From: Richard Knoppow (dickburk@ix.netcom.com)
Date: 02/04/02-02:59:24 PM Z
At 08:08 AM 02/04/2002 -0600, you wrote:
>
>Forgive my off-topic (?) posting.
>
>I joined this list b/c from the name I thought that it might help me with
my problem, but now, after reading a few posts I see that perhaps this
isn't the place. But I was still hoping that someone could steer me to a
list or a resource that might would some answers to this problem:
>
>I have some b & w film that was shot about 15 years ago but was never
processed. It's mostly Plus-X shot at 250 although there is some shot
Plus-X at other speeds. And there is a little Tri-X shot at speeds as high
as 1600 or 3200 as well as some TMAX shot at 400.
>
>All this film was refrigerated for the majority of that 15 years. But not
for all of it. :(
>
>My concern is that I understand that quite aside from normal film chemical
degradation, that an unprocessed latent image will begin to disappear from
the film as time passes. Is this true? What is the best approach to salvage
this film? Should it be processed differently than if it was freshly shot?
If so how? Who would know about this strange problem?
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
Most film made in the last fifty years has pretty stable latent image
retention. According to Greg Miller, who specializes in processing old
film, the biggest enemy is oxidation. Roll film does well, providing its
tightly wound. Greg uses very low temperature processing. Althought I don't
know his exact process I know enough to think he knows what he is doing. If
this film has potentially valuable images you might contact Greg at:
filmrescue@sk.sympatico.ca
Extending development much will tend to cause the fog level to grow
faster than the image. Benzotriazole added to the developer will tend to
restrain the fog but can also interfere with the latent image if present in
too large an amount. The refrigeration will be helpful, the fact that the
film was shot at speeds requiring push processing will not be.
Fifteen years is not a long time for modern film.
---- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles, CA, USA dickburk@ix.netcom.com
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