Developing 50 year-old Verichrome Pan

[click agent]

My Father passed away recently. In going through his belongings we came across 6 rolls of Kodak Verichrome Pan (127 and 620) that had not been developed. The film is approximately 50 years old at the date of exposure based upon the address and other markings.

 

Can anyone provide suggestions on a lab/artist that might attempt to develop and print the film. Feel free to speculate as to whether or not there can possibly be viable images left to develop. The cartridges are made of paper, but don't have stains from water, etc. The rolls were stored in a basement in a shoe box. Even if nothing turns out, it is worth a few dollars to me to see.

 

Thanks

[brady_dillsworth]

Praus Productions in Rochester NY is well worth a try. They hand process their film, and have no problem with old rolls. I had 11 rolls of Kodak IR film that expired in the 1970's, as well as some recording film that expired in the 1980's that they were able to tell me how to expose as well as know how to develop that film. There website is http://www.4photolab.com/Pages/price01.html, I highly recommend you email them. Edgar, Jennifer, and Mike really know what they are talking about, and if anyone would know how to process this film it would be Mike Parks.

[stephen hazelton]

Where are you at? Here in the Dallas area, BWC comes to mind.

[click agent]

I live in San Diego, but I don't mind shipping.

[kelly_flanigan1]

Have them develop one roll at a time; or even better do a snip test. Usually the base fog will be very large. <BR><BR>Base fog grows when film ages; due to heat; and cosmic rays. Old film is usually developed in a high energy developer; with maybe a 20 to 30% increase in development time ; and requires a very high contrast paper; to get a decent image. If the film was frozen for 50 years after exposure; only the cosmic ray fog is the biggie. Typical room temperature storage raises the base fog very slowly with time; but will be the biggie; in a 50 year old roll. <BR><BR>My 27 year old lost roll of bulk PLUS-X was used to take some photos; the base fog was about 0.6 to 0.8; instead of 0.3. This means the film needs more exposure; to get the image well above the base fog of the film. My 27 year old plus-X was room temperature stored; and now requires about a asa 30 rating; ie 2 stops overexposure; to get a printable image. ASA is based on exposure above base fog. If the base fog goes up; old film must be exposed more; to get the image above the base fog. (the clear unexposed areas will be NOT so clear; as a new roll of film)<BR><BR>Hopefully some of the shots were overexposed; then they will be printable. The asa definition was changed in 1960; I believe Verichrome pan was asa 50; in the late 1940's. There was a 2X safety factor in many pre1960 films<BR><BR>The lab needs to learn from the first roll or snip developed; and NOT develop them all at once; if you feel the images might be important to you.

[kelly_flanigan1]

Old film; like 120 or 620 rolls; SOMETIMES get a real set/curl in the film base; and are real devils to load on reels.

[david_rifkind]

<a href="http://www.filmrescue.com">Film Rescue International</a>.

[click agent]

I'll send one roll to the Canadian outfit, Film Rescue International, and one roll

to the New York outfit. I'll post another message when the images come back,

or don't come back.

[fernando_mcsoto]

Michael, what was the result?

[tom_leiper]

Here's the results I got on a fifty year old roll of exposed Verichrome... 10 min presoak in 75deg distilled water, followed by 10min stock D-76 @68deg.<div></div>

[deny zeiss]

You're all going to smile when I tell you what I have discovered! I purchased through ebay 17 rolls of film VP 130 in tropical packing this means that each roll of film is sealed in a leaded cylinder. The expiry date is : sept 1949! I tried to shoot a roll of film to see if you could get something out of it. The film was developped using the old KODAK CYLINDER tank with the appron which i found also at a store in France, the condition impeccable not any splices and it doesn't breakas you touch it. I have then processed the film using 1 min to the advised time on processing VP film. Two problems occured :

1- the film seemed to not give anything clear the photos were blurry

2- I assume two things : a. either the exposure was not long enough as I used 125 asa on my light meter b. or the liquid in the tank did not go onto the film long enough.

 

So my question is how do I process for :

photo taking what sensitivity should I set the light meter ?

how to proceed in order to obtain a decent photo when developing the film.

I have some 116 and 616 and 122 as well but they are more recent and go back to 1977 I've tried one and they are ok i stuck to the normal process of developping.

 

Thanks for anyone's advice - write back : to denyperso1@wanadoo.fr

directly and I'll be pleased to offer more details.

Denis Morins

Thonon les bains FRANCE

[greg_miller10]

Hello Denis

 

The problem with shooting and developing film this old is that over time film will loose a degree of its sensitivity to light. So much so that we've experience very old film that has been mistakenly opened in the camera in full light and still have developed pictures from them with no apparent effect at all to the recent complete exposure. Strange but true. The problem is that you can have no idea how much to compensate other then by testing. It will all depend on the film type (rolls come out far better then cassettes), whether the rolls were sealed and protected from oxygen and what kind of temperatures it has seen in its history. In our experience humidity has had little ill effect on very old film. We have found that with customers that have found film in very damp but cool basements the results can often be stellar. Unfortunately, in this business we are only as good as our development procedures and do not give out development information. Good luck with your film.

 

Cheers

Greg Miller

Film Rescue International

[kalaam]

I've got 3 rolls of Verichrome pan VP 120 film, and already exposing one, please give me any suggestions on choosing the right EI or exposure correction i should make. And also how to develop them. Thank You.

 

Technical Details:

 

ISO 125/22 degrees

 

Expiry Date: 12/1998

[kalaam]

<p>Voila! Finally got one of those films (VP 125) developed. There is a slight variation in exposures i made since i was shooting on my RB 67, i.e., no meter in it so i had to roughly estimate from my Yashica 35 mm slr's center weighted meter. Also the % of sky is more in the 2nd picture which would have resulted in higher grain (from inaccurate exposures). <br /> My own Verdict: I have also shot few expired HP5 Ilford 400 ISO films earlier which were 4 years old, but resulted in bad grain (D76). In comparision verichromes are lot better and are worth giving a try (if u can find any).<br /> Technical details:<br /> RB67 pro S, 90mm Sekor C Series; Developed in TMax developer (lab). each frame scanned to 400% larger (8x10) setting in my V500 scanner software. The crops are more than 100%.<br /> overall these frames can make decent 8x10 in prints.</p>