Developing 1975 C41 colour film

angelpaaul

angelpaaul

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A friend of mine recently found her dad's old cameras. They're a mixture of russian cameras, Zenit, Zorki and, I think a FED. Anyway, a couple of them are still loaded with film. Being over 40 years old I'm not attempting to do them myself. So, who would be the best D&P lab to send them to, AG, Nik & Trick or someone else? As they contain photos of her brother and father, who are no longer with us, she's anxious to see what may be on them.

So, over to you. Cheer Chaps(y)
 
Filmdev don't do prints though so if she wants prints then you'd need to get prints from the scans.
 
Any lab that explicitly offers film rescue service is probably the best choice. Peak are good. I have used them a few times.
 
+1 for Peak, I’ve had good results from them for OOD exposed film.
 
Need to bear in mind that there may not be much left on the film! Peak did a black and white film from the early 1950s from my sister's Box Brownie for me. We got a faint ghost image from one frame, that's all (my sister claims it's blank, but I can see my grandmother's particular stance among the shadows and swirls).

Still worth doing but just be prepared. It seems the exposed images deteriorate more than unexposed film might!
 
I bought a Ross Ensign 820 off the well known auction site a few years ago which had a roll of 120 in it. I devved it at home and it worked very well, holiday shots from Madeira which look very much like they were from the early seventies or even the late sixties. So long as the back hasn't been opened and the light seals are reasonably intact I see no reason why they shouldn't be fine.
 
Looks like Peak-Imaging has most votes so far. I'll give them a call on Tuesday, too.
 
With C41 film there are 20+ layers each of which will age differently. Aging reduces the latent image in the various layers and the latent image might be completely missing in some layers. Also, the dye couplers have been slowly oxidising for 40-odd years and might or might not work as intended. Developing as mono film avoids most of the potential problems.

That said, I have had colour film from the 1970s developed with no more problems than a magenta colour cast.
 
Last edited:
john.margetts said:
With C41 film there are 20+ layers each of which will age differently. Aging reduces the latent image in the various layers and the latent image might be completely missing in some layers. Also, the dye couplers have been slowly oxidising for 40-odd years and might or might not work as intended. Developing as mono film avoids most of the potential problems.

That said, I have had colour film from the 1970s developed with no more problems than a magenta colour cast.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, something to bear in mind. I'll explain that to her as it's not my decision to make.
 
i found a 30 year old unexposed 1600 asa colour film in my dads camera bag. i rated it at 320 asa and got it back from del/scan a few weeks ago. all pics were very pink/magenta in cast but oddly some very clear while others really grainy i guess exposure incorrect?, there are a few that look ok(ish) with a black and white pp conversion
 
An OOD film used and then developed not long after behaves differently to one that was exposed years ago. The latter is much more likely to mean no photos. I'm sure Peak would be able to advise on whether to try it as colour or do black and white.
 
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