NP20 Film

[thuggins]

I just received a lovely little Penti with both of the Agfa cartridges. One still has NP20 film still in it.

I haven't mixed up any B&W chemicals for a couple of years and seems doubtful the concentrates are still good. I was thinking about running it thru E6 first developer and then trying to FIX. Since FIX goes to completion it seem that even if the chemicals are old, there should still be some activity as long as the they are not totally dead.

Any thoughts?

 

[nosmok]

If you haven't souped this yet, and would be up for trying coffee based developers, NP20 is good in Caffenol. I've used Caffenol CH and Caffenol delta-STD with good results.

 

[Michael L.]

You could try to contact Pentaxpete (subscriber here). He has much and recent experience with developing expired Orwo films and is very knowledgeable on the subject.
See e.g. https://www.photrio.com/forum/media/gift-orwo-tests-01.61053/

 

[Nokton48]

I processed some very old Orwo NP20 6.5x9cm sheets yesterday morning, I used Ilford Microphen 1:3 from stock, 30 minutes at 63F. This film has a unique look to it. I like it.

 

[thuggins]

Thanks for the comments. As this is "found film" I was just curious if there was anything retrievable on it. It wasn't meant to be "new adventures in film developing".

My B&W developer is Ilfotec DD-X. I don't have a problem with mixing up a pint of it, but as mentioned above it is at least two years old. Any idea of the shelf life of the concentrate?

 

[pentaxpete]

Hallo ! I have done some experiments with 1992 dated ORWO NP20 --I rate it at 50 ASA and process in RODINAL 1+50 for 15 mins @ 20oC with only 2 agitations per minute.

 

[thuggins]

I checked the fix. It had crystals in it but I mixed some up and sacrificed a roll of Ultrafine Extreme to test it. Sure enough, the silver halide cleared, so it was on to the real thing.

I put the film into the E-6 first developer (heated to 100F) for about 8 minutes, figuring that would produce some sort of image. Then into the fix. There are no images, but the film didn't clear, either. The strip is uniformly black. There are not even any edge markings, but that might be normal for this film. I assume that the film was fogged at some point.

I did confirm that Ilford Rapid Fixer is still good after being open for 2-1/2+ years.