This is another post I have been meaning to write for a while, now I have the time 🙂
I bought a mystery bulk roll of film from eBay. The seller had no idea what it was or if it was viable, other than it being Ilford. Here is the tin.
I loaded it into spare cartridges and did some research…there was nothing. I wrote to a friend who works at Ilford, and she didn’t have any information either. I had nothing. I didn’t know what to rate it or how to develop it.
Looking at the tin, I guessed the film was maybe from the 1970s or before. At it was definitely ‘old’, it was probably not fast. So I guessed at probably 100asa or 200asa at the most. So, I decided to shoot it at 3asa, why not??
I loaded a short length into my Canon A1 and went to my local nature reserve, not exactly the brightest place, so I took a tripod and a cable release too.
OK, now I have something to process, but how?? If in doubt, go for a stand process in Rodinal. I chose an hour in total with an agitation at 30 minutes. AND, I got images!!
The exposure time was so long that I managed to get in the shot on the last image. They are very contrasty and grainy. They remind me of the images I got when I developed a C41 in black and white chemicals.
I liked them, but what if I developed the film with a non-stand method? Again, I used Rodinal, but this time I agitated it every minute over a 20-minute period. Again, I just shot a short roll around my house at 3asa. This time I used my Minolta X-700, it’s nice to give the cameras a run through every now and then.
The results are ‘better’, but there are loads of black and white films out there which are similar. The first set of photos has a different look about them. I sent some of my results to the seller, who was curious about what the film would do. He suggested using the first method, but with some portraits. Hmm, nice idea.
Oh, and now I could see the rebate, but it didn’t give me any more information than I already had.
As I still had a few rolls, I decided to go with the seller’s idea. So on the next sunny photowalk, a few friends posed for me. They had to be very still, and I had to be very steady as I hand-held the camera. This was the third change of camera, the Contax 137MA, as I have a nice F1.4 lens for it.
Here are the results.
Nice, different. They were shot wide open at 1/15th while I held my breath.
I have a couple of rolls left, so I will go for some architectural subjects next time…and try another camera 🙂
I think this is a film-copying film. The white undeveloped film and the ‘positive’ name make me think this is used for making positive copies of negatives. I’ve got a tin of similar stuff – it’s ortho sensitive and can be developed in paper chemicals, hence the ‘open in darkroom’ warning.
That’s good to know, thanks. I dont have any paper chemicals, so it is Rodinal or nothing for me.
I shot my version of this at ISO 12 and developed in Rodinal 1+25 for seven minutes.
Thanks, I will try that on my next roll…just for giggles.
That film is puzzling. The film is marked “positive” yet develops as a negative. I wonder if the emulsion is similar to Adox Scala, which will develop negative in soups like Rodinal, or positive using Adox’s reversal chemicals.
I haven’t tried developing it as a positive, to be honest, I wouldn’t know how for a black and white. I like the contrasty results with the rodinal. But I do have 2 rolls of scale so maybe I should look into it.
Adox sells a reversal-processing chemicals kit – I bought one from B&H or a similar wholesale house. It’s good for 8 rolls of 35mm. I’m building up an inventory of exposed Scala, have 4 rolls so far. This winter I expect to shoot more, as winter landscapes seem to lend themselves to b&w positives. Then I’ll process the lot.
Thanks I will look into that.
https://www.adox.de/Photo/adox-scala-reversal-kit/
Should be readily available in the UK:
https://www.fotoimpex.com/chemistry/adox-scala-kit-for-bw-slide-processing-to-mix-2000-ml.html
I just saw that, but I will have to leave it for now. I only have 2 rolls which I haven’t shot yet 😀