an Adventure with an unknown film


The good thing about buying used cameras is, that you get the chance to hear the stories of the people who are selling them. not only pictures but cameras are a kind of memories too. At the end of 2017 I drove about 30 minutes outside my hometown Cologne, Germany to pick up a used Mamiya RB67. The guy who sold it to me had no idea what to do with the camera because he wasn't that into photography as his father was. After his father passed away he wanted to sell everything. After talking to him and checking the camera he told me that he have a lot of photography related stuff in his basement he want to throw away. As we went down into the basement I couldn't believe my eyes. The room was basically a darkroom. Tons of enlargers, trays. chemicals etc. Since I already own a darkroom I only took a few things. Then he pulled out a big box of film. I looks like there was almost every film that was ever made in the box. He gave me a small amount because he knew that there are a lot people out there who would pay thousands of euros the get everything. He also gave me a bulk loader. 

viewfinder yeshiva t4

A few months later I wanted to use the Bulkloader und wanted to put some film inside. Luckily I found out that there is still some film inside. But I had no idea what kind of film was in there. The guy gave me some films I could bulk load and I was assuming that the film could either be Ilford FP-4 or Ilford SP816T. I loaded about 15 Shots into my Yashica T4. Since my canister wasn't DX Coded the film speed was set to 100 automatically. 

After I came home I quickly developed the shots using HC-110. I looked at the developing times and went for around 7 Minutes. The film is probably expired 10-20 years I thought 7 minutes should be ok compared to the developing times of FP4 und SP816T. 

Developing tank

When I was done with the fixer I opened the film tank and I was impressed. I could see all images in perfect exposure. But there was no labeling on the film it self. 

After some research I had two options. Fomapan 100 or Fomapan 400 because both films are pretty much just the frame without any labeling on the film. The developing time for Fomapan 400 is 7 Minutes. Since I exposed to film to EI100 which is overexposed two stops and getting a great exposure with it, the film would be 20 years expired. 

Film roll black and white

After looking at the images I realized that I doesn't care what film it is. I know the Exposure and the developing. it both worked completely fine. The film is pretty sharp and have a nice and lovely grain structure. This limitation gives me more time to focus on my subject and to be more creative. This is what photography is about!

Here are all shots I took that day.