Found Film

Roll #6 from >Belser's archive<
is 620 Verichrome from 50s.
10 out of 12 frames survived 55+ years of storage and my development. ( ...+10... )

Roll #5 from >Belser's archive<.
Same 620 Verichrome from the 50s.
12 square 6x6 frames. ( ...+12... )

Roll #4 from the same >Archive<.
Old 620 orthochromatic Verichrome on thin and rusty metal spool.
After the development I found 12 square 6x6 frames. ( ...+12... )

I started developing the unusually large (about 40 rolls) archive of found film. The archive starts in late 40s, about 10 rolls are from 50s, and the rest is from 60s and few are from early 70s. The last 35mm Ektachrome 400 roll looks relatively modern. Many of the rolls are in original boxes/wrapping paper; nevertheless, all but 2 are exposed.

There is a >letter<; I received it with the archive. The letter is addressed to Mike Belser. It is a touching birthday writing from his dad Jack. Jack is sending new boots to his son and he is worried about the size, asking Mike to send it back for the exchange if the size is wrong. He is also mentioning the names: Patty and Brian. These two could be Mike's wife and son. The letter has a date: 12-17-57. It was in an envelope, addressed from J.Belser, Oklahoma City (General Delivery, Main P.O.) to Newkirk, OK, also General Delivery. The letter clearly was sent, received and opened by Mike. Also one of the rolls I developed today has a hand-written note with a date and Mike's name. So I assume at least part of the archive at one point was Mike Belser's.

This >post< was about 127 nitrate-based Agfa Plenachrome roll. There are 2 more just like that one; I put them aside. At the moment I don't know how to develop them. The rest from 40s and 50s is 127 and 620 Kodak Verichrome and Verichrome Pan. So far I developed 5; they all fully exposed and all the frames are ok to scan or even print.

Let us start with late 40s or early 50s.

( ...rolls #2 and #3... )

It had been a while since I received this small red roll of 127 Verihrome Pan from zip 74055 (Owasso, OK).

Last week I developed it and found... ( nine square images... )

Here they are, two 620 Plux-X rolls of intense green, received from Rochester, NY:



The condition could be better: the hardest rolls to separate from the backing paper so far;
had to tear paper to pieces and still some of it stayed on glued to the film.
The film itself was alive as quick test revealed; developed it at 40F/4.5C in 12% HC-110.
Here is the piece of developed film caught on camera before scanning:



Frame numbers got themselves happily transferred to the emulsion;
the dead round yellow spots where emulsion touched the hot metal of the spool's cheeks and holes, holes, holes...

Still, there were some recoverable images:
( ... )

This post is lo-ong overdue.
I developed this roll of Kodak Verichrome Pan more than 2 years ago.
It has popped out of Kodak Bull's Eye Brownie camera found on eBay:



The camera was covered in fungus. The fungus as white as snow and as hard as stone; impossible to clean.
( school of rock... )

One day this summer my grandpa brought a Russian DLR-camera Lubitel-166 (camera details: http://www.photohistory.ru/1207248175261386.html) that he took from his old friend. Inside this camera I have found a roll of Svema-32 black-and-white famous Russian film.

For a long time I've prepared to develop this film. amirko suggested HC-110 and due to his recommendations I have ordered Kodak HC-110 (american version) which I couldn't find in Moscow or Saint-Petersburg. As developer arrived I processed the film: A dilution, 3 minutes at 15 C. I received 9 frames 4,5 x 6 as a result, not bad for the first time!

Last frame is very different from other frame's subjects. Probably it was exposed some (long) time after all other frames as a joke or something like that. I guess it was exposed somewhere in early 90's, because at the top of it we can see some object with a Latin text on it (nothing similar could be seen in the USSR-years), but the cigarette's pack is probably an old style Yava. All other frames were probably exposed somewhere in the end of 80's or similar to the last one in early 90's.

* * *
Дедушка одним летним днем принес Любитель 166, а в нем был ролик Свемы-32. Пленку я аккуратно смотал, залепил язычок и поставил на полку, в надежде проявить и обнаружить жизненную историю или раскрыть чью-то тайну.

«Любитель 166 Универсал» — попавшая мне в руки модификация выпускалась с 1983 по 1996 год. Камера сниает кадры 6х6 или 6х4,5. Видоискатель очень маленький, сильно виньетируемый. Центральный затвор с выдержками 1/15 - 1/250, объектив 75мм светосилой 4,5. Этой камеры было выпущено 412 187 шт. (по данным http://www.photohistory.ru).

Я искал в интернете информацию о проявке старых фотопленок и особенностях работы с ними. Понял что нужно бояться вуали и использовать антивуалентные вещества — бензотриазол, йодистый калий. Где достать антивуаленты было не очень понятно, и все равно оставался вопрос с каким проявителем и сколько их использовать — весь прочитанный материал не давал более-менее четких ответов на эти вопросы, и нигде не было возможности посмотреть на фактические результаты проявки залежалых пленок. Я вступил в это сообщество и обратился к
amirko за советом. Прочитав подробный пост amirko про проявку старой пленки я заказал через B&H проявитель Kodak HC-110. К моему удивлению я не смог найти этот проявитель ни в Москве ни в Питере. Посылка пришла через пару недель и я сразу проявил пленку.

Перед проявкой я в темноте отрезал несколько полосочек для клип-тестов. HC-110 был разведен в концентрации А, что в соответствии с HC-110 unofficial resource page составляет 1 часть сиропа (американская версия HC-110) к 15 частям воды. Клип-тесты показали, что проявлять пленку оптимально 3 минуты при температуре 15 С. Так и сделал, никакой агитации в течение проявки.

Пленка проявилась хорошо, но никаких особенных тайн. 9 кадров размера 6х4,5. 8 с начала пленки, потом непроэкспонированный кусок, и еще 1 в самом конце. Все кадры четкие, только в некоторых местах пленка покрылась черными точечками, но это почти не заметно. Певрые 8 кадров — мужчина снимал свою жену или подругу, сначала они поехали в лес за грибами, а потом он снимал ее портрет дома. Последний кадр — совсем в другое время и уже другие герои. Похоже на утро после гулянки. На фоне чья-то рука тянется за пачкой сигарет и снимали видимо со вспышкой.

( What I've got from an old red filmroll )

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( ... )

I do not have the camera, just the film -- the yellow roll of Kodacolor-X 620. Received it from the camera store in Southern Canada; the seller told me in e-mail that the roll had been found exposed in this camera:

5 min in cold concentrated HC-110 and...yes, there is something, some four 6x9cm frames:

( 20th of July, 1969... )