Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => The Wet Darkroom => Topic started by: mahleu on November 21, 2007, 10:46:55 am

Title: Very old film
Post by: mahleu on November 21, 2007, 10:46:55 am

So I just aquired:

10 rolls of ilford Pan F 50
6 rolls Ilford Hp5 400

They expired in 1991 and haven't been refridgerated for a long time. If I use them will I get anything useable?

If I do use them should I change anything specific? Will they benefit from pushing or pulling?

Title: Very old film
Post by: wolfnowl on November 21, 2007, 04:10:32 pm

Really hard to tell.  Try one and see what happens.  You can probably expect colour shifts, but OTOH, you might get some interesting effects!

Mike.

Title: Very old film
Post by: mahleu on November 21, 2007, 04:31:03 pm

Quote

Really hard to tell.  Try one and see what happens.  You can probably expect colour shifts, but OTOH, you might get some interesting effects!

Mike.
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All the films are black and whites, so I'm not expecting colour shifts

Title: Very old film
Post by: johnbeta on November 21, 2007, 04:48:10 pm

Quote

All the films are black and whites, so I'm not expecting colour shifts
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The 3 biggest problems you are facing are loss of film speed and contrast and possible inherent fogging of the film base. You might want to start by increasing dev. time by 15-20%. If you get fog then you could try a lite potassium ferrocyanide bath. You can increase contrast somewhat with selenium toner. See if you can find a copy of the Kodak lab book. Thats the big red one, I forgot the complete name. Long time no use.  
John Betancourt
San Juan, PR

Title: Very old film
Post by: wolfnowl on November 22, 2007, 01:53:45 am

Quote

All the films are black and whites, so I'm not expecting colour shifts

That's what I get for not reading the post fully!

It's been some 20 years since I was inside a darkroom, but I remember a book from Kodak called the Black and White Darkroom Dataguide, or something like that.  IIRC it was only about Kodak products so it might only be peripherally useful with Ilford.  Of course, you could also go to: http://www.ilford.com (http://www.ilford.com) and ask them...

Mike.

Title: Very old film
Post by: mahleu on November 22, 2007, 10:44:53 am

This was taken last night on the expired hp5. I had to bump it up a bit in PS which backs up the idea that it loses it's sensitivity with time. I'm still quite impressed with it though.

Title: Very old film
Post by: mahleu on November 22, 2007, 10:46:29 am

This was taken last night on the expired hp5. I had to bump it up a bit in PS which backs up the idea that it loses it's sensitivity with time. I'm still quite impressed with it though.

Title: Very old film
Post by: SecondFocus on November 27, 2007, 07:51:35 pm

I wonder if we be able to use the same flash cards we are using 15 years from now

Title: Very old film
Post by: framah on January 23, 2008, 05:05:56 pm

Yep... Mike was right. There's a definite color shift!!      

Looks pretty good.