Hope somebody can help - my friend found a camera that he thought he had lost during his tour of Vietnam (1971). The film in the camer had 16 shots exposed, and on the canister it says: process C-22, Kodacolor-X color negative film, daylight or blue flash, CX 135-20.

My apologies for the "color" question in a b/w forum, but does anybody know where he can get this processed? I told him I didn't know if the images would still be there 30 years later, but he'd sure like to know.

Thanks very much - Bill

-- bill youmans (bill@greatgrips.com), July 30, 2000

Answers

I know that C-41 process films could be developed in the old C-22 process, but the colour balance was way out (I know this thanks to a careless processor, way back when Vericolor was first introduced). I'd guess that C-22 material could be developed in C-41 with similar results.

The old C-22 process chemicals aren't available any longer. I doubt if you'd even get the raw chemicals to make them up. Old unmade up kits lying about on dusty shelves are likely to be useless by now too.

I'd recommend shooting the rest of the roll, and using it as clip test material. Give it a try in C-41 chemicals and see if it's printable. As a last resort, the film could be souped as B&W only.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), July 31, 2000.

I recommend contacting Kodak. They would have the most knowledge on the subject and given the subject matter might be willing to help. I'd be interested in seeing the images if this is possible.

-- Chris Hawkins (peace@clover.net), July 31, 2000.

Kodak is your best bet. Emphasize the historical value of the pix a bit.

Any images, no matter how badly colour shifted could likely be made acceptably printable after scanning. The trick is in the chemical development, and hoping the latent images have not gone. With decent storage conditions, you might be in luck.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), July 31, 2000.

Check the archives on Photo.Net (www.photo.net). This has been answered there several times. There is a place in Colorado that does all the old processes. They mix their own and run C-22.

It may take a while, as some processes are only run occasionally as they get enough rolls to do it, but it will get done.

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), August 01, 2000.

I would hesitate to run that film through the C-41 process, as it is designed to be used at 100:F, and C-22 films were designed to go through the process at 75:F! If you process that film in C-41 chemistry, you will be left with NO images at all!

-- Terrence Brennan (tbrennan13@hotmail.com), August 01, 2000.

For the record: Rocky Mountain Film Laboratory 560 Geneva St. Aurora, CO 80010 303-399-6444

$27.85 for processing and prints from a roll of Kodacolor-X (C-22). Excellent reputation for processing ANY film...

Bill

-- bill youmans (bill@greatgrips.com), August 01, 2000.

This answer is not what you want to hear. When you take a picture, a latent image is formed within the silver. That latent image is very volatile. It is termorary at best. That is why they always tell you to process quickly. Thee oldest recovered films I've ever heard of were from the teens,--film from an arctic expedition were found up there some 70-80 years after the images were formed. The films were processed and some images were still there. But, the difference is substantial. Those films were lost in a freezing climate and basically sat in the equivalent of a freezer for all those years. That does make a difference.

With the C-41 process, and a latent image from the 60s or even 70s,-- you will essentially find nothing. Of course, processing is cheap so just have them go for it,--using some of the techniques, above. However, don't bother to shoot up the rest of the roll. That will simply confuse the processers when they clip an end to test the proper recovery for it.

dan

-- Dan Lindsay (Edgy01@aol.com), August 17, 2000.

I recently developed some Ilford FP4 films that I exposed about 15 years ago, and the images came out fine. I have no idea how colour film stands up - I expect the colour to be off. If images develop, scanning them should at least give you digital prints. I would definitely contact Kodak - there is no reason to assume they would not be helpful.

-- Paul Oosthoek (pauloosthoek@hotmail.com), August 19, 2000.