OT:(so shoot me) 150 Rolls of Verichrome Circa 1965- Now what.

Ok before I get flamed, I know this should probably go to r.p.f+l, but
we all know the most answers will come from here (and its more
chemically oriented anyway; I think).

I bought 150 rolls of Verichrome 120 for about $5 at a flea last week
with an expiration date of ~November, 1965.

I did this for two reasons- First, thats damn cheap film no matter how
old it is. Second, I want to play with this stuff and see what
happens. I play.

Ok, so- the big question is- Assuming that the film is still
moderately functional after being expired for 35+ years, should I
expect to see the output characteristics of the film from what it
would have looked like developed in say, 1964? Does that make any
sense?

Perhaps an example is motion picture film- From what I understand,
there are companies that store stock film such as really, really old
Technicolor film to be used, today, for that "old" effect for movies,
etc. I am wondering if the same thing would be true if I used the
same recommended developer combination on the box, sans the fact that
it hasn't been in a freezer for 35 years.

Bueller?

Cheers,
-sd
http://www.zoom.sh

 

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Given that you have 150 rolls of the stuff, why not shoot and process
one as thought it were fresh stock? That should give you some baseline
data to operate with.

The good news is that Verichrome has a reputation of holding up very
well. The bad news is that it's 40 years old and was probably stored in
a basement filled with radon!

As a general rule old films tend to lose speed and pick up background
fog from stray radiation. My guess is that you might find yourself
increasing development times to build up your highlights enough to get
a decent contrast range.

FWIW,

Sean

 

Throw it away. It's unlikely to be any good at all.

 

Other than a similar ASA speed, Verichrome Pan and Plus-X have little in
common. Verichrome Pan was a thick emulsion film, and Plus-X is a newer
thin-emulsion design.

 

Note that it's Verichrome PAN (sensative to all colors) and not
Verichrome, an orthocrhomatic (no red sensitivity) film discontinued in
the 50's. I started developing film around that time (closer to 67 or
68) and having read everybook in the library, developed my first roll of
Verichrome in trays using a red safelight.

Well, it was Verichrome Pan, and I had a perfect black strip of plastic. :-(

Popular developers around that time were D-76, Edwal FG-7 and Rodinal.

Geoff.

 

Throw it away. It's unlikely to be any good at all.

Most photographs that we take has an "opportunity cost." If the image is not
good because the materials are bad, that exact image (including the time and
materials it takes to make it) is usually lost forever.

If one is a photographer, then it should be tossed. If he wants to just play
with cameras and films, then he should do whatever he wants. I am not really
sure why someone with 150 rolls of the stuff is asking advice, since the
only way to know for sure is to experiment with the actual film.

 

(Michael Scarpitti) wrote:

}> Ok before I get flamed, I know this should probably go to r.p.f+l,
but
}> we all know the most answers will come from here (and its more
}> chemically oriented anyway; I think).
}>
}> I bought 150 rolls of Verichrome 120 for about $5 at a flea last
week
}> with an expiration date of ~November, 1965.
}
}Throw it away. It's unlikely to be any good at all.


Not so.

There are users of obsolete film formats who buy film even older than
1965 and use it ... The results, of course, vary a lot.

Mind you, I haven't done this yet myself, but I do have a half-exposed
roll of Tri-X 120 from about 1973 that I may finish off soon and have
processed, see what happens. I just stopped using that camera, and
forgot about the film in it!

I know I read reports on more than one website from users of greatly
outdated B&W film, but can't find the references right now.

(Color is another story. There are two companies I know of that
specialize in processing ancient film, mainly film that was exposed
decades ago rather than old film recently exposed. They recommend that
color film be processed as B&W if it's older than a certain age. These
services are not cheap, BTW.)

Back on topic, I'd run a few rolls through a camera, since you have so
many, and see what you get. Personally, I'd try using a lower ASA,
excuse me, ISO, rating, to try and overcome the fog that will have
undoubtedly accumulated over the years. Experiment with developing -
if you can, I'd develop by inspection, an almost arcane skill these
days, I'll bet. Need a certain dark green safelight for the process.
Look in older photography books for the procedure and details. Last
time I did this was in 1962, so I really don't remember.

Good luck!

 

Funny you should mention. I developed my first roll, at the age of 8,
using the instructions in "Boys' First Book of Photography." A
Tri-Chem pack, 3 glass mixing bowls (a good idea - won't scratch the
film when it is see-sawed), and a red Christmas tree light. Devastation -
the film turned black before my eyes -- what was I going to tell all
the people I had photographed with my trusty Empire Baby?

 

Maybe, and maybe I will win the lottery this week.

 

You asked for advice, I gave it. Throw the stuff away.

 

I shot some kodak verichrome pan in a kodak VPK I bought specifiacally after
finding the film (which was 127) which was in my parents stuff, It expired
in 1968 the negs were a little thin and flat but that was when I wasnt
processing film at home myself so I dont have anyidea how theywere
processed. If you would like scans I would be happy to provide them.

-Lyle Gordon

 

Don't throw it a way. Shoot some test rolls. I'd cut the EI in half, and
develop a little longer, say 25%, than normal. When you see what kind of
results you get, and if you like it, find appropriate subject matter. I had
a box of Polaroid 4x5 color film that got mistakenly left in a garage all
summer. After I found the film, I gave it a try. Hm. The orange mottled
look. After doing a little pondering, I took close up pictures of
jack-o-lanterns. One of them turned out very well. Whenever I show it
people are very intrigued. Well, first they're scared as the carving is of
a screaming face, then their intrigued.

-Peter De Smidt

 

Masochists..

 

That'd be cool to see one or two scans if you have access to a good
multi-pass scanner so I can enlarge high. Otherwise, no biggy- I'll
just scan them when I get around to buying a $500 MF adapter for my
8000

Cheers!

Cheers,
-sd
http://www.zoom.sh

 

Sorry the scans are just from my flatbed epson 1200. not great but you can
see the image clearly.

-Lyle

 

Make up a developer based on the combination of Glycin and some kind
of Para-Phenylene-Diaminen agent. I found that giving a full stop
more of exposure and a relatively concentrated developer of the sort I
mentioned will give some full range, low fog images. I did this with
the loads of Ansco Super Hypan that I had , still have some, and it
worked well. The Ansco film was interesting in that it had a duoble
layer construction, so that to get a tonally useful negative, both
layers had to be developed properly. With seriously outdated film
this can become impossible.

I also used a Sease type developer for seriously outdated color
reversal film. I?t worked as a BW first developer by increasing the
Sulfite content and addding some accellerator. The main benefit of
the Sease type developer for me was the suppression of fog.

 

Actually, he saved the guy the trouble of hauling the lot to the dumpster
and tipped him five bucks to boot...

 

There 120 so he cant really reload the spools, well atleast not very easily.

-Lyle

 

Or he bought 150 film canisters for reloading for 3 cents a piece. Sounds
like a steal.

Nick

 

Add some benzotriazole to the developer. It's the same as Kodak Antifog #1.
It's recomended to stopt fog bilding up during development of film that is
very old.

Please send me information after your test to .

Regards

Victor Falkteg