Exposed film about 1.5 years ago, development options

I used to post and contribute here years ago, but then life got real busy.

 

About 1.5 years ago, I decided to break out the film gear on a trip to the Grand Canyon. I shot medium format Arista.EDU 100 and 35-mm Tri-X. Both would have been exposed at ISO 200, due to some red filter usage. Life then got real busy again, and I haven't gotten around to developing them.

 

What would be my best option(s) for developer choice in this situation. Is it Diafine? Stick with D-76 or HC-110?

 

More/less agitation.

 

I have been wading through some older threads, but most of the found film stuff is decades old.

 

Evan

Develop as you would have then. Latent images hold up well with time.

As long as the film and camera gear did not get too hot in storage, you should be fine to develop normally.

The only film I've found that noticeably degrades the latent image in a short amount of time is Pan F+-even recently out of date stock will often have faint edge markings.

 

I've had rolls of more conventional film-specifically Tri-X, TMAX, Plus-X, FP4+, and some color negative film that I forgot about for 5 or 6 years, and I just processed as normal(or perhaps added 5-10% to account for them being expired) and they were fine.

Thanks for the advice. It would appear that I may have been overly concerned for the health of the latent images. I'll keep my normal process for at least the first roll, and change things up if anything is out of whack.

Developing time alters film speed and shadow detail not one jot. If you've already lost some latent image it's gone for good! Extending development will only increase contrast and make the highlights more difficult to print or scan.

 

However, you can mimimise the effect by using a developer like Microphen that (supposedly) gives about 0.5 stop speed increase. It seems to work as much as I can tell without doing rigid sensitometric tests.

 

Anyway, basically my advice too would be to develop normally, but in a so-called speed enhancing developer. I've no experience with Diafine, but I believe it falls into that category.

Latent Image was the name of George Romero's Company back when he started. R.I.P..

"Latent Image was the name of George Romero's Company back when he started."

 

- With no disrespect to Mr Romero, another example of business trying to lay claim and appropriate everyday words or phrases and trademark them. Like Hovis trying to lay claim to the word "granary" - it's where grain is stored you corporate halfwits! You didn't invent the word. And neither did a certain US beer company invent the name of the town of Budweiser in Czechoslovakia where a far superior product has been brewed for far longer.

 

I just realised that the above examples are both malt-based products. Perhaps the two companies concerned should just shove their CEOs into a fight cage and see which one emerges alive. Maybe that would justify their undoubtedly fat bonus?

Edited August 5, 2017 by rodeo_joe|1

Then there is Apple, also trademarking an every day name, though not for the every day usage.

 

As well as I know the story, there was some disagreement with the Beatles, whose record company is Apple records.

At one point they had an agreement that the Beatles would have it for music, and Apple computer for computers.

 

That was years before the iPod and iTunes. Oops.

 

But anyway, 1.5 years is usual for most films. That is about expected for average consumers, as they

might take out the camera only on special occasions.

 

I have had rolls that I actually took that I developed after 30 and 40 years. (I won't be doing that again.)

 

And a roll of VP122 that I bought already exposed, almost 60 years earlier.

(It has a picture of the Mackinac bridge under construction, so I can date it pretty well.)

 

Yes for actual old film, 30, 40, or 50 years, HC-110 is a popular choice.

Color film doesn't last that long, but for black and white, I find that ISO 400 films like Tri-X are good to about 20 years, with noticeable fog (white spots in the positive) at about 30. I had a roll of Tri-X from my last days in my college dorm, left in my father's Canon VI, found 30 years later. Developed in Diafine (the only thing I had).

 

Page House a long time ago | Facebook

 

If you look at the darkest blacks, you see some white spots. Otherwise, you won't know that it was 30 years in the camera.

(That is, a little more than half the life of the camera at that time.) It was in my father's bedroom closet for those years.

I bought my Nikon FM the year before, but needed some black and white film for yearbook pictures, so borrowed the Canon.

 

Verichrome Pan lasts even longer, maybe 50 years, if not kept too warm. Ordinary house temperature.