50 yr+ Selochrome Pan How to develop?

burkie · 07-02-2009, 05:49 PM

Hi All ,
I discovered a 120 roll of Ilford Selochrome Panchromatic film in an Imperial Box camera last Tuesday.
Only 9 exposures were made,The camera had been dropped and the back replaced incorrectly,I also reckon that the take out spool popped out because when I was removing it the backing paper was crinkled so it felt as if it was pushed back in a hurry.
The cameras viewfinder was broken therefore that why it was abandoned.
I have a time of 8 min @20 deg in ID11/d76 stock from a lovely lady in Ilford.

I'm wondering have any of you developed old film and what should I watch out for.

The film is minimum 50 yrs old.I know that I may get nothing ,but it was used by the owners late uncle so I'll be as carefull as possible to do things right.

Thanks

Eugene

chrism · 07-02-2009, 07:19 PM

Have you thought about using Diafine? That way you don't have to muck around with development times.

I have never developed 50 year old film, but I did develop some 15 year old Tri-X quite succesfully with it.

John Shriver · 07-02-2009, 07:56 PM

Try about the same time in HC-110 dilution B instead. Less base fog than ID-11/D-76 in this application.

Keith Tapscott. · 07-03-2009, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burkie

Hi All ,
I discovered a 120 roll of Ilford Selochrome Panchromatic film in an Imperial Box camera last Tuesday.
Only 9 exposures were made,The camera had been dropped and the back replaced incorrectly,I also reckon that the take out spool popped out because when I was removing it the backing paper was crinkled so it felt as if it was pushed back in a hurry.
The cameras viewfinder was broken therefore that why it was abandoned.
I have a time of 8 min @20 deg in ID11/d76 stock from a lovely lady in Ilford.

I'm wondering have any of you developed old film and what should I watch out for.

The film is minimum 50 yrs old.I know that I may get nothing ,but it was used by the owners late uncle so I'll be as carefull as possible to do things right.

Thanks

Eugene

I would go along with what ever Ilford suggest and see what happens.

Ian Grant · 07-03-2009, 03:00 PM

Ilford do know what they are talking about, old films only need a tad more development than contemporary films, Keith's right.

Ian

Aurum · 07-03-2009, 03:33 PM

The other thing to be aware of is that its not unheard of for the backing paper to stick to the film. You may end up having to clean off crud afterwards, assuming you've been successful.

But in your case, absolutely nothing to lose here apart from a few chems and your time

burkie · 07-04-2009, 03:07 AM

Hi Guys ,
Thanks for the tips ,I tried replying last night but kept loosing link to APUG.
John & Chrism,Unfortunately here in Ireland supplies of chemicals are restricted outside the larger cities.
I have Ilfotec DDX & can get some D76 .Keith & Ian I think I'll use as Ilford says it's practically the same as ID11 and extend the dev time slightly.
Arum,Thats a good tip on the backing paper,hadn't been aware of that,I'll be very careful spooling it.

While researching the Selochrome film a lovely man Maurice Fisher,who has done a history of Ilford gave me this link to a US chap that saves old film,the pictures are great ,but the comments are brilliant,also check out on his page the icon on the bottom right entitled VIGILANT 620 "Let me go back to sleep"!!
Thought provoking.
http://westfordcomp.com/updated/found.htm

Again thanks for all the help,will dev tonight & will post results,hopefully I'll get something!!

burkie · 07-06-2009, 08:27 PM

Hi Guys ,
Again having probs logging on to site,I developed the film Sunday afternoon,unfortunately no luck.
The tones of the negative looked OK but there were no images.
NB ,I shot frame no 10 before I dev film and that frame showed as a definite frame ,but no images recorded on it.
The owner had done some family research & it turns out that the film was well over 60 years old!!
Again thanks for the help,I learned alot from this little project as well as the thrill of potentially "discovering "some forgotten shots.

Eugene

Anscojohn · 07-06-2009, 08:48 PM

Hi Burkie,
Sorry your Selochrome adventure did not produce images. And thanks for the link to the recovered memories. I think the picture commentaries were great. One thing I noticed was the (relative) sharpness of the Argoflex pictures. I used an Argoflex as my first "real" camera--bought for me by my Dad, an avid photographer, ca. 1955 and still have snap shots taken with it. It was a 4.5 triplet lens, with a Wollensak alphax shutter.
I also still have my Dad's Argoflex (see Avatar). I think perhaps I'll dust it off and shoot a roll.
Thanks again.