Samuelg · Mar 24, 2014

Ahh trusty promicrol, i shall try that when it gets dark (my darkroom is less than ideal) thanks for your replies, im guessing if they had it in the house, someone was using it and knew to keep it dark, whether she did or not is another question.

The only reason i'm reluctant to buy paper developer is the annoyingly high £9.50 postage to my house from almost everywhere

Fingers crossed for even 20 good sheets of 8x10

Oh as a quick aside, does anyone know from possible catastrophic experience if patterson developing trays are dishwasher safe ?

Simon R Galley · Mar 24, 2014

Dear SamuelG

You state the boxes are not light tight.....thats not good, but if they are still in the lightproof black polybags then you might just have a chance.

Good luck.

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited.

Samuelg · Mar 25, 2014

Well thanks for all your help, tried a selection from each one and got no discernible print from a good strong contrast neg. Shame.

I've light-tighted (is that a word?) the boxes and put them somewhere cool and dark and i'll save them and test again when i have some paper developer just to be sure but it seems i have 100 sheets of fairly useless paper 8x10 oh well.

Can you inkjet photos onto wet print paper? i'm guessing not.

Thanks for all you guy's help, this forum is bloody wonderful.

cheers

winger · Mar 25, 2014

They might still be ok for lumen prints or for other alternative stuff. If you aren't into that, there are always people here who would take it off your hands if you're looking to dump it elsewhere.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 25, 2014

contact your local photography club.I'm sure you'll find somebody to give you some paper developer for your test.other than that,don't waste your time on uncertain paper.it's not worth the time and frustration.|That's why I decline all freeoffers of paper and film.People like to reduce their feeling of guilt by not throwing it out and giving it to you.thanks for the thoughtbut, my time is of value too.buy some fresh paper.photography is not meant for the poor,it's a rich man's hobby;always has been.

Rudeofus · Mar 26, 2014

Samuelg said:
Well thanks for all your help, tried a selection from each one and got no discernible print from a good strong contrast neg. Shame.

I have seen old paper lose contrast, needing grade 4 filters to get grade 1 contrast. I've seen fogged paper, plenty of it. But no discernible image at all? Nope, haven't seen that yet.

Before you put that paper stack aside, I'd recommend you put one small test strip into your developer tray in broad daylight, and see whether it turns black after a while. You don't have to mix a whole batch of fresh developer for this: just reuse some dev after processing a roll of film.

Ways to find out if paper has been exposed to light with minimal chemicals?

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