Exposed Roll of Kodacolor II of unknown vintage - best way to process?

An acquaintance gave me a bunch of old cameras yesterday because she heard I had an interest in them. One of the cameras, - an old Kodak Twin 20, had a roll of exposed film in it. It's 620 film which is pretty much the same as 120 film, - just on a different type of spool (from what I understand).

I'm going to let her know what I found. The camera was her grandfather's and I'm sure she love it if any of these undeveloped pictures were salvageable. I'm going to recommend that she take the roll to a pro developer but offer to process it myself for free, with the understanding that I'm just an amateur and may not get anything usable.

The film is Kodacolor II, a C41 film. It hasn't been made since 1983 so that film has been sitting inside a camera for 35+ years. My question is, if she were to want me to take a crack at it, what are my best options for success?

1. Regular C-41 processing?

2. Extend the time in the developer? If so, how much?

3. Or would it be best to process as B&W?

There are many labs that will do 120 C41, and should also be able to do 620.

(Labs I know use machines that don't make it easy to do other sizes.)

You might ask them to save the spool for you, though 620 spools aren't all that hard to find.

One near me does a roll for $7.50. (Develop only.)

If you have unused C41 film, a small exposure increase (EI decrease) improves the chance of good results.

But given already exposed film, that isn't a choice. Increased development will also increase the development of any age fog, and so doesn't help much.

I did once do black and white processing for an old (as your, found in an old camera) roll of Kodacolor 1000.

The high speed means high fog, and besides, I had no interest in the actual pictures.

With the lower ISO value for Kodacolor II, you have a much better chance for good results, and I would recommend C41 processing.

(Unless you believe that it has been stored at unusual high temperature or humidity (that is, tropical) conditions, in which case the chance of good results decreases.)

Price nearby C41 labs. If the price seems excessive to you, and you, or someone you know, can do it in black and white, then do that.

(Commercial labs that I know charge more for black and white, than for C41.)

Good luck!

Thanks Glen.

After doing some more research I found a place on-line called "Film Rescue International". They have an interesting process for old film. Whether it's a color film or not they use HC-100 stand development to get a B&W image. Then for color film they use a process called "Film Acceleration" to try and get a color image. They said that this is the safest and most likely way to get a good image, - hopefully color in the end, but if nothing else, B&W.

They did say that film over 30 years old is unlikely to render useful colors.

I do happen to have some HC-110 but am unfamiliar with "film acceleration" and would skip that since it wouldn't likely result in something good.

Anyway, as much as I'd love to take a crack at this myself, I think I'll recommend the Film Rescue place while secretly hoping that she'll let me do it. ;-)

There is a Kodak note regarding film of unknown condition, where they suggest:

develop as a black and white negative, print as well as you can.

bleach back to silver halide.

develop in color, and print the result.

The black and white developer does not remove the color couplers, such that the later

color developer still works. I don't know if special bleach chemistry is required.

For me, I would make a cost/benefit analysis, to consider how much each choice might cost,

and the possible result. Then balance this with the value of the results.

As noted, I had a roll of Kodacolor 1000, with pictures not valuable to me, and

chose the HC-110 solution. Age fog is much faster at higher ISO ratings,

but is also very sensitive to storage temperature.

As a guess, 30 years at 60F might be just fine, and at 90F pretty much gone.