[pure-silver] Re: Plenachrome film development
- From: janet ness <nessj@xxxxxxx>
- To: pure-silver <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 12:38:41 -0800
Thanks, Richard. If we try the Dektol 1:4, would it be a shorter or longer
development time than the D76 or Xtol development? We probably don't have a
red safelight available for development by inspection. What temperature do you
consider low?
Janet Ness
> From: dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Plenachrome film development
> Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 01:37:09 -0800
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "janet ness" <nessj@xxxxxxx>
> To: "pure-silver" <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 8:20 PM
> Subject: [pure-silver] Plenachrome film development
>
>
>
> I have a student in my darkroom class who will be bringing
> in to develop a roll of Plenachrome 120 film that was in an
> old box camera he just purchased. Since this film is 50
> years old or more, I expect it is fogged. Would it help to
> add some Benzotriazole solution? I have some on hand and the
> container says that it is used for paper, but could it help
> the film? We have no idea how long to develop the film in
> Xtol, but I expect we can't overdevelop it. We don't
> expect this film will yield much, but what the heck, we have
> to try.
>
> Janet Ness
>
> Plenachrome was Ansco's answer to Kodak Verichrome, a
> medium speed (about ISO 64 daylight) orthochromatic film
> meant for box cameras and similar use. An old chart for
> AGFA-Ansco 17, very similar to D-76, gives a time of about 8
> minutes @ 68F for a gamma of 0.8
> If the film has been exposed the best you can do is to
> give it normal development. Any anti-fog will tend to
> destroy whatever latent image remains. I would also
> recommend developing in a very active developer like Dektol
> 1:4 at quite low temperature. Images from some very old film
> has been recovered by using process developer at cold temps.
> If the film is unexposed normal development without an
> anti-fog but with perhaps a stop or more of extra exposure
> will be most likely to be successful. While anti-fog can
> result in clear borders it changes the curve of the film
> and, since it looses speed anyway, has no advantage other
> than making the negatives a bit faster to print.
> Plenachrome was well-liked in its day and was a good
> film.
> Beware that if the film is very old it may have
> suffered from vinegar syndrome. Ansco's support was not as
> stable as Kodak's so some older still film has suffered
> pretty badly.
> Save the box, its good memorabilia.
>
> --
> Richard Knoppow
> Los Angeles, CA, USA
> dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
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