Free What is this and who knows what to do with it?

[Laroche]

As I posted on another thread, I’m in the process of going through my uncle’s darkroom and photo stuff. He’s getting old, his memory is fading, and he hasn’t used his darkroom in decades. He’s also a hoarder and was recently diagnosed on the autism spectrum, so he doesn’t the best social skills nor, ironically, organizing skills.

His place is a mess.

Today, I was over there and he showed me this. He can’t say much about it, except the note that he wrote saying it’s a 5” x 50’ sheet of TriX film that’s been exposed but not developed. For some reason he thinks it’s from WWII.

(Is it just me, or is it impossible that this bundle includes anything that’s 5”x50’? Or even 5’x50”?)

He doesn’t know what to do with it. I don’t know what to do with it. I’m more than happy to send it to someone who knows what to do with it, and if it turns out to be something of interest and/or value (and that’s a mighty big IF) just keep me in the loop and share the reward. (If it’s a pile of junk though, that baby is all yours).

Thoughts?

Thanks

 

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[BradS]

I hope that you didn't open the black wrapper...
It looks like it might be a roll of Tri-X Aero-recon film
It is not impossible that it contains a long roll of film that is 5 inches wide.
If it is, I bet Jim Galli would know what to do with it. Try sending a PM to member jimgalli

 

[mweintraub]

Weren't original wwii plane cameras 4x5 roll cameras?

 

[madNbad]

Weren't original wwii plane cameras 4x5 roll cameras?

The Fairchild F-505 Aerial Camera used 5" roll film.

 

[dirkfletcher]

God I love stuff like this! Hope something cool comes of this!

 

[jimgalli]

Thanks for directing me here Brad, although I won't be much help either. First of all, Tri-X is notoriously foggy with age and WWII was a very long time ago. So latent images are likely "lost in the fog" so to speak. Someone could do a snip test and try to see if anything is salvageable. Then, all of the labs who could develop 5" wide X 50' long film are vanished into history. So, not sure what to tell you. You can do a 4' section of it pretty easily in a 4' long piece of 2" ABS sewer pipe with plug on one end and 2" threaded adapter on the other.

 

[AgX]

5" (126mm) was one of the standard formats for aerial film.

 

[Mr Flibble]

Fairchild/Graflex K-20 and K-25 aerial reconnaissance cameras certainly took long rolls of 5" wide film...possibly 50' long.
I think Agfa-Gevaert made some Aviphot in this format for quite a long time.

 

[Donald Qualls]

As Jim Galli has posted in connection with Cirkut cameras, it's possible to develop strips of film up to several feet long in a plastic pipe, film curled to fit endwise in to the pipe. Can be a challenge to avoid scratches, get the film out when wet, and it'll usually require a lot of developer...

 

[pentaxuser]

I think that even if it is 5 inch film and could be processed in a pipe Laroche, I am assuming, does not have the experience to do this. Thus he is looking for someone to say that if he sends it to them that person will try and find out what it is and do something with it

pentaxuser

 

[jimgalli]

As to the OP's question about the compact package being able to hold that amount of film, much of the 5" aerial reconnaissance film was only 3 mils thick. Very thin so more could be wound onto a compact reel. I'm not sure if the 3 mil was available as early as WWII. But certainly the more common 4 mil was, and if tightly wound, perhaps it would fit in that small package. My guess is 15 - 20 feet though. Some of the 5" film also has edge perforations which adds to the difficulty of developing it. The larger problem is going to be age deterioration. Film base plus fog.

 

[Laroche]

Thanks everyone!
Yes this is definitely out of my skill box. I’d be more than happy to ship to whoever think they might be able to do something with it!

 

[AgX]

Fairchild/Graflex K-20 and K-25 aerial reconnaissance cameras certainly took long rolls of 5" wide film...possibly 50' long.
I think Agfa-Gevaert made some Aviphot in this format for quite a long time.

Both military and civil aerial cameras in the West used 5" wide film. In the East this format was not used.

 

[cowanw]

I would develop it in a bathtub or laundry tub

 

[Kino]

This would have been processed in a motorized variant of the Morse Tank.

I had one once. Got it at a surplus auction. It had two huge spools in a tank that wound the film back and forth between the rewinds as it developed the film.

Scrapped it after I couldn't find anyone who wanted anything to do with it.

 

[Laroche]

I would develop it in a bathtub or laundry tub

Can I send it to you then?

 

[cowanw]

5 inches x 50 feet is the equivalent of 512 sheets of 8x10's at 20 cc's developer per sheet is 10,240 cc's of developer or 20 bottles at $15 dollars a bottle or $370 to develop. Price in fixer and stop additionally.
Clip off 4 inches in the dark and get a local service to see if there is anything on it first. Try a bit first at
https://darkroomofmontana.com/

 

[MattKing]

5 inches x 50 feet is the equivalent of 512 sheets of 8x10

I don't know about that.
50 feet is 600 inches.
5 x 600 is 3000 square inches.
3000/80 = 37.5 8x10 sheets.
If you use HC-110 and dilute it appropriately - 6 ml per 8x10 - 37.5 x 6 = 2225 ml, or just slightly less than 1/4 of a 1 litre bottle. Even at a Canadian price near $60 for that litre bottle, that is just $15.00.
Even better, use X-Tol replenished - 37.5 x 70 ml = 2625 ml, or just over one half of a 5 litre package, at $14 USD for the package.
All the other complications and difficulties - they are completely worth taking into account.
Developer cost - not so much.

 

[Donald Qualls]

That's equivalent of 150 sheets of 4x5, or as noted, 37.5 8x10 or 120 rolls. I don't know that I'd count on replenished Xtol in this case, not if you're developing the whole roll at once (OP said he understood it to be exposed but never developed) -- you might need the whole 5L pack just to fill a tank that would hold that much film. You could do ~five foot strips in a Paterson 3-reel tank, with a spacer for the reel plates (spacer could even use the original latching mechanism, if made from a sacrificed reel); each such strip would be about four 120 rolls equivalent and that's a case where replenishment would make sense. If this film was exposed in a surveillance camera, as expected, it's probably one continuous image for most or all of the roll.

 

[cowanw]

Damn. I used to be good at math.

 

[Laroche]

5 inches x 50 feet is the equivalent of 512 sheets of 8x10's at 20 cc's developer per sheet is 10,240 cc's of developer or 20 bottles at $15 dollars a bottle or $370 to develop. Price in fixer and stop additionally.
Clip off 4 inches in the dark and get a local service to see if there is anything on it first. Try a bit first at
https://darkroomofmontana.com/

Thanks but I just want to gift it to someone who can do all this. I have enough here to deal with!

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Thanks but I just want to gift it to someone who can do all this. I have enough here to deal with!

By the way, I PM'd you a few days ago about your Kodak 4x5 HIE film...

 

[Laroche]

By the way, I PM'd you a few days ago about your Kodak 4x5 HIE film...

Oh yeah, sorry about that. I haven’t even gotten to the film yet -I wanted to take some more time and research and get rid of the less valuable stuff first. I’ll let you know when I’m moving on to that.

 

[W_Taylor76]

If you still have it, I wouldn’t mind taking it off of your hands. This is something I have started doing; playing with old film and seeing if the images are retrievable.

 

[Laroche]

If you still have it, I wouldn’t mind taking it off of your hands. This is something I have started doing; playing with old film and seeing if the images are retrievable.

I’ll send you a DM!