Really old kodak film

[steverett]

I bought a set of darkroom equipment, and it came with a bulk loader that had some old film in it. The seller didn't know what type it was, so I developed a strip of it in diafine, thinking the emulsion type would be printed in the margin. Instead, all it says is "Kodak Safety Film," which tells me that it's very old, but that's all.

Any idea how I could figure out what kind of film this is? I suppose I could just test it at different speeds, but I'd still just be guessing on the developing times.

 

[nikon_sam]

Here's a silly question back at ya...
What color is the non-emulsion side of the film???
Back in the days before rocks were invented you could tell the difference between 50, 125 and 400 ASA Kodak film just by the coloring of the non-emulsion side...
Light Gray was 400, there was a greenish one that was either 125 or 50 and I forget what the last one was ...someone out there who remembers please chime in...
If I remember right...the darker the backing the slower the film...right???

 

[bsdunek]

You can test some at different speeds, and if you use Diafine, you don't have to worry about developing time. Then you can go from there.
IMHO, I would just discard it. You don't know how old it is, what kind of conditions it was stored under, etc. If it has developed fog, you will be disappointed when you get an otherwise good photo.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

How long of a strip did you develop? The films in the 60s and 70s had the emulsion numbers in addition to the Safety Film. They may have been separated by a few inches?

 

[venchka]

Son of a gun. The same thing happened to me over the weekend. A complete darkroom came with a Watson bulk loader and some film in it. The writing in the white spaces was very faint. I could make out a "T" and and "x" and "400". I figured Tri-X for sure. So I spooled about 10 frames in one of the empty Kodak cassetes that also came in the big box. I exposed the frames at 100-200-400 and tossed the roll in some D-76 1:1 @ 72 F for 8 minutes. Low and behold the film was TMY. A bit underdeveloped, but all useable.

That's the good news. The bad news: the loader makes a nice uniform scratch the length of the film. Bummer. Any thoughts on curing this?

 

[spyder2000]

Relate the scratch to the location on the film trap, then work that area lightly with a skotch-brite pad. No pressure, just a very light touch at a right angle to the film path.

 

[venchka]

Thanks! I'll pick up a very fine Scotch-Brite pad on my way home tonight. I can feel the rough patches with my finger.

 

[venchka]

Wayne, you Dummy!

Wayne, you Dummy!

SMACKS his head HARD! DUH! 😱

I was loading film with the light trap gate CLOSED! That's why I was scratching the film. I could almost pass this off as an honest mistake...

...if I didn't have the instructions right next to the loader! :bang:

So, the bulk film loader is fine. Now I need some bulk film. 😀

 

[wclavey]

BTW, Wayne, I have seen Watson loaders where people have put self adhesive felt over the 2 edges you Scotch padded smooth... I never really knew why, but now I think it is to help ensure that, in those cases where they forgot to open the film gate, they didn't scratch it much.

 

[venchka]

Thanks Wes. And folks, it was Wes who pointed out the errors of my ways. He showed me all 8 or 11 of his loaders to assure me I was doing it wrong!