Latent Image

[gerald_widen]

I'm looking to setting up a darkroom upstairs which won't be ready

for around 3-4 months. I've been shooting XP2 Super with nice results

the past few years only having the 4X6 prints to go by. When set up

I'll print those negatives. However I decided to try Delta 400. I

would like to shoot a few rolls but wondering if there will be any

loss of image quality if I don't develop the negatives for 3 or 4

months. I presently don't own any darkroom equipt and waiting for the

room to be set up before buying anything, thinking there are great

deals with enlargers including all or most of the equiptment I will

need. I'd prefer not to start buying piecemeal now.

[tom_menegatos]

Why bother? By a small tank and reel, the chemicals and load the film in a closet. You don't need a "darkroom" to process film.

 

The latent image starts to fade after a while and any testing will reflect that small change. On top of that, when you frist try out film it's a good idea to develop it fairly soon because even if you take good notes you're better off when the memory of what you were doing (as well as the film) is still fresh.

 

Unless you plan to develop your film 3-4 months after you shoot it what's the point? I don't get it.

[gerald_widen]

Tom, thanks for the response. Even when I had a darkroom 30 or so years ago I loaded the small tanks in a closet so that is not my concern. Since I need an enlarger I am trying to avoid spending money on equiptment I can probably get for "free" with the enlarger. (Small tank,reels,thermometer,sponges,weights,containers,etc necessary for the film only) and I don't want to spend the $75 or so if I don't have to. I don't shoot all that much maybe a 2 or 3 rolls a month and wanted to have some traditional negatives available to print for comparison. If there will be some loss of image quality I'll either have to wait or bite the bullett and purchase some equiptment now.

[lwg]

I have had film get lost and not devoloped it for over 6 months. I couldn't see any difference between a roll shot the same day. The film was delta 100. I think you will be fine.

[ken_heflinger]

Gerald,

 

I believe that Richard Henry did some experiments on this and reported his finding in his book "Controls in Black and White Photography." It has been a while since I read the book .. but I believe that he said that there was little to no degradation of the image after one year.

 

I have had plenty of film that I sat on for months and months .. with no noticable effects. The latent image appears to be surprising stable. If you check the archives here you will find others that have found rolls under car seats etc. developed them normally and found pictures taken several years ago that were very printable.

 

Ken

[don_schreiber]

Gerald, I've posted this information somewhere before, maybe here, so I'll make it short. It's also something for digital photographers to consider since everything about digital changes so rapidly. Anyway, I found a roll of film in my basement. I developed it in Diafine, so the type of film, EI, etc. was not a problem. That roll of Ilford HP5 had been misplaced for about 16 years. The pictures were of my daughter as a toddler. She's now 19. The negatives were easy to print; actually, a bit contrasty, so I used a #1 filter. It's an extreme example, but B&W photo materials, even latent images, have remarkable staying power.

[eric_pederson]

Put the film in the freezer and don't worry... I haven't run tests, but routinely develop film months after (I like to do it in batches). Just be sure everything has warmed up before you open it to develop...