How can I improve this expired film?

[Daniel.E]

I got some film holders that came with some film. I have no idea how expired it could be. I shot some sheets and the negatives came out very thin. I'm pretty new at developing and I was wondering what can I do to improve the next batch. I used Xtol 1:1 and rated them at half box speed. I have some Rodinal and just ordered some New55 R5 monobath that I'm planning on using with the next I go out to shoot.

This is what they look like.
151262
Thanks!

[domaz]

These negatives look ok to me, maybe a little thin but hard to tell using an off-the-cuff photo like that. Have you tried scanning or contact printing them?

[Daniel.E]

A couple of days later I shot this that looked like night and day.
151263

I somewhat fixed those in post processing but I was wondering if there would be something I could do during developing. I haven't done any contact printing yet.

[jnantz]

i have never been able to get good negatives out of xtol, used it religiously to try to get it to work for a few years
if you got equally thin negatives the 2nd time, i was going to say .. use a "better" developer.
glad you got it to work.

[Daniel.E]

I omitted some information, the second sheets I developed were a different stock. Once I got those I realized the expired negatives were thin and thought I should compensate somehow during developing.

[scheinfluger_77]

I got some film holders that came with some film. I have no idea how expired it could be. I shot some sheets and the negatives came out very thin. I'm pretty new at developing and I was wondering what can I do to improve the next batch. I used Xtol 1:1 and rated them at half box speed. I have some Rodinal and just ordered some New55 R5 monobath that I'm planning on using with the next I go out to shoot.

This is what they look like.
151262
Thanks!

Try cutting the speed in half again. I think there is potential here and the base fog doesn't appear to be severe. Depending on how much post processing you did when scanning the negatives of course.

[Daniel.E]

Thank you, I'll try that next.

[Jim Noel]

The first pair appear to be Kodak Commercial Ortho which I used at an EI of 25. The second pair is less familiar, but the shape of the notches is similar to those used by Ansco. I can't find a more modern film using this style of notches.

[Jim Noel]

The other possibility for the first pair is Kodak Ortho Copy which had a recommended speed of 12.

[Daniel.E]

The first two pictures I think are TMY 400. The notch code looked identical from what I found online. The second set is Ilford HP5.

[Daniel.E]

If those are EI of 25 then that would explain everything. I rated those negatives at 200!