Salvaging damaged film

V

varjag

Guest
Knowing that there is a certain chance of finding film within old cameras, I opened my newly acquired Tenax first time in the dark and indeed, there was a roll! ORWOColor UT 16, long expired. So the plan was to give it a bath in Microphen and see what comes out.

Trouble came when I tried to load the film onto the tank reel. The last owner probably had no idea that one should depress rewind release button for rewinding, and torn the perforations for most part along the whole length of film!

So now it essentially consists from 3 separate strips, loosely connected in a few points. At this point of story, I would appreciate anyone's advice on how should I approach development? My first thought is to fluff it in a random pile and put into some suitable container, but there is a concern that areas where film strips touch together would remain undeveloped.

Anyone has better ideas?
 
You could source a thinner developing reel? 127 maybe? Look at the spy cameras like f-21 or whatever they are (from russia/german robot's) and see what tanks they use. Otherwise buy a cheap spool and 'modify' it :)
 
It's possible that a plastic reel that can adjust to accept 16mm film might be put in an intermediate width to deal with 35mm film with the edges torn off.

I've also seen developing tanks that instead of a rigid reel use a sort of corrugated plastic strip that coils along with the film to keep it separated from itself. That wouldn't depend on the film edges being present to work normally I think.

Another possibility, pretty simple, is tray development. This is the way I started out souping roll film (in a military photo lab open to hobby use after hours). Not ideal, but cheap... Use an open container with developer at the desired temp. In the dark, pull the film from the cassette and with each hand grasp one end of the film. Start the timer, and dip the film in the container... it won't all fit at once, so let the film sag in a big U shape and raise and lower your hands alternately so that one end of the film gets in the soup while the other is held up in the air. This of course means constant agitation, but if you try to keep each part of the strip of film in the liquid about the same proportion of the time, development can be pretty even. You'll need another such container with water rinse or stop bath, and a third with fixer. Worth a try, anyway, with an outdated film, and without buying extra gear...
 
Thanks for your valuable input folks. So far am leaning towards tray development: I don't have any reels that can be adjusted to less than 35mm, and it's just not worth buying extra equipment for one-off curiosity project.
 
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