How should I expose and develop 1965–67 Kodak Tri-X 120/620 film?
Asked 8/4/2019
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I have several unopened boxes of Kodak Tri-X Pan in 120 and 620, dated around 1965–1967, plus one exposed roll. I’ve successfully shot fresh film in my Yashica D, but I’d like to try one roll of this expired film. I was told to open up one stop for every 10 years past expiration and bracket exposures. Is that a good starting point, and are there any extra tips for testing or developing film this old?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
6y ago
2 Answers
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I'd consider doing stand processing on this roll. If you don't develop yourself, now would be an excellent time to start, as labs don't offer stand developing.
Traditional development is, relatively, very precise. That is, traditional development is very sensitive to exposure, temperature and timing. Developing this way usually lasts 7-15 minutes, while agitating the development tank every (half a) minute or so.
Stand development is the opposite to traditional development. With stand development, you use heavily diluted developer and just let the film sit in the tank for (usually) over an hour, without agitating the tank. Because of this, you have much more leeway in exposure. This you will need, because film expired for this long will not behave as you expect it to, even though the 1-stop-per-decade rule is definitely a good one to follow.
A more thorough explanation by Stan:
This technique uses a "develop to exhaustion" concept. Developer in contact with overexposed areas goes as far as it can. When depleted, (out of chemical energy) the processing stops automatically due to inactivity. In the shadow areas, however, there is less developer by-products to inhibit developer depletion so the shadow areas receive continued processing over a longer time. The processing is a means of compensation for exposure latitude. Another similar technique was to clamp developer saturated film between 2 glass sheets so developer could not migrate. A-B developer works this way too.
There is also semi-stand development, which included minimal agitation.
Links for you to read (development in general and stand development:
1. https://www.adorama.com/alc/faq-how-to-develop-film
2. https://pho-tology.com/photo-blog/2018/1/2/developing-film-using-stand-development
3. https://www.digitalrev.com/article/how-to-develop-film-with-the-stand-technique
Originally by user83099. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user83099
6y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
For film that old, treat the first roll as a test. The “one stop per decade” rule can be a useful starting point, but expired film is unpredictable and depends heavily on storage history, so bracketing is smart.
Best approach: shoot a controlled series of the same scene under constant light at several exposure levels. If your rolls are from the same era and likely stored together, one sacrificial test roll can help you judge the rest.
For development, conventional processing may work, but old film often benefits from a forgiving method. One community suggestion was stand development, which uses very dilute developer and little or no agitation over a long time, giving more latitude when exposure and film condition are uncertain. Labs may not offer this, so it may require home processing.
Also, don’t expect normal results: very old film can show heavy fog, low contrast, and reduced speed even if unopened. If you have an already-exposed roll, develop it carefully as a separate experiment since its age and latent image retention are additional unknowns.
In short: bracket widely, test one roll first, and use the results to set exposure for the rest.
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