Ilford disposable camera + old HC110

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Eugene T

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So i have now this roll of HP5 from this throw away camera and a bottle of HC110 syrup thats about 6 years old, virtually full and stored in the dark. Looking at Dil B ( 1+31 ) and the dev chart says 5 mins some say 6 mins .
As the HC110 is old will the chemical activity have changed that much as to warrant xtra dev time . Any HC110 gurus please comment.

Also a cannister of Ilford Hypam same vintage , but i assume this will still be chemically active.

Many thanks
 
I think you're pushing your luck at 6 years old.

I've found results start to deteriorate after a couple of years.

I'm sure you'd get something but I'm not sure how good it would be.
 
I dont like using old developers but its all i,ve got here . I might go for 6 mins .
 
Make up a small volume to the dilution you plan to use and in the light agitate a snipped off bit of your film leader in water to get it wet and then in the developer and time how long it takes to go dark grey. That time should be around 1/5 th of the listed time.

You can test your fixer in the same way, time how long for undeveloped film to go clear and double that.
 
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dmb said:
Make up a small volume to the dilution you plan to use and in the light agitate a snipped off bit of your film leader in water to get it wet and then in the developer and time how long it takes to go dark grey. That time should be around 1/5 th of the listed time.

You can test your fixer in the same way, time how long for undeveloped film to go clear and double that.
Click to expand...

I knew the fixer bit of that, but not the developer bit, thanks David!

BTW I thought HC 110 was one of those developers that keeps for absolutely ages, which I assumed meant "never goes off"!

From Photrio: "I have a bottle of HC-110 here that was originally purchased sometime between 1992 and 1996. It was opened in 2004 and I am still using it from time to time for 35mm films. It looks much, much worse than the photo in the OP but still produces excellent and consistent results. Don't worry."

But also: "I have some (previously) unopened concentrate HC110 from the 80's. Dead as a dodo."

And: "I only occasionally use HC-110 so my bottle gets old. I have it with me on an extended trip where the "prepare from liquid" characteristic is desirable. I used some last week and it was still good as new. My bottle has a 1999 date stamp."

These were from 2009. https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/hc-110-how-old-can-it-be.50659/
 
Ok so assume i,m ok then . But i still might try a clip test .
There must be a cut off point in the chemistry then
Just want to dev this HP5 up and see whats what.
Thanks for the info .
 
dmb said:
Make up a small volume to the dilution you plan to use and in the light agitate a snipped off bit of your film leader in water to get it wet and then in the developer and time how long it takes to go dark grey. That time should be around 1/5 th of the listed time.
Click to expand...

Does the 1/5th of the listed time relate to any developer or are we just talking HC-110 ?

Tbh I didn't realise that a clip test like that could be done to check if a developer is dead or not
 
Asha said:
Does the 1/5th of the listed time relate to any developer or are we just talking HC-110 ?

Tbh I didn't realise that a clip test like that could be done to check if a developer is dead or not
Click to expand...

The idea is it works with any film and any developer, at least to give an idea of dead/alive and to give a starting time for testing for an undocumented film/developer combination. Based on 'Factorial Development' described by Alfred Watkins in 1893 as a way of working out plate development times - the Watkins Factor was the how many times to multiply first discernable image time to get good plates, each developer had its own factor. His system was a lot more complex but for testing film a factor of 5 usually is a good start. https://archive.org/details/photographywatk00watkgoog
 
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Thank you for the information and the scanned text from the book, looks like an interesting read.
 
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