# Developing Very Old Film



## old-film-question

When our grandmother died in the 1980s, my brother photographed every room in her home. 

He found the film rolls in a drawer, undeveloped. He used a twin-lens reflex camera, black-and-white film.

They are probably gone, but we're willing to pay a custom lab more to give them extra-special care. Even faded images would be valuable.  Any advice?


----------



## Designer

Ask your lab to show you some examples of old film that they have processed.


----------



## tirediron

As long as there is no issue with light fogging, chances are they'll be fine and develop nicely.  If there's a custom lab in  your area, just bring them, and explain the situation.  Alternatively, if there isn't look for a local camera club.  There is almost certainly at least one member who is a B&W expert and willing to do this for a small fee.


----------



## vintagesnaps

If it's B&W film it might be fine, I got some film out of a family camera that turned out to have pictures of some of my relatives when they were kids (that was in that camera a long time! lol). Color film can shift and the color can be wonky but B&W lasts often indefinitely, depends on how/where it was stored (still in the camera OK unless it was in a hot attic for years) but often some adjustment and restoration can be done.

If it's important you might want to look up Film Recue International, that's what they specialize in. But I agree a good photo lab (probably not the drug or discount store kind) may be able to develop it, and many labs now do mail order.


----------



## Derrel

Old film sometimes develops "fogging", as I understand it. How to develop a old film of the 70's [Archive]  - Rangefinderforum.com

I personallyt developed a 30-year old B&W film roll last year, made a video of it, put it on my YouTube channel, Derrelator. It developed fine in D-76 diluted 1:1 with water.


----------



## 480sparky

If there's more than one roll, you can develop one and see how it comes out.  That will help in how to adjust development for the other rolls.


----------



## old-film-question

Thank you, I appreciate the advice!


----------



## gsgary

Soup it in Rodinal and you will get photos


----------



## Light Guru

480sparky said:


> If there's more than one roll, you can develop one and see how it comes out.  That will help in how to adjust development for the other rolls.



I've heard that a really good way to develop old film is stand developing.


----------



## 480sparky

Light Guru said:


> 480sparky said:
> 
> 
> 
> If there's more than one roll, you can develop one and see how it comes out.  That will help in how to adjust development for the other rolls.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've heard that a really good way to develop old film is stand developing.
Click to expand...


Maybe........ if one is willing to possibly sacrifice enough old rolls to characterize how best to do so.   However, if the OP would list what kind of film it is, perhaps we could narrow down the suggestions.


----------



## Light Guru

480sparky said:


> Maybe........ if one is willing to possibly sacrifice enough old rolls to characterize how best to do so.   However, if the OP would list what kind of film it is, perhaps we could narrow down the suggestions.



Thats the beauty of stand development type or speed of the film does not matter they all get the same development time with stand developing. 
Workflow Tutorial #2: Stand Development with Rodinal | J B Hildebrand Photography


----------



## MartinCrabtree

Rodinal 50:1 for 20 minutes @70*F. Agitate initially then every 4 minutes.


----------



## limr

I agree about the stand developing. It can help bring back some of the contrast that is lost when the film is old.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Has the OP ever developed film? If not I probably wouldn't start out with something like this but get it to a pro lab.


----------



## timor

Send it to me. If it is 120 film, there will be more problems due to possible transfer of pigment from backing paper.


----------



## MartinCrabtree

Hadn't thought about that.


----------



## old-film-question

"if the OP would list what kind of film it is"

I believe it was Tri-X. I don't know the format (my brother took the photos) but it was a twin-lens reflex camera.


----------



## 480sparky

Probably 120.  But it could still be something like 122 or 116.


----------



## timor

480sparky said:


> Probably 120.  But it could still be something like 122 or 116.


Do you know any TLR made for this film formats ?
I am afraid, that it might be 620 shot in some false TLR and it might be grossly underexposed to begin with.
More info OP will have about this, better. Important information would be if flash was used, possibly name of the camera or at least the brand. If the film was all the time in that drawer inside the house. Here the question is about temperature and humidity variation and possible mold in the emulsion. If this is a Kodak, that is a good news, Kodak used good materials which may withstand a bit better haphazard storage.


----------



## 480sparky

timor said:


> 480sparky said:
> 
> 
> 
> Probably 120.  But it could still be something like 122 or 116.
> 
> 
> 
> Do you know any TLR made for this film formats ?......
Click to expand...

You mean like a Mamiya 330? What is 'false TLR'?


----------



## timor

480sparky said:


> timor said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 480sparky said:
> 
> 
> 
> Probably 120.  But it could still be something like 122 or 116.
> 
> 
> 
> Do you know any TLR made for this film formats ?......
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You mean like a Mamiya 330? What is 'false TLR'?
Click to expand...

I asked you, if you know any TLR made for 116 or 122 format film because I don't. That's all. Make me smarter.
Then I expressed worries. To many people pseudo TLR looks like real one, OP maybe one of them. Read my post.
I am trying to think of all problems, which may acure, it doesn't mean, that all of them will. Film will fog and will loose some of the latent image. This things could be dealt with. Proper developer, metol or glycin, as they work cleanly, not phenidon, with some restrained to mitigate the fog and some quinol for added contrast. Not too much sodium sulfit as it will weaken latent image some more. Sodium carbonate will be better, than borax as an activator and buffer. D76 1+1 seems good starting point, but would require addition of restrained and, as it bases on borax, sodium carbonate. About 40% longer dev time for depleted latent image plus additional 5-10% for restrained. Things no one can do much about are pigment transfer, reticulation, mold, cracks of the emulsion. But if the film is TriX odds are good.


----------



## timor

And there is always this:
Samples  |  Film Rescue International


----------



## Derrel

timor said:


> 480sparky said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> timor said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 480sparky said:
> 
> 
> 
> Probably 120.  But it could still be something like 122 or 116.
> 
> 
> 
> Do you know any TLR made for this film formats ?......
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You mean like a Mamiya 330? What is 'false TLR'?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I asked you, if you know any TLR made for 116 or 122 format film because I don't. That's all. Make me smarter.
> Then I expressed worries. To many people pseudo TLR looks like real one, OP maybe one of them. Read my post.
> I am trying to think of all problems, which may acure, it doesn't mean, that all of them will. Film will fog and will loose some of the latent image. This things could be dealt with. Proper developer, metol or glycin, as they work cleanly, not phenidon, with some restrained to mitigate the fog and some quinol for added contrast. Not too much sodium sulfit as it will weaken latent image some more. Sodium carbonate will be better, than borax as an activator and buffer. D76 1+1 seems good starting point, but would require addition of restrained and, as it bases on borax, sodium carbonate. About 40% longer dev time for depleted latent image plus additional 5-10% for restrained. Things no one can do much about are pigment transfer, reticulation, mold, cracks of the emulsion. But if the film is TriX odds are good.
Click to expand...


I would stay the heck away from Rodinol....ugggg...I developed about 50 rolls of film in it in the mid 1980's and am now regretting EVERY SINGLE ONE souped in that stuff.

I'd go with Timor's D-76 developer suggestion and 40% more time than the stock recommendations found online or with the developer. I really don't think stand developing would be the way to go....the film is probably already fogged (cosmic radiation), or from  leakage at the ends of the rolls. If you're really interested in getting it developed properly, look around a bit more. Timor's sort of our go-to-guy on film developement...

As far as not screwing this up...unless you're GOOD at loading 120 rollfilm, your chances of botching the job are pretty high, since this very old film will be curly,and have a very strong "set" to it, so just loading the developing rolls will be a challenge unless you've got the skills to do so.


----------



## MartinCrabtree

Rodinal is a love it or hate it developer. 

I'm good for awhile.


----------



## timor

MartinCrabtree said:


> Rodinal is a love it or hate it developer.
> 
> I'm good for awhile.
> 
> View attachment 113042​


The only one developer you've got ?


----------



## MartinCrabtree

Nah I have some FA-1027.


----------



## timor

MartinCrabtree said:


> Nah I have some FA-1027.


Nice. I tried this one to. Photographers Formulary fluid version of D76 and actually formulation of it made by Kodak's chemists and rejected by the company. Kodak introduced Tmax Dev instead. And right so, why to have two very similar developers on the market. And good for me, I like Tmax Dev more, than D76 or FA 1027.


----------

