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Hello,
I’ve received some ‘leftover materials’ from my old school – photographic paper and 30 metres of Fortepan 400 – all of which had been stored in a dark and relatively cool place.
Unfortunately, the paper seems to be ruined; it doesn’t develop properly at the edges anymore.
But as for the film: it actually expired in February 1999.
I’ve already developed a few rolls of film from this stock, always using Microphen 1+1 (or 1+3).
My first question concerns the base – it’s quite dark, almost twice as dark as a TMax400, for instance. Is that normal, or is it simply a result of age?
The other problem is that on a 10x15 print the image is quite clear, but anything larger (around 18x25) seems to make the image somewhat hazy, sort of out of focus.
But there isn’t any grain visible yet (at least nothing distinct).
I’m wondering if this is down to the developer, whether it’s the wrong developer/film combination, or simply the age of the film.
Regards
Andreas
Wolfgg
Hello Andreas,
The 400 film is likely to have already been exposed to some degree of radiation from natural sources. It’s not for nothing that Kodak stores its master rolls deep inside a mine. The Tri-X in my fridge never lasted more than about six years; by then, the fog had already increased from 0.1D to an annoying 0.3D and above. 100 and 25 films stored in the same fridge at the same time showed no increase in fog.
Regards, Wolfgang
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Hi,
Thanks for your reply :-)
Well, I had a feeling that might be the case – it’s a shame, really, but what can you do?
Let’s see how it goes if I use a different developer; I’ve still got two rolls with exposure left.
Best regards,
Andreas
