Pan F+ latent image

[Perkeo Vaskar]

I've read in a few places that if an exposed roll of Pan F (and presumably Pan F+) is left undeveloped for a month or so, it becomes a lost cause, as the images will be unrecoverable. I recently had a minor flood in my basement, and while scrounging around to retrieve items stored directly on the floor before they start to molder, came across a box containing about two dozen rolls of undeveloped 35mm film, all stored in a water-tight manner, thankfully. Two rolls of Pan F+ were among the found rolls.

I decided to try and develop these rolls. I used HC110 dilution D, making 600ml of solution, spiking it with 10mg of benzotriazole solution. I added two minutes to the digitaltruth-recommend development time for exposure at box speed. I haven't scanned the resulting negatives yet, but they look quite serviceable, if a little fogged (in spite of the benzotriazole). In hindsight, perhaps a staining developer might have afforded more contrast. Judging from some of the images on one roll, it must date back at least 10 years. Anyone know when MPEX (Midwest Photo Exchange) in Columbus, Ohio moved away from their High Street location? Exposure of the mentioned roll pre-dates that event.

In short, it appears the death of exposed and undeveloped Pan F+ has been highly exaggerated.

I have a roll of exposed (circa 1990) and undeveloped Panatomic-X. Does anyone have any suggestions of how to proceed with the development of this roll? Recommended developers and times?

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Well you did have to extend the developing time and add an anti-fogging agent to the developer to get those 'serviceable' results. That wouldn't have been needed for HP5 or FP4; so yeah Pan-F does have poor latent image stability.

 

[Perkeo Vaskar]

Well you did have to extend the developing time and add an anti-fogging agent to the developer to get those 'serviceable' results. That wouldn't have been needed for HP5 or FP4; so yeah Pan-F does have poor latent image stability.

Yes, but I'd expect some fogging from virtually any film if development is delayed for a decade after exposure.

I have yet to scan any of the images because my basement is still in shambles, but I'll amend this thread with a few shots when I can. In the meantime, my experience is in sharp (heh) contrast (heh heh) to the expectation described here:

Fadeout: Ilford Pan F Plus

If you’ve never wondered what it’s like to be at a stage of your life where you feel like you are just waiting to die, I recommend bulk-loading Ilford Pan F Plus and not using all of it…

themachineplanet.wordpress.com

Indeed, my experience is much closer to that described in the message to which the above was a response.

It just so happens there are many rolls of HP5+ in that same box. I look forward to seeing how those negs turn out.