Ilford Ortho help

**Sanford** · 18-Jun-2020, 09:12

I just received a box of old Ilford Ortho, not +, as a gift and am interested in trying it out. As best I can tell the expiration date was somewhere around '91. I know that it has been well stored so that's a plus (see what I did there?). Anyway, I don't ever shoot out of date film and wonder if I need to compensate for
this film's age? I know that with color film one is "supposed" to make a 1 stop per decade adjustment, but I am unsure whether or not that applies to Ortho film or not. Also, I believe the ISO of this film is 80, but haven't found anything definitive. Is there anyone here who has shot this older stock and can help me out? Developer advice would be welcome too

**Jim Noel** · 18-Jun-2020, 12:41

The film speed is 20. Make no adjustments to exposure or development. This is an orthochromatic film and stores exceedingly well. I have use it as much as 25 years out of date.
Develop by inspection under a dim red safelight with D-23 is my preference. I don't have my times in my head at present.
An alternative developer would be D-76 1+1.
Try looking up the data sheet. I am sure it is available.

**Daniel Unkefer** · 18-Jun-2020, 12:58

This is getting to be my favorite pictorial film and I really enjoy the process of developing by inspection. I use a classic Kodak bullet safelight, with a 3W LED bulb (from Lowes) and 1A deep wratten circular glass deep red filter. Thanks Jason Lane for steering me to this An orange safelight will fog the film.

D23 can be mixed by the spoon method (just Metol and Sulphite).

**Sanford** · 18-Jun-2020, 13:19

Thank you Jim!
Your information is very helpful. I have not been able to find a data sheet, even on the Ilford website, but I'll make another stab at it. I'm going to load up a couple of holders and see what I can do with it.

**Daniel Unkefer** · 18-Jun-2020, 15:12

You might want to peruse these combos:

https://www.digitaltruth.com/devchar...=C&TimeUnits=D

Makiflex Auto Petzval Ortho+ ADOX Borax MQ by Nokton48, on Flickr

Yellow Springs 2 Norma Ortho D76 Arista Multigrade by Nokton48, on Flickr

**Sanford** · 18-Jun-2020, 17:44

My understanding is that what I have and the newer Ortho+ are different animals altogether. If the only difference is ISO then I'm guessing that I'll be pretty happy with that. I only have 25 sheets of the non + Ortho, and I think that's not really enough to get a meaningful handle on the emulsion and how to deal with it.