Panchromatic Film "Made in Belgium" - developing advice?

Andy Kibber

Andy Kibber

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A family member gave me a roll of exposed 120 film. The only markings on the backing paper are "Panchromatic Made in Belgium".

Some internet research suggests it may be an Agfa product from the 1960s rebadged for drug stores. Potentially 80 ASA.

The film looks like this (no packaging with the roll I have):

4945313939_f26fd15f94_b.jpg

Any thoughts on developing it?
 
Yes I think it's a Gevaert film as well (like ISO 64), as the backing paper looks just like a roll of film I found in a National Graflex that I bought a couple of years ago. Finger to the wind, I developed it in D76 1:1 for 10 minutes and it worked out fine.
 
Almost certainly Gevaert, and probably their version of Verichrome Pan. I shot an unexposed roll of this film about ten years ago, and developed it for increased contrast (increased developing temp.) to work around the "base fog". Though considerably fogged, I was still able to print the photos on the roll, and this also required printing with considerable contrast to get a "normal" result. I'm not sure if the same approach is advisable when attempting to pull old images off the film, some might advise to stand develop at a cool temp. to minimize fog, but then you're going to end up with a very thin image. In any event, my starting point was using time/temp for VP in D76 (I had shot several rolls of 1970s VP at the time so had a basic idea what to expect).
 
I developed the mystery film in HC-110 dilution B for 5 minutes. The image from the backing paper bled through and ruined most of the roll, but there are four images still there. One of a man in a kilt and two of a woman in a top hat and jodhpurs. I believe they are my wife's grandparents, likely taken in the 1960s, at some kind of fancy dress party.

The images are low contrast. Looks like the film is fogged. I plant to make some prints this week.
 
Yes, this was probably Gevaert film. I did think it could be Perutz, but an online check shows this film was made in Germany, like Agfa.

In the 1960s and 1970s there were many brands of "proprietary" B&W roll films. Mostly rebadged stock from Europe, bought in bulk by grocery and drug store chains and sold with their own branded packaging. Almost all had disappeared by the early '70s, replaced by 35mm similarly generic films.

In my home town in eastern Canada we had a studio, basically a counter in our local drug store (= pharmacy) with a closet darkroom at the back of the shop, operated by an older pharmacist who did it mostly as a hobby. He processed our films and contact printed (negatives to be enlarged were sent out to a studio in Moncton, NB) all my family snaps. Many of these I still have in two very old albums. The quality is - fantastic.

As a high school student keen on photography, but without much money to indulge my hobby, I often turned to him for advice. He gave me many useful tips on processing and printing.

His "secret" with all the films he souped was - Dektol, full strength. Three to four minutes. At whatever temperature the room was at the time.

He told me it always produced a usable image. I've used this advice now and then for old films, and it has never let me down. Bearing in mind we all used roll films back then, of course. Hardly anyone had a '35'. I recall the chief pharmacist had a Nikon, probably an F, but he would never ever allow the photo-chemist anywhere near his films.
 
Wikipedia has an interesting list of old films - see their "List of discontinued photographic films."

A lot of interesting (and for many of us, pleasantly nostalgic) as well as informative reading.
 
ozmoose said:
...His "secret" with all the films he souped was - Dektol, full strength. Three to four minutes. At whatever temperature the room was at the time.

He told me it always produced a usable image. I've used this advice now and then for old films, and it has never let me down. Bearing in mind we all used roll films back then, of course. Hardly anyone had a '35'. I recall the chief pharmacist had a Nikon, probably an F, but he would never ever allow the photo-chemist anywhere near his films.
Click to expand...

Ah, brings back memories! I was just starting out and learning photography under the guidance of a dispatcher in the base operations at a NATO airbase near Izmir Turkey in the early 1960's... After normal business hours, one could use the base photo lab for personal stuff. Same as you describe - full-strength Dektol at whatever temperature it was in the tray, left over from the day shift and developed by hand with occasional brief examination under the safelight. We could leave the film hanging to dry and pick it up the next evening, usually with bits of dirt picked up as people moved about. Well, it worked, and I learned. My camera then was a King Regula ;)
 
I have a three roll box of 120 film labeled "REX 120 size all-purpose FILM"
The instruction sheet looks exactly like what's shown in the first photo but with "REX ALL-PURPOSE FILM" at the top.
The rolls are wrapped in green foil and labeled "Made in Belgium"
On the top "Panchromatic High Speed"
ASA Exp. Index: 80 daylight; 64 Tungsten
Weston Exp. Index: 64 daylight; 50 Tungsten
On the bottom it shows Rexall Drug Company
Emulsion No. 21760011
Develop Before Oct 1964
Printed in USA
Made in Belgium
 
ozmoose said:
In my home town in eastern Canada we had a studio, basically a counter in our local drug store (= pharmacy) with a closet darkroom at the back of the shop, operated by an older pharmacist who did it mostly as a hobby. He processed our films and contact printed (negatives to be enlarged were sent out to a studio in Moncton, NB) all my family snaps. Many of these I still have in two very old albums. The quality is - fantastic.
Click to expand...

My roll of film was likely bought and shot in Saint John, NB and my parents grew up in Moncton. Small world!
 
Andy Kibber said:
My roll of film was likely bought and shot in Saint John, NB and my parents grew up in Moncton. Small world!
Click to expand...

This is somewhat off-topic, so I will (try to) keep it brief.

Small world indeed. RFF members come from everywhere. I was born in Chatham and grew up in Moncton and Montreal, later moved to Toronto, Vancouver and in the 1970s to New Mexico where some of my late dad's family settled. Summer vacations and family reunions in Shediac Cape. Spent fun weekends in Saint John in the '60s. An interesting place, as seaports (SJ is on the Bay of Fundy) are. Also Halifax, a unique place.

Photography wasn't an important part of our two families, so I did a lot of it after I got seriously into it in 1961. Sadly, very few old negatives still exist of that time, I gave almost all of them away to the 'rels' so they could get prints.

Now and then people I know come to me with old films to be processed. A few good rules here are to never ever promise them anything by way of results and use Dektol to try to bring out anything left on those ancient emulsions.

Let us know the results, please. I know we all wish you well in this 'experiment', and we like to know the end results of such efforts.

(Added later) I've edited this post, to make it more brief and keep it relevant to the topic of old films.)
 
There was a gentleman (Gene M.) from my home state that used to post on photo.net. He was known for developing found films and providing development tips.

Here's his main web site: http://westfordcomp.com/ and found film section: http://westfordcomp.com/updated/found.htm

Click on his name above and go through his threads and web site. Lots of gems in there.

In his Scary Aunts thread, he gives this tip for his found films development:

I use HC-110(H) for nearly all of my films, found or otherwise.
Click to expand...
 
Snap of prints from the mystery roll. I printed them last night. Forgive the poor quality phone pic!
 

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ozmoose said:
Did I say brief, ha!!
Click to expand...

Haha! No need to be brief. SEA & Oz are about as far as you can get from NB (geographically). My father would have been about your age. Last name is Sowerby. He grew up on High Street in Moncton. My grandmother is a Gallant from Shediac.
 
I'll tag on -- my Irish ancestors (McAleers from Tyrone) settled in Saint John when they came over (1830s I think). Then one of them, my direct ancestor, moved down to Boston.
 
Freakscene said:
They look fantastic. How did you end up developing them?
Click to expand...

Thanks! I developed the film in HC-110 dilution B for 5 minutes, roughly based on Kodak Verichrome Pan development times. The negatives have very low contrast. Not much grain.

For the prints I used my standard split-grade approach, which resulted in a lot of grade 5 filter time.
 
Andy Kibber said:
Thanks! I developed the film in HC-110 dilution B for 5 minutes, roughly based on Kodak Verichrome Pan development times. The negatives have very low contrast. Not much grain.

For the prints I used my standard split-grade approach, which resulted in a lot of grade 5 filter time.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information. HC-110 is definitely the way to go with expired film.

Marty
 
This is good information to have. Especially so as it now seems HC-110 is again being sold in Australia.

It was a developer I used for many years (along with my old "standard" brew, D-76) until it became unavailable here.

By coincidence, someone I know will be bringing me two rolls of 20+ year old Tri-X this weekend for "charity" processing. We both live in hope.

I will be visiting my retail supplier (Vanbar Photographics in Fitzroy, Melbourne) in the near future and I will get a bottle of it then.

PS Nice "vintage" images of the lady in jodhpurs and a kilted gentleman...
 
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