Dear all, I have to develope a 18 years old b&w film. Do you know where can I find informations about which developement times I have to use?

Thanx

-- Luca (luca_foto@yahoo.com), July 16, 2001

Answers

What film is it?

-- Patric (jenspatric@mail.bip.net), July 16, 2001.

It surelly depends on which film you have in your hands. Anyway, you will need a high contrast developer with an anti fog agent, since film tends to loose contrast and get foged as it ages. If i'm not wrong, you're looking for something containing hydroquinone, sodium sulphite and sodium carbonate. Surelly something else, but I don't know. You might also need to use reducer or intensifier after developement, since you won't get a very predictable result, due to the old age.

-- Martin Crovetto (mcrove@iname.com), July 16, 2001.

This might help if you're really stuck - it's from a page in my old standby book - the Amateur Photographer's Handbood - for trying new developers or old emulsions. Cut off a small piece of film and expose it to white light (not sunlight). Immerse half the piece of film in the developer and start timing how long it takes for the submerged portion to start darkening. This could be somewhere between 6 and 60 seconds. Multiply this time by 20 and this will be your time for developing to normal contrast. I tried it some years ago and it worked. It had a footnote of interest to you - if the film is very stale increase the multiplication factor to 30. Good luck. Harv.

-- Harv Jenkins (hjenkins@prcn.org), July 17, 2001.

what film? I've done some FP4 (old film exposed recently) and Plus X (old film exposed then and marked to be pushed 1 and 2 stops) recently and it came out ok considering!

-- Nigel Smith (nlandgl@unite.com.au), July 17, 2001.

If the film is unidentified, how about one of two-bath developers like two-bath version of D-76? (perhaps you might want to add a bit of restrainer)

-- Ryuji Suzuki (rsuzuki@rs.cncdsl.com), July 17, 2001.

Not long ago I found a brick of Panatomic-X lying around from my commercial days. It had been sitting unrefrigerated for at least 10 years.

Anyway, since I had 20 rolls of the stuff, I shot a test roll and developed it. The negatives came out heavily fogged, with the image barely discernible. Therefore, I strongly recommend using a restrainer, as Ryuji Suzuki suggested. Because of the extreme fog I found with my Pan-X, I would suggest adding 15ml of 0.2% Benzotriazole / 1000ml to the "A" portion of your two part developer and 0.5g Potassium Bromide to your "B" solution. That should tame the fog, although it may inhibit shadow detail. But given the high fog I found with my film, I think you will have to restrain the developer at the expense of some shadow detail. Otherwise you may wind up with next to nothing. Lastly, if the film comes out thin, you can treat it in selenium 1+2, selenium to water, for 10 minutes with 10 sec/min agitation. That will give you another grade of contrast without any significant image degradation. Good luck!

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), July 17, 2001.

Kodak Plus X exposed at 250asa, approximately 15-16 years before being developed in Ilfosol diluted with water 9 times the volume of the developer and processed at 20C for 7 minutes. Film had not been stored in any special way, having spent it's time in a box in various garages

-- Nigel Smith (nlandgl@unite.com.au), July 17, 2001.

The developer you need should have hydroquinone, Benzotriazole or Potassium Bromide, potasium carbonate or hydroxide and sodium sulphite. Develope for a longer than normal time to counteract the aging of the film.

-- Martin Crovetto (mcrove@yqhoo.com.ar), July 17, 2001.