4x5 box possibly fogged :(

[nicholai]

Hello!
Looking for advice here.
Whilst in the darkroom, with my safelight on, i opened a box of 4x5 sheets i thought was ortho... off course it turned out it wasn't. I didnt pull the sheets apart, i just took them out of the black bag, when it struck me, i was opening a pan film, and hurried the best i could to shut the lights.
I guess at least the top sheets are ruined. Will the whole package be fogged, or? I don't know how transparent negs are pre-processing.
I hope i havent wasted 50 sheets here.


Cheers
Nic

[Leigh B]

The chances of survival are not good.

Compare the amount of time the sheets were out of the package to a normal exposure time (1/125 or whatever).
You're probably looking at many stops longer exposure during the accident.

Shoot one from the middle of the stack and one from the bottom and see how they look.
Most likely the edges will be fogged. It's all a question of degree.
If the central area appears uncompromised, you can probably shoot with a reduced image area and use the film.

- Leigh

[cliveh]

Hello!
Looking for advice here.
Whilst in the darkroom, with my safelight on, i opened a box of 4x5 sheets i thought was ortho... off course it turned out it wasn't. I didnt pull the sheets apart, i just took them out of the black bag, when it struck me, i was opening a pan film, and hurried the best i could to shut the lights.
I guess at least the top sheets are ruined. Will the whole package be fogged, or? I don't know how transparent negs are pre-processing.
I hope i havent wasted 50 sheets here.


Cheers
Nic

Sorry to learn about your mishap and hope you can salvage some of them. However, If they are fogged and you decide to throw them away, can you perhaps quote postage to send them to England, as I can use them for my students.

[Sirius Glass]

Without any more light exposure, process the top two sheets. Then process a sheet from the middle and from the bottom. That should give you a profile of the damage, if any.

[cmacd123]

have heart. Movie film is often supplied rolled on a spool with no protection and the instructions (used to ) say to load in subdued light. The outer layer is completly fogged of course but by the third or fourth layer there is often only fog in the perforation area. So Light from the top is to be expected to only fog a couple of sheets. The New Instructions say to load in total darkness as current practice is to shoot a larger image (SUPER 16) which is more likely to be effected by fog.

Down side, Much sheet film is on Polyester base, (AKA ESTAR) which is GREAT at Light Piping, depending on the type of film that may allow some exposure on teh Bottom of the emulsion.

[nicholai]

Thanks for all the answers so far. Ill try to develop some.

[jnanian]

just expose it in your camera
and use it for things that are fun and don't matter.
process it with off thewall developers like coffee based ones
and have some fun.
i have fogged flm before, it was not really that big a deal ...

good luc k
john