boomer33do
Hello,
I’m currently in the process of getting my old darkroom up and running again after about seven years.
Thank goodness we have the internet these days (though it was brilliant back then too...)
Now I’ve got two older, exposed films lying around. An ORWO that’s about 10 years old and
an HP5. I could probably find the ‘standard’ development times somehow. But what do I need to bear in mind given their age? Develop them for longer? If so, by how much? Or use a stronger concentration?
I’ve got hold of the good old Rodinal for developing.
Oh, and I’ve also got a few older ‘fresh’ films in the fridge. They’ve been out of date for about 3 years. Can they still be used???
Many thanks for your help!!
Roman
I’d just develop the old films as normal; it usually works without any problems (though there might be a bit more base fog). I once found an exposed roll film in the Ikonta belonging to a good friend’s late father; it turned out to be from the early 1980s and developed without any trouble (only the numbers from the backing paper had transferred onto the film base).
And black-and-white films that are three years past their expiry date are no problem at all (OK, with a TMax 3200 or similar, the speed might drop a bit); I still use Efke and Fuji films myself that expired in 2003. I’d be more concerned about slide or colour negative films.
SamuliSchielke
I recently developed some 10- to 15-year-old FP4 film; it came out well, though, as Roman mentioned above, with a slightly increased base fog. With old films, however, you should treat the emulsion as gently as possible, i.e. above all, don’t process it at too high a temperature and avoid temperature fluctuations (yes, I know, you should really always do this, but sometimes you’re in a hurry and develop at 30 degrees, fix at 20 and rinse at 25 or so...). With the FP4 in question, the emulsion curled in two places, probably because there were quite significant temperature fluctuations during the rinsing stage, which wouldn’t have bothered a new film, but certainly did a 10-year-old one.
Samuli
Gast
Hello!
That’s a tricky question. Since the films have been exposed, the latent image has faded somewhat by now. I’d say you’d need to add 10–20%, and perhaps even more, but that would require a particularly mild developer.
Roland
