brent_tannehill1 Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I found some 50 year old tri-x pan professional film in a speed graphic magazinefilm holder. There's about 10 or 12 4x5 exposed films to develop. I need someadvice...With D-76, how long of a development time should I give this film? Also, without the film holders and tank, would I just put all of the film in atray and move them around somehow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig_shearman1 Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 You can develop sheet film in a tray, though it increases the risk of scratching. Make sure the developer is deep enough to cover all sheets and you agitate by constantly moving the sheet at the bottom of the stack to the top. It's an old but proven technique, just not as convenient as hangers and a tank. You have to do it in total darkness of course. Can't help with time and temp but usually with anything that old it takes a longer than normal development time because the latent image is going to have faded, resulting in the equivalent of underexposure. Don't be surprised if you get nothing at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_shriver Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 HC-110 is a better choice, restrains fog quite well. The Nikor cut film tank is designed to work well with pack film, which is very thin and floppy. Can be tricky to make it stay in hangers even if you have them. Kodak made some clip hangers which are more suited. But, without those tools, trays are the best shot. But it will be a bit "interesting", since the wet film will be a like a wet noodle, not stiff like sheet film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Howard Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Craig and John are right. One more thing to consider, after developing, you make come up with what looks like completely black film. Don't throw it out. Shine a very bright light through it and look at it with a loupe. I almost gave up on the picks in my portfolio (boy scouts) but decided to shine a bright spotlight through them. I saw very faint images, and after several hours of printing, came up with some decent picks. I used HC110, but only because that is what I had "in stock". Good luck, and post the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_s Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 If you have a Graphic 'bag mag' magazine holder, it's presumably regular sheet film and not the thinner-based film pack sheets, but correct me if I'm wrong. Also (saying the obvious), remember you have the luxury of doing test runs on single sheets. You may be able to home in on best development conditions, with successive testing. Gene M on the Classic Cameras forum has vast experience with old film, as well as the guys here-- you might drop him a line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay2 Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 My oldest try was 35 year old exposed Tri-x, in Microdol-x for normal time. Results were grainy but usable. Good luck. /Clay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xbow Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 Check with Gene M....he hangs around the classic camera forum. He is the expert on processing old and expired film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_chan2 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Try Mark Antony and have a look at his blog http://photo-utopia.blogspot.com/ he seems to revel in taking old expired film. I developed a roll of 36 year old Agfa ISS last year. I just gave it another half stop in the developer (XTOL in my case). Charlie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith_lubow Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 I would suggest trying one at a time in any developer. You will probably have extremely low contrast from all the fogging it has received. This means you will likely only get visible tonal gradations in what were the highlight areas 50 years ago. Try one for recommended time plus 50% (to increase contrast), and see what happens, then use your best judgment to make adjustments off of that result. Good luck! Let us know what happens. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_miller10 Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 I used to run a photolab and would get rolls people would find in a dead relatives drawer and wanted to know what is on them. I would generally overdevelop 200% and then reduce the density back with Potassium Ferricyanide and fixer, going back and forth until I got a good negative. I've done some film a guy shot in 1946 while he was in the army of occupation in Japan and a MASH hospital in the Korean war with very good success. Tray develop one sheet at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G. Dainis Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 I get a bit nervous when I see percentages used. <P> "<I>I would generally overdevelop 200%..."</I><P> If normal development was 7 minutes, a 100% increase would be 14 minutes. A 200% increase would be 21 minutes.<P> Is that correct? James G. Dainis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith_lubow Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 James, "Develop 150% of normal time" means the same as "overdevelop 50%". If someone says to "overdevelop 200%", it technically means "develop 300% of normal time". So, yes, you are right. Paul probably meant to simply double the time instead of tripling it. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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