Advice Needed - Developing TRI-X 4x5 film exposed long ago !

[DennisD]

I recently found some undeveloped 4x5 triX stored nicely. I keep telling myself it's probably not worth the trouble, that the latent image surely faded, but curiosity is getting the better of me.

Before starting to "cook", what advice can others offer about specific developers and any additives that might help fog, etc. in this kind of situation ?
Thanks in advance.
Dennis

[Doremus Scudder]

How old it the film? Latent image degradation is often less than you think. Even film that is years old often yields fine negatives when just "normally" developed. I would just develop a sheet or two normally (or whatever development you indicated for the film) and see what happens.

Any fog can usually be just printed through. The addition of additional anti-foggants for older film will often cause more problems than it cures, especially in the area of film-speed!

If there is a marked effect from latent image degradation, it will be a thinner negative with loss of shadow detail. This latter you won't get back anyway. Developing more to compensate for loss of contrast might be indicated, but not without a test. Often, it's just better to print on a higher paper grade. If you are scanning, then you can adjust contrast later more easily.

Best,

Doremus

[Ron McElroy]

I've had OK results processing old forgotten film in HC110. The negatives are not optimum, but its definitely worth the effort.

[vinny]

some folk's version of long ago is two months, others make think two decades. can you provide less information?

[DennisD]

Thanks, Doremus, Ron & Vinny
I'll try a few sheets as per Doremus's suggestion. The film was probably exposed over 15 years ago !
We'll see !
thanks to you all.
BTW beautiful websites Doremus and Vinny
Regards,
Dennis

[toolbox]

15 years isn't too bad...you might find they respond well to just normal development. I've shot b&W film that was a lot older than that and it developed just fine.
I also had a roll of film that was left in a 6x9 Super Ikonta that as far as I can tell was shot in 1948 (date on the film box that was packed with the camera and accessories). I developed it in divided D-23 for around 8 minutes in each bath IIRC. It was just a blind guess. The scanned negatives look pretty bad, but should print better (I don't have a film scanner). Check it out:

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n259/toolbox007/6x9%20Medium%20Format/Zeiss%20Super%20Ikonta%20Mystery/Frame_4.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n259/toolbox007/6x9%20Medium%20Format/Zeiss%20Super%20Ikonta%20Mystery/Frame_3.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n259/toolbox007/6x9%20Medium%20Format/Zeiss%20Super%20Ikonta%20Mystery/Frame_2.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n259/toolbox007/6x9%20Medium%20Format/Zeiss%20Super%20Ikonta%20Mystery/Frame_1.jpg

Amazing that more than 60 years later, that latent image is still there just waiting to be released. Kind of eerie...these folks are long gone, as is the person who took the pictures (camera was an estate sale). Anyway, old found film is always worth developing I think just for the fun of discovery.

[Kevin Crisp]

I've developed 15 year old tri-x that was "stored" for a couple years in a convertible with a black top, sitting with windows up in the California sun. Some fog, of course, but not bad at all.

[Valdecus]

My record for delayed development is 27 years, the images still turned out quite nice:
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?p=731274

Cheers,
Andreas

[cyrus]

Ive found film in 30+ year old cameras that I've developed and they came out fine.

[DennisD]

Thank you, thank you to all.

I have not tried developing the film yet, but the last few responses are most encouraging, especially re film from 1948.
I think there are some good images if I'm lucky enough to extract them !

Best,
Dennis

[DennisD]

SUCCESS !!!!!

This evening I began developing some of my many 4x5 TRI-X sheets that were exposed a good 15 years ago. Developed in HC110, normal process. Processed about 17 sheets and quite a few more left to do.

I was amazed to see how well the first group turned out. Seemingly good contrast and no apparent fog, though I'm sure there must be some. After the sheets dry I'll be able to get a densitometer reading and will know better.

I can barely remember taking the photos, but I was able to look back in my logbook and found entries. Hopefully, I should be able to identify the subject matter and location. (important to keep notes).

Thanks again to all who provided encouragement when I made the original post. I was literally ready to give the film up for dead and toss it ! Something in me said, "post it on the forum" ! So, MANY THANKS !

[chassis]

Congratulations. As an additional data point, a few months ago I developed a roll of 120 T-Max that was exposed about 12 years ago, no problems. The images looked fine.

[DennisD]

I should clarify my post above. This morning I was eager to check the negatives on my densitometer. I was overly enthusiastic about the presence of fog. There is indeed fog of varying degrees ranging from .15 up to a high of .3 on each of the 12 sheets processed so far. There was one exception, a single negative with an inordinate amount of fog that read as high as .9 - ouch ! (all these readings are actually film base + fog)

The fact that some negatives show more fog than others is probably due to varying batches of film in this group as well as negatives shot at different times. I.e. The image might have been shot anywhere from 10 to 15+ years ago.

I did notice some silvering on the notched edge of many sheets. I think this is due to oxidation of the film edge that was exposed to air when stored in the open ended foil envelopes within the film boxes ( awaiting processing). I'm wondering if that "silvering" will have any effect on the scanning and/ or printing of the film.

Aside from the fog and "silvering" issues the negatives 'appear' to have excellent contrast and seem to be very printable. I say 'appear' and 'seem' because who knows what the results will be. In a few instances the highlight densities are a bit high, but nothing terrible. It will be interesting to see how these will print.

[Michael_4514]

About a week ago I bought an old Nettar and discovered a roll of exposed Kodacolor II inside. The roll was very loosely wound, making it likely there was significant light leakage. I processed the roll in HC-110, more or less standard time, and the results were surprisingly good. I can just barely make out the date on the newspaper in this picture, and if I'm right, the film was in the camera for over 30 years.

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