Mystery roll of 1600 Tri-x from 1980's

[bill_rhodes]

<p>Found another one. Last one was possibly from the same event as this one, and the best photo on the roll was<br /> <a href=" title="example of ruined old film by Bill in Ash Vegas, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3531/3298425377_c88fab1caf_m.jpg" width="240" height="144" alt="example of ruined old film" /></a></p>

<p>As you can see, there are many issues with this. I developed it in D76 for 10% longer than 1600... IIRC that was 14 min or so.</p>

<p>I would like to not make any mistakes with this roll, if there is anything nearly as good as the other roll.</p>

<p>Any opinions?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>I'd use Microphen stock solution (undiluted) for 20-30 minutes. Some folks prefer HC-110 and other developers for old film (whether exposed and left undeveloped, or unused old film recently exposed), but I've had good luck with Microphen for pushed Tri-X, old Tri-X and even a 7-year-old neglected roll of exposed but undeveloped TMX.</p>

<p>If you'd care to get really tricky, after normal agitation technique for the first 5-10 minutes (the usual inversions at one minute intervals), switch to agitation at 2-3 minute intervals. I make no guarantees because this is entering voodoo territory. But it seemed to help or, at least, did no harm (no uneven development, streaking, etc.)</p>

<p>In my experience, D76, ID-11 and similar developers have long since been surpassed by better soups for pushing and salvaging old film. Even with fresh, recently exposed pushed Tri-X and even Delta 3200 at 1600-3200 I was disappointed with ID-11, prompting my switch to Microphen and a few others. (I still like ID-11 for normally exposed films - lovely stuff with Tri-X or HP5+ at EI 200-400.)</p>

[bill_rhodes]

<p>That is interesting. I will pick up some Microphen, and give that a try. Here is another pic from the same roll, which would have been dynamite, but...</p>

<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3532/3299428876_94f64dcee4.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="248" /></p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Getting any image at all from pushed film more than a year old is a bonus. The latent image is very unstable. I've seen a loss of lower midtone detail (there never was any real shadow detail) in Tri-X and TMY pushed to 1600 when I'd delayed processing by as little as a month. So if you get anything at all in pushed film after several years you're ahead of the game.</p>

<p>But, sure, something like Microphen, DD-X, Xtol, T-Max developer, Acufine, HC-110 or a few others will help. Almost anything is better than D-76, Rodinal, Ilfosol-S and several others I've tried for pushing. And while Diafine is often recommended for pushing Tri-X to 1600 I'd strongly advise against using it for old film. Much as I love the stuff for fresh, recently exposed Tri-X, it produces severe fogging with expired Tri-X and old exposed film (including some old stock of ISO 50 film). Not the best choice for that application.</p>