Help me identify a film?

[robert_nancarrow]

I bought several bulk loaders with film in them and the seller was not sure which film was which, one of them is

a very light blue/grey looking film. He thought it was tri-x 400, but I don't think so. Can anyone help me

identify this film? Is a light blue film B&W or perhaps color? Thanks for any help, I hope I don't have to

destroy it. Bob.

[andrew_gale]

Its not color. Color is almost always orange/brown.

 

Go in the dark. Open and remove about a foot.

Develop in D76 for 6-7 minutes. Fix. Read. It will be printed with the manufacturers info on the edges.

[leicaglow]

Hard to tell. I have two bulk loaders, one with Delta 100 and the other with Tri-x. Looked identical. I confused them and had to take a snippet and process it for a few minutes in developer to figure it out.

[chris_waller]

The blue-grey colour makes me think it might be old Agfa.

[jim_appleyard]

The type of film and make will not always be printed on the edges, Forte didn't do this, nor did Ilford with their SFX; at least on the rolls I have. Some companies had the edge printing on the 24 or 36 exp. cassettes, but not the bulk rolls.

 

Process a few inches, it's the only way to tell.

[john_shriver]

Technical Pan is a very distinctive light powder blue. Try and tear it, if you can't, it's on Estar brand polyester base, which would make it Technical Pan. (Well, High Contrast Copy and 2475 Recording were other 35mm films on Estar base, but I don't think either came in 100 foot rolls, and they were not blue. HCC was very purple.)

 

My very old bulk roll of Technical Pan is not lettered on the edge at all.

[pc_b]

Galen is right: develop some.

My guess is that it is Neopan400 or 1600.

Good luck, Pete

[andrew_gale]

Jim - Forte does print "Forte" on it.

 

All you would have to do if it was not clear what iso it is. Just bracket exposures for 50, 100, 200 and 400. Then develop in a fairly forgiving developer and you should be able to tell. You might make this an opportunity to test which iso you like. Bracket exposures at half or third stops.

[robert_nancarrow]

Hi, and thanks for the help so far. This came from a man who owned a photo developing business, I hope it's not copy film, if it is, is it usable? I cannot tear it and after looking at it again it appears a little bit more lavender than blue, it is quite translucent also. I will cut a piece off and process it in Rodinal (that's all I have), I think I'll do 2 pieces, one for 5 and one for 10 minutes just to be sure I have it developed. If it is tech pan or HCC should it have Identification on the edge? Thanks, I'll post any updates as I get them. Bob.

[paul_verizz]

Back in the late 80's Freestyle was selling something of your description. It was cheap, slow, and ultra fine grain. I have no recollection of who made it or what it was called. It was obviously being sold as a psuedo-quasi-sorta Tech Pan. As I recall, pretty thin images. But maybe that was my defective technique.

 

So long ago, so few gray cells.......

[robert_nancarrow]

I have identified the lavender/blue film as Ilford pan f plus because it says Ilford pan f plus on the margin after developed. I put 4 films into the rodinal and 2 came out too dark and muddy coffee colored to tell, I assume these are color films, and the Ilford and then the one other that I'm sure is B&W, it has no markings on the margins at all and not tint, the developed area is a very light neutral gray. Does anyone know what film would end up light gray and has no markings? Thanks, Bob.

[robert_nancarrow]

P.S. This batch of light grey without any edge markings are from a 100' roll that the man had marked Tri-x, and had stored in a freezer, he was pretty sure that's what it was. I am going to bracket exposures as suggested and hopefully I will be able to tell if it is 400 ASA. Is Tri-x marked on the edge when in bulk form? Thanks, Bob.

[jim_appleyard]

Sorry Galen, but my Forte, 100 or 400, has no markings. It may have been the last run of it. It was on special at Freestyle.

[andrew_gale]

Jim - odd, is it bulk? Also, was it bought as Forte, or as Arista.

[john fleshin]

Paul, Freestyle bought out East German Orwo stocks, and repacked them for sale, was a terrific film from what my friends said, they were hording it, and I missed it at Freestyle. There were some terrific films and papers from those areas, really miss Neobrom Chamois paper. There probably is a book of information ready to be written for those emulsions, the factory reopened using the name Wephota, have no idea what is up now.

 

Pavel recommended overexposure and pull processing, he is a pretty good technician and photographer, though we have lost touch. I lived in his studio one summer.

[john fleshin]

Robert, BTW, I have used Dektol for one minute in the tray and then fixed to look for edge markings.

 

Pretty fast, it was TMY.

 

Sure way to tell the processing is messed up, if you do not see edge markings, chances are pretty good the chemistry needs to be looked at.

[jim_appleyard]

Galen, yes, very odd. I bought it as Forte, 100' rolls.

[andrew_gale]

I have also recently bought forte as forte in 100' rolls, from freestyle. My has its edges marked as forte but no designation of speed etc. I wonder why they would put it on one batch but not another.

So forte may or may not be marked, especially the last bulk rolls from Freestyle.

[mark_e2]

Some rolls may not have edge printing because they may not have been spooled from master rolls by the manufacturer. It's just as easy to coat emulsions on wide rolls then slit them to the required width and perforate when necessary. Edge printing after all of this is done would make sense. And not edge printing may have been required by the purchase agreement.

[profhlynnjones]

Cut off a few inches of film and develop it in 1:1 Dektol for 3 or 4 minutes, stop, fix, and rince. You should be able to read identifying information on the film edge.

 

Lynn

[lex_jenkins]

Occasionally I've encountered mystery film, either in an unlabeled bulk loader or cassettes. I've had good luck using Diafine to develop a test strip. This was helpful in narrowing down the approximate speed of a film that had no edge markings at all. Turned out to be approx. EI 50, which was easily determined by bracketing a dozen exposures at EI's ranging from around 12 to 1600. Strange film, comparable to Pan F+ but without any discernible edge markings.