Developing old roll film

[highpeakman]

Rummaging through the family vaults I have come across an old exposed roll of Kodak 120 film. I think it may be colour but am not totally sure.

 

It is likely that it was used by me on my old Boots half frame camera in the late 60s/early 70s. That might mean that there are some railway shots on it.

 

It seems to have been stored in drawers so has not been light protected although it seems tightly rolled.

 

Can anyone advise whether they think it would be worth trying to have it developed or not after 40 odd years? If so where would be the best place to get this done safely?

 

Don

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Do you have a long established specialist photographic shop somewhere nearby? They will be likely to know of a good processor still offering 'bespoke' service. Living in central Herts, I would go to Clarks Camera Centre on Holywell Hill St Albans, as they are still interested in film photography and cameras.

 

You need to make sure that a description of the storage condition and likely age of the latent image reaches the processor. I did some of this 'back in the day' to see what could be found on old unprocessed monochrome, and 'push' processing proved the best course to best salvage what was present. Never tried anything like this on colour film. Don't expect miracles, even if the film hasn't had light exposure, there can be fogging from thermal degradation of the latent image.

[Gwiwer]

It's definitely a job for a photographic enthusiast or expert.  While you can often still get 35mm film developed and printed by High Street stores this one needs much more careful attention.   

 

As mentioned above don't expect miracles and be ready to find that nothing is recoverable on the film after all this time.  They do degrade and apart from that it's possible that the rolled film has now actually become stuck together in the canister.

 

Best of luck and if there's anything worth looking at please let us share in your discovery.

[highpeakman]

It's definitely a job for a photographic enthusiast or expert.  While you can often still get 35mm film developed and printed by High Street stores this one needs much more careful attention.   

 

As mentioned above don't expect miracles and be ready to find that nothing is recoverable on the film after all this time.  They do degrade and apart from that it's possible that the rolled film has now actually become stuck together in the canister.

 

Best of luck and if there's anything worth looking at please let us share in your discovery.

 

Thanks.

 

No I am not expecting anything from the film to be honest but think it is worth a try anyway.

 

Have also found several 35mm rolls - no idea why they have not been developed but I do not think there would be anything railway related on them.

 

As far as I am aware at the moment the only photo shop I know is London Camera Exchange in Lincoln but I will explore the web and see if I can find a more specialised service that could do this.

 

If anything railway related does come of it I will post.

 

Thanks again for your help.

[highpeakman]

Do you have a long established specialist photographic shop somewhere nearby? They will be likely to know of a good processor still offering 'bespoke' service. Living in central Herts, I would go to Clarks Camera Centre on Holywell Hill St Albans, as they are still interested in film photography and cameras.

 

You need to make sure that a description of the storage condition and likely age of the latent image reaches the processor. I did some of this 'back in the day' to see what could be found on old unprocessed monochrome, and 'push' processing proved the best course to best salvage what was present. Never tried anything like this on colour film. Don't expect miracles, even if the film hasn't had light exposure, there can be fogging from thermal degradation of the latent image.

 

I will see if I can find such a service locally. Perhaps I could post to Clarks - will contact them to see.

 

Thanks for the suggestion.

[highpeakman]

Found a company called Peak Processing on line who claim to process such films. Anyone know of them?

[TheWeatheringMan]

It's definitely a job for a photographic enthusiast or expert.  While you can often still get 35mm film developed and printed by High Street stores this one needs much more careful attention.   

 

As mentioned above don't expect miracles and be ready to find that nothing is recoverable on the film after all this time.  They do degrade and apart from that it's possible that the rolled film has now actually become stuck together in the canister.

 

Best of luck and if there's anything worth looking at please let us share in your discovery.

Hi,

120 (and incidently 127) films are very unlikely indeed to have become 'stuck together in the canister'.

They had no canister.

They are or were 'roll films' that were wound onto a reel. They also had a backing paper to provide light shielding and this, provided the storage has been dry, will have almost certainly prevented the film sticking together.

The biggest problems are that firstly its possible light has leaked down the edges of the reel flanges or more likely that the latent image has simply degraded beyond all hope of recovery due to the time span since exposure - the film makers usually recommended the exposed film be developed within six weeks of exposure.

126 ('Instamatic') films were in a double ended cassette but again had a backing paper.

35mm film was of course rolled up in a 'canister' and what the quoted poster has said is unfortunatly all to true..

 

Overall I fear the omens are not good due to the passage of so long a time, but like, i'm sure, the other posters, I do wish you all the luck and hope that you will be able to recover at least something.

Who knows you might just have a forgotten image that proves something that has long been argued about.

Please let us know how you get on.

All the Best

[drjcontroller]

Found a company called Peak Processing on line who claim to process such films. Anyone know of them?

 

Used to use them for E6 processing years ago, but haven't used them since late 90's. Can't recall any problems when I did.

 

Douglas

[highpeakman]

Hi,

120 (and incidently 127) films are very unlikely indeed to have become 'stuck together in the canister'.

They had no canister.

They are or were 'roll films' that were wound onto a reel. They also had a backing paper to provide light shielding and this, provided the storage has been dry, will have almost certainly prevented the film sticking together.

The biggest problems are that firstly its possible light has leaked down the edges of the reel flanges or more likely that the latent image has simply degraded beyond all hope of recovery due to the time span since exposure - the film makers usually recommended the exposed film be developed within six weeks of exposure.

126 ('Instamatic') films were in a double ended cassette but again had a backing paper.

35mm film was of course rolled up in a 'canister' and what the quoted poster has said is unfortunatly all to true..

 

Overall I fear the omens are not good due to the passage of so long a time, but like, i'm sure, the other posters, I do wish you all the luck and hope that you will be able to recover at least something.

Who knows you might just have a forgotten image that proves something that has long been argued about.

Please let us know how you get on.

All the Best

 

Thank you very much for your comments. I do understand it is a long shot but I think it is worth a punt.

 

I don't think I would bother with any Instamatic films - I used to hate those cameras and their format. My old Brownie 127 gave much better results than the Instamatics. I do not recall any good photos taken with them but perhaps people can prove me wrong.

 

While there are a few 35mm rolls which would have been used in a OM10 (or possibly a Zenit B) the roll 120 is the main interest. I think it was used in a high end Boots camera which took half frame pictures of quite respectable quality for the day.

[highpeakman]

Used to use them for E6 processing years ago, but haven't used them since late 90's. Can't recall any problems when I did.

 

Douglas

 

Thanks for letting me know about them..

 

Bad news in the family today so it may take a while to get things moving but I will give them a call in the next few days.

[bluebottle]

Might be worth asking in your local London Camera Exchange store. It's probable that they've had other people come in with the same problem, and that they'll know of a local lab to do the job. It won't be cheap, though.

Good luck.

[highpeakman]

Might be worth asking in your local London Camera Exchange store. It's probable that they've had other people come in with the same problem, and that they'll know of a local lab to do the job. It won't be cheap, though.

Good luck.

Thanks for the  suggestion. I will call in next time I am in Lincoln.

[Bill Jamieson]

Found a company called Peak Processing on line who claim to process such films. Anyone know of them?

Probably too late replying, but I use Peak Imaging regularly for colour processing and found them very helpful when it came to developing a couple of thirty year old rolls. 

 

Bill

[highpeakman]

Probably too late replying, but I use Peak Imaging regularly for colour processing and found them very helpful when it came to developing a couple of thirty year old rolls. 

 

Bill

 

Bill

Thank you very much for the comment. Makes me feel a bit better about contacting them. Should I call them first or just write/email the details do you think?

 

Don

[EddieB]

Found a company called Peak Processing on line who claim to process such films. Anyone know of them?

Peak Processing appear to be a Geophysics Company specialising in seismic data.  I think you're thinking of Peak Imaging, based in Sheffield (who certainly chime with your username on RMweb!) 

 

Peak Imaging are one of the last quality commercial labs surviving in this country.  I have used them for many years (in fact, the last time just a couple of weeks ago) to process E6 35mm and 120, since the demise of "Pro" labs in London.  Service and quality are excellent and I have no hesitation in recommending them.  (The only problem I've had is when I omitted to request registered post on a return delivery, which Royal Mail promptly lost.)  Ring them up first to discuss options and get advice about your film.

 

Assuming it's 120 (or the smaller 127 version) you should be able to identify the type of film from the writing on the backing paper - Kodacolor being the most common brand name for colour negaive film.

[highpeakman]

Peak Processing appear to be a Geophysics Company specialising in seismic data.  I think you're thinking of Peak Imaging, based in Sheffield (who certainly chime with your username on RMweb!) 

 

Peak Imaging are one of the last quality commercial labs surviving in this country.  I have used them for many years (in fact, the last time just a couple of weeks ago) to process E6 35mm and 120, since the demise of "Pro" labs in London.  Service and quality are excellent and I have no hesitation in recommending them.  (The only problem I've had is when I omitted to request registered post on a return delivery, which Royal Mail promptly lost.)  Ring them up first to discuss options and get advice about your film.

 

Assuming it's 120 (or the smaller 127 version) you should be able to identify the type of film from the writing on the backing paper - Kodacolor being the most common brand name for colour negaive film.

 

You are absolutely right, of course. My mistake entirely. I can only plead that I have had some distraction in the last week so made a silly mistake.

 

It is Peak Imaging that I intended to refer to and Thanks for clarifying that.

 

Don

[Bill Jamieson]

Don,

 

 

Last year I sent Peak Imaging a 120 roll of Agfa CT18 reversal film exposed in the mid 1980s. I had forgotten that this type of film required a custom process, which is no longer available, but they rang me back to point this out and to inform me that they could process it as a monochrome film, if I was happy for them to do so. Based on that experience I think I can say they will be only too happy to discuss your requirements over the phone.

 

Bill