What film is this?

eurekaiv · Mar 18, 2021

I bought an old Alden bulk loader today and it has some film in it. Anyone want to help me play detective? I fixed a couple pieces of it looking for edge markings but it appears to be entirely blank. I have a feeling it's ruined... there was what looked like the yellow core from the spool in the box (and I opened the loader in a changing bag and verified the roll is missing a plastic core) but there's always a small chance I suppose. I think it's B&W film based on the base color (very slightly purplish grey) but the emulsion is an iridescent mauve which I don't think I've seen before.

cmacd123 · Mar 18, 2021

1) that core was supplied with an alden loader to work with Movie film cores which have a 1 inch hole. set it aside. (I a pinch, I have a core from Kodak bulk film set asside when I use movie film like ORWO N75. as my Alden core has managed to find a very good hiding spot.)

2) you would need to develop the film for the edge print to appear. that will also give you an idea of how fogged it is. you can just stick a length from teh loader in the tank when you develop a roll of film

3 your film looks like B&W still film. with KS perfs.

eurekaiv · Mar 18, 2021

Ah, ok...didn't know that about the edge markings. I'll process some tomorrow and see what happens. I'm guessing there's a 3% chance it's usable though. No core can't be a good sign and my confidence in this being stored anywhere near appropriately is even lower.

MattKing · Mar 18, 2021

Plus-X is my guess.
And it is just a guess.

cmacd123 · Mar 18, 2021

a lot of film is shipped "Mandrel wound" where the folks who cut down a longer roll wind the film on a mandrel which can colapse and be removed from the roll. the last bulk roll of 5222 from Photo warehous was packed that way. when Freestyle was finishing bulk film (rather than buying ready to sell 30.5 M rolls) they also packed it like thar. I also seem to recall that the FOMA folks pack bulk without a core. (they also don't put any edge printing on their bulk film)

reddesert · Mar 19, 2021

From the purply color of the emulsion side, I will guess T-max 400 or 100. As others said, you need to develop to see the edge printing. There's a good chance it's very usable. I've exposed and developed 20 year old 35mm B&W film that was haphazardly stored with mostly good results, probably a mildly increased fog level. (I've also done this with 120, but there I've sometimes had wrapper offset - print-through from the ink on the back side of the backing paper - and sometimes not.)

SchwinnParamount · Mar 19, 2021

Looks like my T-Max 100 (NOT 400)

eurekaiv · Mar 19, 2021

reddesert said:
From the purply color of the emulsion side, I will guess T-max 400 or 100. As others said, you need to develop to see the edge printing. There's a good chance it's very usable. I've exposed and developed 20 year old 35mm B&W film that was haphazardly stored with mostly good results, probably a mildly increased fog level. (I've also done this with 120, but there I've sometimes had wrapper offset - print-through from the ink on the back side of the backing paper - and sometimes not.)

I just have a feeling someone has opened it up before but we’ll see. There was some pretty noticeable base fog on the ends I fixed but its not worse than the ancient loader full of Tri-X I found at the swap meet and I’ve gotten some nice pics from that film.

SchwinnParamount · Mar 19, 2021

This is T-Max 100 fresh from my bulk film loader

And yeah, more a rip than a cut. I guess I was in a hurry to get this next roll into my M6 .

The mother trucker still loaded with a hell of a lot more fuss than any of my Nikons. Just sayin...

YoIaMoNwater · Mar 19, 2021

reddesert said:
From the purply color of the emulsion side, I will guess T-max 400 or 100. As others said, you need to develop to see the edge printing. There's a good chance it's very usable. I've exposed and developed 20 year old 35mm B&W film that was haphazardly stored with mostly good results, probably a mildly increased fog level. (I've also done this with 120, but there I've sometimes had wrapper offset - print-through from the ink on the back side of the backing paper - and sometimes not.)

Yea that’s what I would assume as well. I have both roll of TMax100 and 400 and they look shiny purple in the emulsion side.

woodlandSerenade · Mar 19, 2021

Another vote for TMax100 from me.
I use a roll of light-stricken TMX to retrieve film leaders from 35mm canisters. After leaving the leader of the "utility" roll exposed to light for a couple of days, it gained a gold-ish iridescence like the clip in OP's image.

gorbas · Mar 19, 2021

+ TMax

Kodachromeguy · Mar 19, 2021

reddesert said:
I've exposed and developed 20 year old 35mm B&W film that was haphazardly stored with mostly good results, probably a mildly increased fog level.

Glad it turned out all right. Recently, I used 50 year old GAF film, and it looked amazingly good:

https://worldofdecay.blogspot.com/2021/02/expired-film-treasure-135-size-gaf.html

B&W film is an impressive technology.

eurekaiv · Mar 19, 2021

woodlandSerenade said:
Another vote for TMax100 from me.
After leaving the leader of the "utility" roll exposed to light for a couple of days, it gained a gold-ish iridescence like the clip in OP's image.

Yeah... I pulled a couple more feet through the loader and it also has this iridescent sheen. The film was in the loader emulsion up when I got it so I think someone had opened it up to "see what's inside" in the past. And probably on a table at a yard sale in full daylight. I'm still going to throw a strip in a camera and take a few shots but I'll just wind it in with another roll I'm doing already so I don't waste much time on it.

eurekaiv · Mar 21, 2021

Processed in Rodinal 1:25 along with a roll of Pancro I shot, which I gave just under 8 minutes at 69°, and I got an image. Fairly heavy base fog though and the exposure that's closest was shot 2 stops over at ISO 25 so that's like 6, and it doens't exactly look fully exposed. It probably needed one or two more stops or a lot longer in the can. Also, no edge markings after processing. Drying now but I'll scan a frame later for the heck of it.

eurekaiv · Mar 21, 2021

I take it back, the edge markings are just very faint. Those who said TMY are the winners... I had a feeling it was Kodak when I poured out the developer as it had that characteristic purple color. It's got an interesting texture and some spots here and there. Could be fun for something in particular if I can figure out what that in particular is.

What film is this?

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