Found film in freezer-Yikes

[Jaans]

I recently discovered a bag of TRI-X in the back of my freezer that is dated about a year and a half ago. I want to develop this film and was wondering the best way. I have done some research on this and many tips point to Kodak HC110.

Has anyone else been in the same predicament and used HC110? I have a lot of previous experience with Dilutions B (16ml), E (12ml) and H (8ml) with 500ml of water - but this was done with film that was relatively freshly exposed!

I am starting to lean towards Dilution H to do this as that was the best dilution I could get repeatable results.

I did some searches here as well, and found some lovely examples by Charjohncarter (I hope you don't mind me referencing your work!) that were done with HC110 H 500ml + 2.5ml of Rodinal. 11:30mins, 30 second initial agitation, then 3 inversions at 10 minutes and then 5 minutes counting down 68F.

My conundrum is that all of my previous work was processed with TRIX and Rodinal so i want to continue a similar grain pattern, hence the idea of mixing HC 110 with Rodinal. The HC110 will hopefully eliminate some of the fog.

Also, does anyone know where I can get HC110 in Australia? Vanbar doesn't seem to be carrying this developer anymore. I think B@H maybe the only option.

 

[Moriturii]

Are you asking how to develop B&W film in general or "old" film? If it's the latter case then continue as you are. A year and a half "old" B&W that has been in the freezer is basically as good as new and you will probably see next to no deterioration of image quality.

I on the other hand have Tri-X from 1984, expired 1986, now that's another story!

 

[Jaans]

Sorry for the confusion!

To clarify: the film that I found has already been used and was exposed one and a half years ago. I am worried about inherent levels of fog that could 'obscure' the latent image.

The film was well stored in a fridge, so heat will not have affected it.

I have heard that HC110 is the best developer to use to cut through base fog.

 

[Moriturii]

I see. Same, should be little to no difference in fog or such from fresh film. Garry Winogrand did the same thing, but he left a bunch of his film in DRAWERS that were several YEARS old. Just develop them as you like.

As far as HC110, I can't comment, never used it, but I know there are a lot of users in this forum who have, but good luck!!

I am interested in this thread though, since my Tri-X from 1984 is quite a bit of fog on the film base.

 

[jordanstarr]

HC-110 is what I use for Tri-x. I even developed a roll from 1983 with very little fogging. The developer you chose will not likely have much effect on fog control, if any at all. I would probably give it a little more time than what is required, just incase some of the speed is lost, but not much. Maybe a minute more.

 

[Jaans]

Moriturii: thanks for the input. I have also heard about and saw an interview with Winogrand where he was stuffing film into his drawers. The drawers were packed to the brim with film. It was an incredible sight.

He said that he developed his film after a long period of time so as to remove any emotional connection from his photos. Personally, I have always been of the opinion that he had a huge backlog of exposed film that couldn't be developed due to time constraints. The emotional part was his twist to partly justify that long lag between exposure and development.

Actually, in my case the reverse is true - I am really excited to see what is on that film, to the point where I think it will be impossible not to be emotional when they are pulled from my Jobo tanks.

Jordanstarr: thanks for that tip about increased development time. It will be a tricky situation because most of them were exposed at EI:250 due to strong highlights. Preserving these highlights will be tricky as I need to increase development time.

If anyone else has experience with this, don't hesitate to drop a line^!^

 

[Jaans]

Has anyone else mixed HC110 with Rodinal? If so, how did you do it? What measurements/dilutions/time/agitations system did you use?

 

[ferider]

Check with Robert/Honus@RFF, Jaans.

 

[Jaans]

Thanks Ferider for that tip!

 

[Pablito]

the only thing you really need to be concerned about is damage to the emulsion from frost. Thaw very slowly to avoid condensation. Otherwise the images should be fine so long as they were properly exposed to begin with.

 

[Jaans]

Pablito: the films were in their individual containers and then wrapped in a plastic bag. Hopefully this should have protected them enough.

 

[maddoc]

A couple of month ago I developed a couple of rolls that were in the fridge and exposed ~ two years ago. No problems at all, I used HC-110 "B" (1 + 7 mixed from stock-solution as I usually do) without any corrections.

I tried HC-110"B" with Rodinal 1:100. For a 500 ml tank, I used 62ml (theoretical 62.5 ml) stock-solution, 433 ml water, and 5ml Rodinal. I could not really see an advantage over HC-110 so stopped using this mix after some rolls.

 

[clayne]

D-76 1+1 and be done. There's really no large risk factor here. The film is fine.

 

[sevo]

I recently discovered a bag of TRI-X in the back of my freezer that is dated about a year and a half ago.

So what? That is not long - even less so if cooled. With Tri-X and other hard to kill "press photographer" types of black and white film, you need not bother with special recipes unless it is a matter of a year in poor (out in a bag in tropical heat) storage, five years in average conditions (room temperature drawer) or at least ten years and frozen.

YMMV if you meddle with film types (e.g. Pan F) notorious for poor latent image keeping - but there, not even freezing or special development are guaranteed to help.

 

[Jaans]

Maddoc: Your experience brings me some level of comfort!

Clayne: Thanks for tip. I generally prefer HC or Rodinal, but will keep that in mind.

Sevo: Thanks for providing some perspective. I guess many of us shoot TRI-X because of its legendary durability. This batch will hopefully prove to be as robust as its namesake.