DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Here’s what it looks like to develop an expired film in 68-years-old developer

Jan 4, 2018 by Dunja Djudjic 4 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

I believe you’ve seen the photos taken with expired rolls of film. Even after 35 years, they can often still develop nicely. But what happens when you combine a roll of film that expired 35 years ago with developer produced somewhere between 1949 and 1963? Tucson-based photographer Daniel Keating decided to try it: and he was successful.

As Daniel describes on his Flickr album, his camera connection friend in Ukraine found him a bottle of Rodinal and shared the seller’s description with him:

Seller wrote in description, that he found it in wooden box with very old photo equipment from 1905-1917 years, and he think, that this bottle is also not younger than 100 years old. He wrote also, that he look in internet on German websites about letters and digits on the bottle (S6 1793), and it means, that this dev was made in June 1917, 93 release of this month.

The label on the Rodinal bottle

So, it seemed at first that the developer was 100 years old. However, after some closer inspection, Daniel discovered DDR (East Germany) markings, which didn’t exist before 1949. Since Orwo took over Agfa in 1964, Daniel concluded that the film must be somewhere between 69 and 54 years old. Nevertheless, it’s a very old bottle of developer – and it sure looks like it.

Daniel says that the bottle was intact when he got it. He removed a very encrusted old rubber cork to discover that the solution had separated into two components. A thin liquid was on top, and a black, tarry sludge was on the bottom. He broke up the screw with a metal skewer, mixed everything up again and pulled out 5ml for a 250ml tank.

Along with the old developer, Daniel also used an old roll of film. It was a roll of Tasma Mikrat 300 expired 35 years ago, shot with a Nikkormat FTn. Here are the photos he got:

Daniel tells us that this isn’t the oldest film roll he’s used. Some of the rolls he’s shot and developed date back to 1952. He shot some photos on Dupont Superior3 from 1952, and he managed to develop the film quite well. I found it fun and pretty remarkable that in one of the photos, the subject is almost three times younger than the film. Here are some photos of the can of the vintage Dupont Superior3, and the resulting images:

“This film is about 3 times the age of the subject”

Daniel was very intrigued by the label on the bottle of Rodinal and wanted to inspect it further. He even contacted Orwo to see if they can identify a concise time frame of his bottle of developer. They were close to his conclusions: the bottle was most likely produced somewhere between 1949 and 1964, when Orwo Wolfen took over Agfa Wolfen. However, they have reduced the time span a bit, saying that the producing date was more likely to be between 1949 and 1956. Their assumption that “in 1956 the newly built film factory Agfa Leverkusen and the old original film factory Agfa Wolfen have agreed, that on the labels from Agfa Wolfen must not be ‘German Democratic Republic.’”

I tried finding out more information about the label myself, but I was out of luck. Daniel goes on with his research and contacting various sources, trying to find out the exact date of the production. We will update the post in case the research turns out to be successful, or if we find out something new. All in all, it’s very interesting to see the images developed with the developer that old and paired with the expired film. It feels kinda like the photos are a piece of long gone times, even though they were taken only a few years ago.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Shooting with film expired 20 years ago: Does it work? Photographing wildlife with 4×5 large format camera and expired film Film photographers, beware of this fake Fujifilm which can mess up your developer solution How to develop film with beer

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: black and white, Daniel Keating, Film Photography

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« Forget about Photoshop, you can use Microsoft Excel to make HDR photos
Build your own DIY sound booth with items from around the home without spending any money »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Here’s a bullet time video booth you can build yourself
  • Ricoh has discontinued the HD PENTAX-DA 21mm F3.2AL Limited silver lens
  • This “stellar flower” unravels the twilight’s evolution in 360 degrees
  • Strobes vs Continuous LEDs – Which is right for you?
  • Wave goodbye to Apple’s My Photo Stream next month

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy