Guessing age of a roll of Verichrome Pan

Yobo57 · Feb 28, 2025

I recently bought a camera and when opening the back I saw quickly that there was a roll of 120 verichrome pan (iso 125) loaded.
I would like to finish shooting the roll but I’m not sure what decade it’s from. Verichrome Pan was produced from the 1950s-2000s and the camera is from the 40s.

Should I just shoot it at iso 2 or about 6 stops slower and hope for the best or can I more accurately guess the age of the roll based on the backing paper design?

The paper was yellow with only the frame numbers and verichrome pan written. I believe there were three rows of numbers too for the different formats.
I do not recall Kodak being marked anywhere or any other symbols lines or arrows. I could take a picture of the backing and uploaded it but I don’t want to further risk ruining the 5ish photos already exposed on the roll. Let me know what y’all think!

Dr. no · Feb 28, 2025

Verichrome Pan has an amazing lifespan, I am getting perfectly usable images from a brick from 1979--there is base fog, but will take some pics of the film and the backing paper after breakfast. It is well-known as one of the most stable films. Shoot it at 100 and develop normally. Unless you have some other reason, ignore what people are about to say about tossing it as worthless or that it needs benzotriazole (well, it could use benzotriazole, but not need).
Of, and after you take it out...metal reels were used in 1979, plastic in 1983. Not sure which year they switched.

Sirius Glass · Feb 28, 2025

Dr. no said:
Verichrome Pan has an amazing lifespan, I am getting perfectly usable images from a brick from 1979--there is base fog, but will take some pics of the film and the backing paper after breakfast. It is well-known as one of the most stable films. Shoot it at 100 and develop normally. Unless you have some other reason, ignore what people are about to say about tossing it as worthless or that it needs benzotriazole (well, it could use benzotriazole, but not need).
Of, and after you take it out...metal reels were used in 1979, plastic in 1983. Not sure which year they switched.

I agree. Shoot at box speed or close to it.

Dr. no · Feb 28, 2025

These are from a 1979 batch. If you have a red window you can tell on the next frame...

Yobo57 · Feb 28, 2025

Dr. no said:
These are from a 1979 batch. If you have a red window you can tell on the next frame...

Appreciate the input and pictures! The backing I think is identical so I assume can’t be much more than 10 years older at maximum. I’ll shoot at iso 100 and upload the pictures when I get them developed. Thank you!

mshchem · Feb 28, 2025

I wouldn't waste too much time. Shoot it at 80. Then go out and buy a few rolls of Foma 100, it's equally exciting.

MattKing · Feb 28, 2025

Tell us which camera it was in.
Are you sure it isn't 620 size?

Yobo57 · Feb 28, 2025

MattKing said:
Tell us which camera it was in.
Are you sure it isn't 620 size?

Yes it’s in a Super Ikonta 533/16

Dr. no · Mar 4, 2025

And show us how it went!

Dr. no · Mar 24, 2025

Developed it yet?

Yobo57 · Mar 24, 2025

Dr. no said:
Developed it yet?

Not yet still have 2 shots left to take. Haven’t had much nice weather recently… Also I’m debating developing it myself as I now have access to a darkroom and some d76 or if I should drop it at my local lab as I haven’t developed film before.

MattKing · Mar 24, 2025

Yobo57 said:
Not yet still have 2 shots left to take. Haven’t had much nice weather recently… Also I’m debating developing it myself as I now have access to a darkroom and some d76 or if I should drop it at my local lab as I haven’t developed film before.

If you don't have much experience loading the reels, I'd be reluctant to start with an old roll of Verichrome Pan.
Old film that has been sitting in a camera for years tends to be really, really, really curly!
I've been developing film myself for decades, and I still struggle with old film.
For your first efforts at developing, I'd suggest starting out with current film.

Yobo57 · Mar 24, 2025

MattKing said:
If you don't have much experience loading the reels, I'd be reluctant to start with an old roll of Verichrome Pan.
Old film that has been sitting in a camera for years tends to be really, really, really curly!
I've been developing film myself for decades, and I still struggle with old film.
For your first efforts at developing, I'd suggest starting out with current film.

Ok thanks for the heads up! I’ll post the results as soon as I finish the roll and get it back

F4U · Mar 24, 2025

Yes, that stuff will have a hard curl set in it. It's be a hard case about loading it on a reel.

Yobo57 · Apr 4, 2025

Dr. no said:
And show us how it went!

Finally got the scans back. The first 5 photos taken by whoever owned the camera before me weren’t sent so I assume they were completely fogged/light leaked. I’ll see when I pick up the negatives. Out of the 7 I took here are the better ones. Let me know what you think

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