Any old school film developers here?

Yukon Mike

Yukon Mike

Well-known member
Mac was out scouting for sheep the other day and found an old, apparently used, roll of Kodacolor Gold 100 that had fallen down in some rocks. It would be interesting if we could see what's on there and how old they are. The film may be ruined by age, weather, moisture or all of the above, but if any of you guys know anyone who can try to develop it, lets do it.

It has always struck me that vantage points or places out of the wind that I use have been there for a long time, and people have been hunting here for thousands of years, so you'd think I'd find lots of cool stuff. So far, between Mac, me and Jud we have collectively found an iPod, a fruit cup, and now a roll of film.

Mike
 
Mike,

Send that film out for processing, you never know what you will find.
I have a roll of processed film that we recovered from a sunken WWII German Uboat off the coast of Virginia. When we printed and enlarged the photos I found it was electrical schematic diagrams of some General Electric blue prints. I have been trying to find out what the blue prints were from but after many years we still have no answers. Some of the film was sent to GE historians and some to the USN. I was told that I was mistaken and it could not have come from a German sub. I replied saying I know exactly what type and the exact sub I was on. The official answer was that it could not have come from a German sub. I guess after all these years someone still does not want to admit that the Germans were able to obtain blue prints from GE.

I guess when I finally find the Enigma machine they will believe that it's a German sub. Some secrets were meant to be kept, I'm guessing this is one of them.

Anyway, good luck with your film. I hope it yields something interesting.
 
Mike,

I managed a photo lab for 5 years and owned one for another 10 years. There is no way to tell 100% if 35mm film has been used except to process it. There are some clues, but none of them are 100% like I said.

How much film was sticking out of the canister? Typically, a new roll had about 2.25 inches sticking out. Once a roll was shot, most cameras rewound all of the film inside the canister. Finding a roll this way doesnt necessarily mean it was used... someone could have rolled it in by hand. A very few cameras left about 1 inch of film outside the canister after rewinding, again... someone could have manipulated the roll this way as well. The only way to tell is to have it processed.

Is the roll of film wet? If so, you need to dry it out 100%. Was the film in fresh or saltwater? Put it somewhere that stays warm, we used to put wet rolls above the dryer vents on the processing machines and leave them there for a few days before processing. A wet roll wont feed out as easily as a dry one will, it could result in it not feeding into the developing machine and getting torn. The result is a tear mid roll and the loss of any photos near that tear as you will end up exposing some film possibly.

Also, film is like milk.... it always has an expiration date. The longer past that date, the less chance of any quality photos coming out. If the film has been exposed to any high heat, it could also result in the film being fogged, ruining the exposures. It has been a long time since Kodak made 35mm film, I am guessing 7 or 8 years

In short, you may get some images but chances are the exposures will be damaged, or you may get nothing. You never know until you try. Most people who brought me rolls like that found nothing, but every once in awhile there were some images. Let me know what you find, I miss the old film days...

Chris
 
There's no film sticking out of the canister, it definitely looks like it got wet, and there's a bit of rust on the metal squares on the canister.

OK, I'll take to Walmart tomorrow and see about sending it out. If I get any pictures back at all I'll post them up for you guys.

Good info! Thanks.

Mike
 
The story of the U Boat is cool; clearly it rendezvoused with a penetration agent to pick up those blueprints and return them to Germany; didn't make it. Little seems written about German penetration agents in the war. The big splash was the saboteurs that came ashore by U Boat and proceeded to get caught; you have to wonder how many didn't get caught or even known about. The Nazis must have had a couple of guys as capable as Rudolf Abel, you'd think.
 
I got nothing. The film processor lady showed me the roll and it was slimy with patches of brown stuff on it.

Mike
 
I got nothing. The film processor lady showed me the roll and it was slimy with patches of brown stuff on it.

Mike
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sounds like the pictures Al just posted of Bev's lab
Click to expand...
 
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