Are you old enough to remember?

[x-ray]

I must confess I’ve been lazy. I haven’t been in the darkroom in a while so I went to my darkroom this evening to see what chemicals I have and retrieve my “Photo Lab Index”. I have a nice supply of raw chemicals to compound my own and thought it might be a chance to try something different.

While going through my chemical closet I ran across some relics of days gone by.

Are you old enough to remember chemicals in steel cans? 75 cents for a quart size Dektol?

Through the years I’ve also save rolls of film that have been discontinued. Do you remember Adox KB14 and KB17? How about 120 Kodachrome 64 and Ektachrome-X? And there was Panatomic-X and old original TX with the king leader for your favorite Barnack.

Do you remember the Photo Lab Index? It was a subscription service and updates were sent out monthly. It basically contained all the data on all current film and paper emulsions as well as chemicals from every manufacturer. And no darkroom would have been complete without lab quality glass graduated cylinders, FR print tongs and film clips. Even darkrooms have almost become a thing of the past.

Post your memories and photos.

Do you have any relics of the past?

 

[maddoc]

Looking for empty film canisters to bulk load a 100ft roll, I found a roll of Kodachrome 25. I have one old roll of a Japanese BW film also, something like Neopan F.

 

[JeffS7444]

I think I've seen Dektol being sold new in cans, and I recall buying Acufine like that. And Rodinal sold in brown glass bottles.

Then there was the Gitzo tripod brochure published by Karl Heitz, with their "Lifetime plus reincarnations" warranty.

And within the last couple of years, I was tempted to buy a couple of very vintage rolls of Zeiss Ikon-branded 120 film as collectables, but chickened out because I didn't know whether the base material might be nitrate, and whether such can be safely collected.

 

[titrisol]

My PhotoLab Index is green, and was last updated in 1955
It belonged to a friend of my grandfather, who passed it on to my uncle, who passed it on to me
Ethol LPD was my poison of choice for paper developer, it used to come in cans as well.

 

[x-ray]

I’m amazed just looking at the film and artifacts what’s been discontinued. It’s really sad because there were great products that are now gone. Agfa, Ansco, DuPont, Forte plus so many great Kodak emulsions. I never was a Plus-X lover but miss Panatomic-X and Microdol developer (still have a few gallon packs) and really miss the old Tri-X.

I loved Agfa Portriga and especially DuPont Varilour papers and in warm tone Forte Poly Warm-tone plus. I bought a large quantity of Agfa variable contrast fiber base paper and still have about 300 sheets remaining and still one precious box of Forte Poly Warmtone Plus.

We still have some excellent products though and I’ve been stockpiling them just incase they’re discontinued.

Almost forgot I have a bunch of 120 and 35 in Fuji 100 Neopan and Acros 400 and a nice stash of Adox/Efke 25 and 50 in 35, 120 and 5x7 plus some Neofin Blue to run it in. But what to shoot it in?

What were-are your favorite films and papers of old.

 

[x-ray]

My PhotoLab Index is green, and was last updated in 1955
It belonged to a friend of my grandfather, who passed it on to my uncle, who passed it on to me
Ethol LPD was my poison of choice for paper developer, it used to come in cans as well.

I was 7 in 55 and was when I got my first camera, a Brownie Star Flash. I still have it and some 127 film and should get it out. I even have some bulbs for the flash.

LPD is without a doubt the best paper developer I’ve ever used. I have several packs and remember the cans.

Ethol UFG was another great film developer my coworkers used in the 60’s and 70’s. And I used many of the amber glass bottle Rodinal’s with the rubber stopper. We used a hypodermic syringe and needle to measure the amount.

The studio I apprenticed in used DK-50 in deep tanks. If I remember correctly the cans had a part A and B. You’d use a can opener on the top and dissolve that powder in water as instructed then puncture the bottom of the can and dissolve part B in the part A solution.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Aren't you old enough if you don't remember.
Those chemicals in tins were sold by Burlington Camera in Burlington Ontario by my darkroom time between 2012 and 2022. As is of course.

 

[Alpsman]

My father didn't have a darkroom, but I can still remember the tin cans for the film cartridges.

 

[CMur12]

When I started out with my first serious 35mm camera (1972), I shot a lot of Agfachrome CT-18 (US $2.98 for a roll of 20 exposures with developing!), Kodachrome X, Kodachrome II, and Ektachrome X. I also liked GAF 64 for fall colors. Later, when it became available, I shot Kodachrome 64 in 120, with exceptional results. All of these slides still look great, unlike the experience of some others with Agfachrome CT-18.

I remember family slides on the original Kodachrome and on Anscochrome (which later became GAF).

- Murray

 

[titrisol]

LPD is without a doubt the best paper developer I’ve ever used. I have several packs and remember the cans.

Ethol UFG was another great film developer my coworkers used in the 60’s and 70’s. And I used many of the amber glass bottle Rodinal’s with the rubber stopper. We used a hypodermic syringe and needle to measure the amount.

LPD was amazing,
Highly diluted LPD produced the most beautiful warm tones; and changed the way prints toned

I never tried UFG, but yes my dad used Rodinal and when we moved my mom out of the house I found a bottle from the 60s-70s that was still active 30yrs later

 

[x-ray]

Agfachrome had beautiful color but like the early Fujichrome it faded quickly.

Ektachrome-X was my favorite 35mm color but Ektachrome Professionsl 120 had the most beautiful warm skin tones and spring greens. Properly processed and stored it still looks good but not all processing was equal. I have some that’s just red now. Very sad!

Kodachrome-X was asa 64 and had a salmon cast to skin tones. I liked Kodachrome II much better but due to having to send it to Atlanta for processing it made it difficult to use for work. Kodak occasionally screwed up processing too. I had one big job destroyed by them in Atlanta. At that point I pretty much stopped using Kodachrome.

KoFe Kodak stopped putting chemicals in cans in the late 70’s or early 80’s in the US. I’m wondering if your dealer had a lot of old stock.

 

[Dralowid]

In the UK...

Johnson Developers and Instructions

Johnsons of Hendon ~ Home Photography

www.photomemorabilia.co.uk

 

[raydm6]

Vintage Polaroid peel-apart land film and the messy coating sticks.

 

[wlewisiii]

Loved Plus-X and basically walked away from Kodak when it was discontinued. Thank whatever you care to thank for Ilford.

My current batch of Diafine (mumble x years old) came in a pair of steel cans. I think Accufine might still do that?

 

[Dogman]

The newspaper where I spent 12 wonderful years (and 3.5 or so miserable ones) used DK-50 in deep tanks. Give Tri-X about 2 minutes when the stuff was fresh, more as it turned urinary shades. We affectionately called it "DK-grain" but we were always in a rush and 2 minutes was considerably less than what good negatives required. Once while cleaning the lab I discovered nearly a full case of Edwal FG7 in glass bottles. It was great stuff and worked great for high school football where the entire fields could be lit with 100 watt bulbs covered in spider webs. That's exaggeration, yeah, but I recall not being able to get a usable reading with a Luna Pro meter on one of those fields. The trick with FG7 was to pre-soak the film for a minute or two, develop it and then let it soak for 4-5 minutes before fixing. You would get something printable this way.

We eventually got a Royal Print Processor for B&W papers. That was a godsend for those on-deadline pictures. And the prints didn't look too bad either. Better than printing wet negatives in an AF Leitz enlarger and giving editors wet fiber prints. Then came color. Wing-Lynch processors and Fujimoto enlargers. God but I hated shooting color for the newspaper!

In my home darkrooms, I used glass bottle Rodinal measured with a hypodermic needle or D-76 1:whatever for film and LPD 1:3 for paper. Had to switch to Dektol when the LPD disappeared. Lost my favorite papers over the years--Medalist, Portriga-Rapid, Brovira, etc. Finally just accepted that nothing was ever made just to make me happy and settled on Ilford RC paper until I switched to digital.

Lots of memories tied up in the old chemistries. I kinda get a cold sweat thinking about it. Makes me wanna kiss my D700s.

 

[Oren Grad]

Then there was the Gitzo tripod brochure published by Karl Heitz, with their "Lifetime plus reincarnations" warranty.

Yes! 🙂

 

[x-ray]

I still use my Kodak darkroom guide. I primarily use the processing time calculator. I mainly use it to compensate for adjusting process temperatures when it’s above or below 68F. Great handy tool. Kodak even put actual photographic prints in the guide showing what each paper emulsion, weight and surface looked like.

I don’t remember when manufacturers discontinued putting data sheets with each roll but the contained exposure data, processing data, flash data and other data on the emulsion. I kept a sheet from each emulsion I used and although they’re no longer valid there a fun reminder of what photography used to be.

And here’s a shocker, 500 single weight fiber base sheets of 8x10 DuPont Varilour was $50 retail. Kodak fiber base Poly Contrast was the same price.

 

[Retro-Grouch]

Agfa Brovira. My introduction to the darkroom was with Agfa paper. Loaded with silver! Anyone could get beautiful rich blacks from it, even a rank novice like me.

 

[Oren Grad]

Agfa Brovira. My introduction to the darkroom was with Agfa paper. Loaded with silver! Anyone could get beautiful rich blacks from it, even a rank novice like me.

I used some Brovira early on too. Also worked my way through a 500-sheet box of 5x7 Record Rapid - spotted it at a very nice price in the dense, chaotic Freestyle ad in the back pages of Popular Photography.

 

[x-ray]

The ads in the back of the photo magazines were the main reason I bought them. Willoughby Peerless, Spiratatone and 47st, then there was Helix and Altman in Chicago. Altman was the worlds larges photo supplier in the 70’s. I had to go to Chicago for Photo Expo for the company I worked for. It was around 1972 so I made a point of going to Helix, Altman and Central Camera. Altman was a door down from Central Camera and Altman was 3 floors of everything you could imagine. It was huge and CC a door down was 15’ wide and 50’ derp with camera boxes stacked to the 20’ ceiling. Not much to see in CC.

I have a few camera magazines dating back to 1948, my birth year, and need to revisit them.