What happens if you dev 120 col film in BW chems?

Mr Bump

Mr Bump

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What happens if you dev 120 col film in BW chems?
just wondering as I have all this old colour film and might try some devving.
allways heard BW first is easier but I have all this old Col film?
 
Basically, you get a black and white negative.
 
will it work well tho?
or will it be boogie sunshine?
 
Semi-stand in Rodinal (or any chemical that works in 1:100 dilution) is probably your best shot.

It works, and the results can be nice, but it'll be grainy and you'll need to PP them for contrast. If all you're interested in is practising devving, then go for it, but don't use it for any shots you need to be good.

AGFA Vista (135 of course) semi-stood in Rodinal

Cardiff by Arfonfab, on Flickr
 
Like the man says, the results are passable but don't use it for anything but checking your camera works.
 
I am thinking mainly as I would like to have a go at devving to see what I think and also I have 40 rolls of expired 120 film some over 20 years out of date.

it will all be play stuff
 
Well, on the positive side, you won't have to deal with the colour shifts on the expired film :P Give it a try!
 
Very dilute Rodinal at 50 or 100:1 stand or semi-stand works OK on Poundland Vista for me. The contrast is so poor on some frames that my scanner can't autofocus. It's worth doing on old colour film for experiment.
 
Mr Bump said:
What happens if you dev 120 col film in BW chems?
?
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The same as what happens if you shoot colour 35mm, 828, 116, 110 , 126 or sheet film in b&w chems :D....sorry, couldn't resist! :p

As mentioned you will get a b&w negative.

Often the only practical way to develop old exposed films wether they be colour or b&w is to semi stand dev them in a 1:100 solution ( usually rodinal but other developers work just fine too) for approx one hour at approx 20°C, agitating for a good 30 seconds at the start then a few invertions at the half way mark.

I say approx, because with stand developing processes, there is room for fluctuation in temp and indeed different films and film speeds can be developed in the same tank without any problem.

I realise that this film you hace acquired isn't exposed yet and is OOD .....The fact that it's presumaby C-41 process and OOD, I would be tempted to shoot it at half box speed then dev it as mentioned.

There will be a loss in contrast as is often the case with semi stand development but a slight adjustment in PP and that is easy to pull back.
 
Given that you will need to stand develop and keep the temperature at near enough 20 deg it might be worth taking the plunge and having a go at colour devving. It isn't that much more difficult and will take a lot less time than stand developing in b&w.
Just a thought.

Andy
 
Andysnap said:
Given that you will need to stand develop and keep the temperature at near enough 20 deg it might be worth taking the plunge and having a go at colour devving. It isn't that much more difficult and will take a lot less time than stand developing in b&w.
Just a thought.

Andy
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Agree with you there Andy though it depends on how old the film is that Paul's going to expose.......A decade or so then I'd comfortably shoot and develop it as C-41 but if its heading toward 20 years old then shoot it with some compensation and cross process ....of course this is simply what I'd do but given that the OP has some 40 rolls then perhaps have a play with C-41; b&w cross processing and even coffee!! ( the latter is something I've never tried btw but it evidently works quite well)
 
Mr Bump said:
I am thinking mainly as I would like to have a go at devving to see what I think and also I have 40 rolls of expired 120 film some over 20 years out of date.

it will all be play stuff
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I'm using 120 exp in 2001 and it's ok when colour dev.. ok might get a colour shift that can be corrected easily. It's the pro 120 film that supposed to be used fresh which caused problems for me. So have one dev at snappysnaps or somewhere and you might have lots of film to use.
 
excalibur2 said:
I'm using 120 exp in 2001 and it's ok when colour dev.. ok might get a colour shift that can be corrected easily. It's the pro 120 film that supposed to be used fresh which caused problems for me. So have one dev at snappysnaps or somewhere and you might have lots of film to use.
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Sounds about right Brian to have a bit of colour shift given it's now about 15 years old.......Did you buy it new and have you fridged . freeeezered it all it's life??

I doubt the OP has any idea how the 40 rolls he has have been stored.

I think we can all agree that he's only going to fund out what potential the film has by actually shooting and developing it by whatever means he feels appropriate.

EDIT: I just noticed the eeeee's in freezered....It must have made me feel Brrrrr cold when typing it :D
 
I have about 20 roles of 1993 Ektachrome and 15 roles of Kodak Vercolour III or something like and about another 15 assorted including some AGFA 1000 ISO high speed date unknown
 
Asha said:
Sounds about right Brian to have a bit of colour shift given it's now about 15 years old.......Did you buy it new and have you fridged . freeeezered it all it's life??

I doubt the OP has any idea how the 40 rolls he has have been stored.

I think we can all agree that he's only going to fund out what potential the film has by actually shooting and developing it by whatever means he feels appropriate.

EDIT: I just noticed the eeeee's in freezered....It must have made me feel Brrrrr cold when typing it :D
Click to expand...

Asha said:
Sounds about right Brian to have a bit of colour shift given it's now about 15 years old.......Did you buy it new and have you fridged . freeeezered it all it's life??

I doubt the OP has any idea how the 40 rolls he has have been stored.

I think we can all agree that he's only going to fund out what potential the film has by actually shooting and developing it by whatever means he feels appropriate.

EDIT: I just noticed the eeeee's in freezered....It must have made me feel Brrrrr cold when typing it :D
Click to expand...


Well Asha as my film expired in 2001, I probably bought it 1999 and was just room stored. Did a deal with Jessops and he offered me a stack of film about £100 (in 1999) worth for my RB67 Polaroid back..the only problem I had was with the old pro film with annoying colours I couldn't correct. i.e correct one colour and it upsets another.
Just have a few left now and the one in my RB67 is Superia 400 expired in 2001..that should be ok and probably just have a cast which when removed leaves all the colours looking ok...well usually ;)
 
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Most of the responses seem to assume you are talking C41 but you mentioned 20 rolls of Ektachrome which is E6 and while the results are basically going to end up still B&W you might want to read this especially the post by Alan Marcus.
 
I've processed C41 in b/w chemistry several times. I'd recommend reading through the discussions in this Flickr Group. It's pretty straightforward. Just treat it as b/w. However ... where the magic is done is at scanner level. This is because your negatives will look horrible. A scanner like a V500 can make sense out of them, just save the images as grayscales, unless Orange is your new black...

Here is a Flickr album of some of my attempts. No stand processing or tricks. Just straight forward with minutely inversions.
 
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