Topic: doing film acceleration with old film exposed decades ago

[panatomic_potato]

So I got a hold of several ancient rolls of exposed film (mostly E4, some C22) At first I thought I'd just do straight C41 at room temp as in the past. But then I found some info on film acceleration online. However I am unclear on a couple things. Is the bleach part between developing stages necessary? Or is that if you just want extra weird results? And is acceleration even advisable for such old film exposed a good 50 years ago..?

[Francois]

Welcome!

I don't think it's a process designed for such old emulsions... My guess is that you would be better off doing it the right way.
Usually film acceleration is for underexposed slide film, not old film.

But I can't say for sure. I usually suggest doing a clip test first when unsure. I usually develop my old found color film in B&W chemicals, but then I loose color.


I think Moominsean has processed films of such vintage before.

[Kayos]

My research into film acceleration suggested that the black and white stage was a "safe" bet to get some images, if there was anything worth developing then it was done in colour as that was the "unsafe" stage.
However I didn't find any info on time or temps for such old films

[Photo_Utopia]

With C22 the most important thing to remember is the gelatin is unhardened, that is it should be processed at under 25 dec C or the emulsion will simply drop off the base.
I have heard some people have had great success with developing these films B&W.
From memory E4 is alsosoft emulsion and needs hardening, the reversal is by light fogging rather than chemical reversal.
 There is a tech pub here:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/cis111/cis111.pdf
So in my opinion develop the C22 in B&W (HC110 dil B same time as Tri-x +20%) and try to make your own E4 process from the linked pdf.

[panatomic_potato]

With C22 the most important thing to remember is the gelatin is unhardened, that is it should be processed at under 25 dec C or the emulsion will simply drop off the base.
I have heard some people have had great success with developing these films B&W.
From memory E4 is alsosoft emulsion and needs hardening, the reversal is by light fogging rather than chemical reversal.
 There is a tech pub here:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/cis111/cis111.pdf
So in my opinion develop the C22 in B&W (HC110 dil B same time as Tri-x +20%) and try to make your own E4 process from the linked pdf.

I've actually developed many of these older emulsions before (specifically E4 and C22) which I just did in roomtemp C41 (70F) with continuous agitation for 20m on a rotary base.  This usually gives... interesting results, as expected. But these were old rolls I exposed in the last few years. I guess I was just hoping for a somewhat better approach with these rolls exposed so long ago. But I draw the line at measuring and mixing up my own E4. haha

[Francois]

The results will depend more on the speed of the film and the EI at which you exposed it than anything else...
What speed films was it and how was it exposed?

[jharr]

The results will depend more on the speed of the film and the EI at which you exposed it than anything else...
What speed films was it and how was it exposed?

I think he said the film was exposed 50 yrs ago. I don't think he did the exposure, or if he did, probably doesn't remember the EI. 

[Francois]

Oh yeah... forgot that part 

In that case we can think that the film was probably properly exposed...
Thing is film ages faster after it's been exposed than before...
On on hand, film acceleration would squeeze the last bit of exposure from the film...
On the other hand, it would make grain worse than it was at the time...

Acceleration is usually recommended for fast films, not the slow films of the days...

I really don't know what to suggest as I don't want to feel responsible for a bad development job...

[panatomic_potato]

Well I decided to just go with the roomtemp C41 method, knowing the film would look funky either way and I didn't want to risk doing anything different in the end. The E4 actually doesn't look half bad, but the C22 is interesting at best.

Thanks all for the input, and at least now I have the recipe for E4 if I'm ever feeling adventurous enough. haha