What can I do with 1000 ft roll?

[Perry Way]

Look what the postman delivered today! I must have made some kind of dyslexic mistake when I bid on this item on that "big auction site" :rolleyes:

It is a 1000 (not 100) foot spool of Agfa XT 320. Some research will show this is a movie film. It has two ISO ratings, 320 under tungsten and 200 under daylight with filter 85 whatever that is, I am not a cinematographer. So I got this thinking I had a cheep source of bulk loader film to play with. But.... now look at the giant size it is. This dwarfs even my changing bag. What can I do with it?

Ideas?

:confused:

 

[wildbill]

That's tungsten balanced film (the 85 filter allows you to shoot it outdoors) which is very old and most likely fogged, must be process ecn-2 for proper usage. You could do your own c-41 and remove the rem-jet if it's present but why hassle with it. I've shot quite a bit of expired movie film and the results vary widely.

 

[JBrunner]

The first order of business will be to find someone who will process it for you in small amounts. It is an ECN-2 process film. You can't process it C-41, as it will screw up the machine. I would look towards those big shiny lights to the south. It was a good looking film for MP, but you'll probably be less than impressed using it for a still film. As I recall it didn't keep so well, and it's been out of production about five years. IDK if I'd bother to screw around with it.

The 85 filter is a full orange correction for daylight.

 

[Perry Way]

why hassle with it. I've shot quite a bit of expired movie film and the results vary widely.

Would you say it's not worth the chemical expense, let alone the time?

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I suspect there's a lab that will handle it in Hollywood, but if you can't find one, then Dale Labs in Florida should be able to do it. It will probably be be too flat for projection printing, but might be suitable for printing by means that are off topic on APUG.

 

[Perry Way]

IDK if I'd bother to screw around with it.

Hey Jason.. I was thinking maybe this was a question for you since your bio says you were (are still?) a cinematographer. And here I caught your attention. Hmm... In any case, was it P.T. Barnum who said something about suckers? :rolleyes: I guess this time it was my turn.

Well, I got this for a measly $3.99 plus $9 or so shipping. It was .. a gamble. Maybe this would make a good paper weight for a giant?

I'm wondering what other uses this could be used for. Maybe I should give it to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to be used to train students how to load film onto spools for developing. Oh, I've got an idea.. You know that American tradition of "T-P'ing" that neighbor's house you don't like? I could pick a worst movie, find the producer's house, and "T-P" his house with the contents of this spool! LOL.. I'm stretching.. There has to be some kind of use for this! (That must be my grandmother's voice in me who lived through the depression).

 

[ic-racer]

I have a big spool of B&W negative film like that. In the dark I 'hand spool' about 50 or 100ft onto an empty spool that I can fit in the bulk loader and freeze the rest.

 

[wildbill]

Would you say it's not worth the chemical expense, let alone the time?

Yep, but I've got some kodak 5298 that's been sitting at room temp for 10 years and in a hot warehouse before that, if you want it!
Fotokem in burbank may be the only place here that'll process it in 36exp lengths but i wouldn't count on it. RGB was the place to go but they closed, sold their equipment to aandi.com, a and i ran it for a while, and no longer touches the stuff because there's no demand.
There are folks here who have processed the stuff themselves in c41 and removed the remjet backing. Do a google search.
If you are going to mess with ECN-2 process films, get some vision 2 or vision 2 stock short ends off ebay or craigslist.
good luck

 

[JBrunner]

Hey Jason.. I was thinking maybe this was a question for you since your bio says you were (are still?) a cinematographer. And here I caught your attention. Hmm... In any case, was it P.T. Barnum who said something about suckers? :rolleyes: I guess this time it was my turn.

Well, I got this for a measly $3.99 plus $9 or so shipping. It was .. a gamble. Maybe this would make a good paper weight for a giant?

I'm wondering what other uses this could be used for. Maybe I should give it to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to be used to train students how to load film onto spools for developing. Oh, I've got an idea.. You know that American tradition of "T-P'ing" that neighbor's house you don't like? I could pick a worst movie, find the producer's house, and "T-P" his house with the contents of this spool! LOL.. I'm stretching.. There has to be some kind of use for this! (That must be my grandmother's voice in me who lived through the depression).

I would donate it to a school, or a young film maker with the caveat to snip test it.

Other uses.... interesting wreaths, ribbon and bows, practical jokes involving film. The cans make great containers.

 

[srs5694]

If you're willing to do your own processing, check (there was a url link here which no longer exists) for ECN-2 formulas and a discussion of the merits and demerits of this type of film for still photography. Note that some people do like the results, although I suspect they're in the minority. Removing the rem-jet coating is the biggest additional processing hurdle, compared to C-41, for a do-it-yourselfer who's used to mixing photochemistry from raw ingredients.

ECN-2 film can also be processed in C-41 chemicals, although results aren't likely to be as good. This might be an option if you've got C-41 chemicals in your darkroom but aren't set up to mix formulas from scratch. As has already been noted, the rem-jet coating will gunk up automated equipment, so don't give the film to a 1-hour lab or send-out place; if you want to try it in C-41, do it yourself in manual tanks.

The last I heard, Dale Labs in Florida still processed short-roll ECN-2 film from still cameras; however, I couldn't verify this with a quick check of their Web site. You could try calling or e-mailing them if you want to bulk-load the film and have it commercially processed. It's been years since I used Dale Labs, but they were pretty good when I did use their services.

If you don't want to deal with the hassle, you could post it back for sale on eBay or in APUG's classified section, but I doubt if you'd earn back what you've already spent on it.

 

[Radioiron]

You could experiment with exposing and developing with black and white chemicals. With the right iso development time pretty good quality could probably achieved. It's probably better than as color, movie negative film from what I've heard is not very stable.
You could either experiment with printing of B and W paper or get your local lab to make prints from the negatives on color paper to overcome the orange mask.

 

[bdilgard]

Here is what came up with to handle those long rolls. If I tried to hand spool it in complete darkness the entire roll would probably end up as little twisted loops all over the floor. http://www.photothings.net/bulkwinder I have been tempted by such lots on auction sites but have only purchased black and white negative so far.

 

[Perry Way]

Here is what came up with to handle those long rolls.

Wow, that is ingenius! Are you particularly adept at "MacGuyver-ing" special purpose concoctions? I am thinking about something like this that might fit in a changing bag since I cannot get my darkroom dark enough for 100% darkness. But the changing bags are just too small. Maybe one of those tents might work better. I might try your idea though. I have someone local to me playing scout to see if they can get the negatives processed. He made some wild claim that he knows some place locally, well.. an hour from here. But we will see about that! If that lead turns up stale, which I'm almost certain it will, I'm sort of thinking about donating it to some cinematographer student who might want to make an "old timey" looking short film.

 

[bdilgard]

Wow, that is ingenius! Are you particularly adept at "MacGuyver-ing" special purpose concoctions? I am thinking about something like this that might fit in a changing bag since I cannot get my darkroom dark enough for 100% darkness. ...

I have to seal the bathroom door shut with black tape to get a completely dark room. Its very stuffy after a few minutes. This rig lets me work fast and get out or there. A large changing tent may work but haven't seen the right price on one, this rig set me back about $50. The thought has crossed my mind to puchase fresh Double-X from Kodak and sell it cut down to bulk loader sized rolls to others to make it more available. (Double-X is only available in 400 and larger size cine rolls.) Its also a cheap way to get Plus-X, lots and lots of Plus-X that is.

 

[srs5694]

I am thinking about something like this that might fit in a changing bag since I cannot get my darkroom dark enough for 100% darkness. But the changing bags are just too small. Maybe one of those tents might work better.

If you've got a darkroom, even if it's not as light-tight as you'd like, you might be able to use a conventional camping tent or a make-shift tent to reduce the light penetration within an area of your darkroom to acceptable levels. After all, if a conventional tent blocks, say, 90% of the light, then when you start with a small amount of light, blocking 90% will be a significant improvement in terms of the risk of fogging.

 

[AgX]

As I recall it didn't keep so well, and it's been out of production about five years.

Not quite true.
Agfa cancelled the production of cine camera films in the begin of 1995.

The XT 320 was released in 1984 and, I guess, was produced untill the early 90ties.
Some master stock was sold to the Orwo company to be converted and sold as cine stock under the Orwo brand in 1991.

Anyway, any XT 320 stock should be quite outdated by now.

 

[JBrunner]

Not quite true.
Agfa cancelled the production of cine camera films in the begin of 1995.

The XT 320 was released in 1984 and, I guess, was produced untill the early 90ties.
Some master stock was sold to the Orwo company to be converted and sold as cine stock under the Orwo brand in 1991.

Anyway, any XT 320 stock should be quite outdated by now.

You are correct, I've got my decades mixed up. The last I can find on it being used on anything is 1996.