1964 Ilford Film has finally seen the daylight !

I know there are loads of information on the web regarding processing expired films and obviously, it's very difficult to pick up  only one method since the way the film it's stored and how long the film is expired will change the final result. 

So with this post I wanted to share my experience processing a well expired 1964 Ilford HP3 400 ISO.

 

Firstly, I decided not to use a toy camera in order to have a better control over the exposure and for this film in particular I used my Leica IIIF in bright sunlight day. For some shots I followed the light meter reading and for others I compensate one or two stops (it would've been great if I had known which ones I did compensate by taking notes... but I'm too lazy for that).

I then processed the film with Rodinal (apparently reduces fog). I used 1+25 ratio and followed the recommendation time for the equivalent Ilford HP5 increasing the time from 6 minutes to 9 and a half, (don't ask me why I didn't do the full 10 minutes...). I agitated by swirling the spiral gently but constantly for the first minute and then 4 times every 30 secs very slowly. Normal stop bath and fixing process.

I noticed that no colour came out from the developer like in the modern films. In fact,I left a piece of the film after processed inside a glass with water overnight and not a single residue came out at all.

The film was VERY curly which is normal, after all it was inside the canister waiting to see the daylight  for 47 years. There are quite a few marks  as well especially on the first three frames where the spots can clearly  be seen .It's also very grainy and some of the shots came out very dark even for a very sunny day , overall I like the effect and I'm very pleased with the results.

After scanning the negs I applied the usual photoshop adjustments and a sepia filter to enhance the old looking. I won't retouch any of the marks... to me they are like scars from over the years and it's part of the film and the whole process.