I recently purchased this box of 4X5 film knowing that it had been cold stored for at least part of it's life. It's Kodak Contrast Process Panchromatic Film for making copies of printed matter and other line originals. The expiration date is January 1961. I thought it may have an interesting high contrast look to it. The data sheet rates it at ASA 100 so I loaded a sheet and did a test to see what I should rate it at, assuming it has lost some speed and contrast like the data sheet says it will do over time. Doesn't look like it has lost much speed over time but the contrast seems to be quite normal.
The shot is out my back door focusing and metering on the fence at ISO 100. I shot it at f/8 1/100, it was an overcast day. For the first shot, right hand side, I opened the dark slide 1 inch, then 1 more inch for each shot after that at the same f-stop and shutter speed, effectively halving the ISO each time. For the test I developed it in beer since that is likely what I will use going forward. Maybe another developer would give more contrast but I don't think it would be significant. I can't find much information on this film other than my data sheet, does anyone else have any experience with it? I'm thinking I'll probably shoot it at around ISO 50 or 25. I may cut some down to 9X12 to use in my ICA Trona.