Blog # 2: Rescued Film
From Antiques Rise Treasures
It’s almost beginning to be a regular occurrence that I am given an orphaned roll of film. Maybe I look like someone who can do the job, or people hear the excitement and interest in my story telling. Whatever the case, I am beginning to appreciate and search for lost and forgotten rolls of film; a regular gold miner panning for gold.
Thrift Store in Idaho City, Idaho
Last year I strolled into an old thrift store in Idaho City, Idaho looking for old cameras. The owner said, “Sure, there’s a box of them. Make me an offer”. I looked in the old box and sure enough, several old cameras. Well, old being in the 70s. “Make me an offer” she said. The first camera I picked up was an old Kodak 110 Tele Instamatic with a roll of film in it. It had stopped at frame 17. I tried to release the shutter or advance the film but couldn’t make it work. “Will you take $5 for this one?” I asked about the Instamatic. “$5, Sure, its broken and I cant get the film out.” I totally forgot there were other cameras in that box, I paid the money and was out the door. It wasn’t long before I got the film cartridge out and discovered the plastic wheel on the film cartridge was stripped. The thumb advance metal wheel in the camera was fine. I put a new roll of film back in and it was ready to go.
Jukebox Girl
I processed the found film, and my hidden treasures were revealed. Swishing the film around in circles in my “gold pan” revealed I had rescued a family vacation to California’s Golden Gate Bridge at Christmas time. In addition, there were some pictures of some other restaurant visits, some old cars, and other family trips as well. I felt like a time traveler, a regular Dr. Who. My Tardis had taken me back to California to the late 70s (plus or minus). Who and when, we’ll never know, but the history and human-interest stories enrich the journey of camera hunting.
Kodak Autographic Camera
Next I was given a 1918 Kodak Autographic camera that needed a lot of work. What a pearl! It eventually will crank out pictures. But I needed donor parts. I found a “donor” kodak camera from the same era in rough shape and bought it for $10. Imagine my surprise finding an old roll of 124mm film in that donor camera. I sat down and began researching on developing a century-old roll of film.
The research began by asking questions on all the blogs and film web sites I could find. How to safely develop film this old? Rodinal and HC 110 seemed to be the developers of choice for old, outdated film. I bought some HC 110 and then looked to find a large enough reel and tank for 124mm (3.5 inch wide negative) roll film.
It was beginning to get more and more discouraging as I looked for reels, chemicals, tanks, and even advice on developing this roll of film. I had to dig deep but got bits of information. I had several old reels laying around that I knew could be fabricated to work. I superglued an old reel to size to fit the 124mm roll. One day on vacation in Denver, I was given an old Yankee 4x5 paper developing tank. It was large enough to fit the large 124mm reel. I had completed the search. My whole process took over 3 months to research, fabrication, study, prep, and then ordering the developing chemicals.
124mm Film
My chemical prep was HC 110 in a 1:200 dilution. Then came the calculations for time in developer. Several people recommended Verichrome film be developed in highly diluted developer for 2 hours with little agitation. The numbers added up for me and I went with it.
I developed the film in a 2 hour bath. Finally the old roll of film produced one good image.
Recovered Image from Kodak Autographic
We see several things from examining this image, but nothing for sure tells us time or place. We see a tree in bloom (lilac maybe), the streets appear flooded, a small kid on a bike, someone on the far right in an apron watching, a forested tree line behind the houses, early architecture of a house, a stop sign (standardized for red and white in 1925), and these things are at first glance. Nothing definitive for sure. If you see some other clues send me a note, but this picture is a great snap-shot in time of some place that may not ever be identified.
In a later blog I will tell the story of getting the repairs completed and then shooting film in another Kodak Autographic.
Recovered Image from 16 Year-Old Disposable Camera
For my next treasure hunt, I was given two early 2000s single-use cameras that had exposed film. One camera had about 16 shots taken. I shot the rest of the roll to see how they would turn out, and then I developed these two rolls of film. I did them in stock C41 and extended the time a few more minutes and got a few images. From studying the images and identifying the relatives, it was determined that these 2 cameras had been sitting around for at least 16 years. These negatives needed some strong luring and scanning to get images. Heat, light leaks, and other things had taken a toll. After sitting in a drawer or car or closet for that long the film had really degraded. But we still got some images and discovered who was in the pictures.
Kodak Flashfun Camera for 127 Format
I am always on the lookout for old cameras. I’m especially on the lookout for film that may be in them. I recently discovered my mother-in-law has an old Kodak Flashfun camera (1962) on her antique shelf. I pulled it down to look at it, and there is an old roll of film still in it with 5 shots taken. Everyone in the family is looking forward to that treasure hunt.
Like the hard work of an old gold miner for one or two small nuggets, this rescue work might produce one or two images. But from developing old film and saving lost pictures I am excited to have my own time machine. I am also hoping to find a picture of Bigfoot, or the Loch Ness Monster .