Developing old films

[PLC1966]

All,

 

I come across about 30 undeveloped films the other day, I suspect they are from Airshows and Motorbike Grand Prix's at the back end of the 80's and early 90's.  They have been in the garage & loft over the years but have been stored in their plastic containers all that time.  Mostly Fuji.

 

So is there any value in getting these developed, I would be after the pictures being put straight to disc.  Is there likely to be any photo's come through good enough to make it worth it.  AND.......if the collective believe there is likely to be some value in this, any recommendations about which developers to use ?

 

All help gratefully received.

[ckw]

The plastic containers will help, and fuji film is pretty stable. However over time and changes in temperature (heat is the enemy) you may find the colours have shifted or faded. You may also find some fogging and less detail/increased graininess. Another problem is that having the film tightly wound in a roll for 30+ years may make it difficult to unwind - indeed heat may have caused the emulsion to 'weld'  into a solid cylinder.

 

I'm afraid I can't recommend a processor - when I did shoot film, I processed them myself. But I would suggest these will need to be handled by a specialist, not your average machine based photolab as simply extracting the film from the canister may be tricky.

 

Provided you get some sort of image Photoshop (other brands - some free - are available) can these days perform near miracles in restoring images. Worst case, as long as there is something on the film you should be able to convert them to a decent B&W image.

 

Cheers

 

Colin

 

[Jinxman]

I use Palm Labs, Digbeth, Birmingham for my developing. They will also scan any film into the format of your choice.

 

I think print film is more stable over time than slide, but I'm no expert by any means.

 

https://www.palmlabs.co.uk

 

Perhaps you could have one of the films developed, and they can let you know what the results are? Then you can make a decision on the remainder?

 

Good luck, and let us know how it goes if you do get them developed?

[Quiet Mike]

Sorry not to have any relevent advice, but keen to see results. I still shoot 35mm film. I prefer to use my grandfathers old Voigtlander he picked up in Germany at the end of his stint in the Army. Depending on how flush I am feeling I occasionally use out of date film stock of unknown provenence, usually with underwheling results! I wonder what exposed film will be like after such long storage? I recently ran an old slide film through my camera (Accidentally, I didn't read the label) and it came out predictably aweful. I managed to save something by converting digitally to b/w, but an expensive mistake all the same. In agreement with @Jinxman, get one developed and see how it looks ...

[spruecutter96]

Thirty years is a VERY long time for unprocessed film. I would recommend having one or two processed and checking the results. Of course, this is no guarantee. One film could be OK, and the next a pile of dust.

 

Old movie-film could be frozen for several years, completely thawed-out and then used as normal, but the films you're asking about have been stored under some pretty harsh / changeable conditions. As you know, 35mm film had a Use-By date on the box - after that date, it was very much "Buyer Beware" and the makers would not accept any liability for damages incurred by its use. 

 

Give one a go and judge it from there. 

 

Hope this helps. 

 

Chris. 

[PLC1966]

On 7/28/2022 at 10:45 AM, ckw said:

The plastic containers will help, and fuji film is pretty stable. However over time and changes in temperature (heat is the enemy) you may find the colours have shifted or faded. You may also find some fogging and less detail/increased graininess. Another problem is that having the film tightly wound in a roll for 30+ years may make it difficult to unwind - indeed heat may have caused the emulsion to 'weld'  into a solid cylinder.

 

A few of them may have have had a six month holiday in Belize.....🙄

 

Provided you get some sort of image Photoshop (other brands - some free - are available) can these days perform near miracles in restoring images. Worst case, as long as there is something on the film you should be able to convert them to a decent B&W image.

 

B&W, yeah, like the thinking there.  Cheers Colin

 

 

On 7/28/2022 at 1:23 PM, Jinxman said:

I use Palm Labs, Digbeth, Birmingham for my developing. They will also scan any film into the format of your choice.

 

I think print film is more stable over time than slide, but I'm no expert by any means.

 

https://www.palmlabs.co.uk

 

Perhaps you could have one of the films developed, and they can let you know what the results are? Then you can make a decision on the remainder?

 

Good luck, and let us know how it goes if you do get them developed?

 

Thanks for the shout on Palm Labs, will give them a crack for a film or two and put some on here.

 

5 hours ago, Quiet Mike said:

Sorry not to have any relevent advice, but keen to see results. I still shoot 35mm film. I prefer to use my grandfathers old Voigtlander he picked up in Germany at the end of his stint in the Army. Depending on how flush I am feeling I occasionally use out of date film stock of unknown provenence, usually with underwheling results! I wonder what exposed film will be like after such long storage? I recently ran an old slide film through my camera (Accidentally, I didn't read the label) and it came out predictably aweful. I managed to save something by converting digitally to b/w, but an expensive mistake all the same. In agreement with @Jinxman, get one developed and see how it looks ...

 

Great to use a camera your Grandad brought back, lovely bit of family history, and you still use it, brilliant.

 

4 hours ago, spruecutter96 said:

Thirty years is a VERY long time for unprocessed film. I would recommend having one or two processed and checking the results. Of course, this is no guarantee. One film could be OK, and the next a pile of dust.

 

Old movie-film could be frozen for several years, completely thawed-out and then used as normal, but the films you're asking about have been stored under some pretty harsh / changeable conditions. As you know, 35mm film had a Use-By date on the box - after that date, it was very much "Buyer Beware" and the makers would not accept any liability for damages incurred by its use. 

 

Give one a go and judge it from there. 

 

Hope this helps. 

 

Chris

 

I think that I will have to accept that I may get very little out of it, but somewhere in there are pictures of Brit/German/Dutch/Belgium Motorbike GP's from the back of the 80/early 90's,  a shed load of German, Belgium & Dutch airshows, a spotting trip to Arizona in 91 including a Luke AB tour, Texas Spotting Tour in 92, drunk Germany trips, and I suppose some early shots of  Mrs PLC1966 and I, is it bad that came last....

Thanks for your thoughts, I am going to send two or three films off and see where I get to, gotta be worth a go hasn't it..?

 

 

Regds

 

Paul 

 

 

[AMB]

Please  let us know how you get on and perhaps post the results?  Good Luck!

Edited July 29, 2022 by AMB