Feeling Like A Kid
I forgot how much I love shooting film.
I have a lot of film in my fridge. Most of it has been there for well over 5 years, some of it more than a decade. I did shoot a roll or two during the COVID lockdowns. Beyond that test to see if the C-41 color films were worth anything I’ve not done anything with it. The only reason I can fathom why I’ve let it expire and age into oblivion is that film cost has become unaffordable. Even black and white film costs about the same as color. It’s hard to justify $35/roll including processing.
Fast-forward, I found three rolls of 35mm B+W film in the side pocket of a camera bag I’ve not used in five or so years. I chucked a few things together to make some pictures of my niece and discovered a roll of TRI-X, Acros 100 (the old version), and Legacy Pro 100 (allegedly Acros 100). I have no idea how old these are but I am guessing at least a decade. On a whim, I loaded up my beloved Leica M4 with the Legacy Pro 100.
While I made a few pictures that day, I randomly made a few frames with the M4. I wasn’t being careful about considering exposure and probably made a few errors as can be seen above. Either that or my M4 is in dire need of a CLA? The next day I made a few more crappy pictures to finish off the roll as it was only 24 exposures again not being careful or scientific.
I didn’t plan on developing it that day. In fact all of my B+W chemistry is way older than 5 years old. I was thinking none of this old crap is going to work. I don’t know what possessed me I decided to develop it anyway. I couldn’t even find my daylight changing bag so I used a blanket in a dark room.
I threw out the working strength Ilford Rapid Fix as that was definitely no good. On my side was the fact I had an unopened bottle of the concentrate. For a developer I chose Diafine I mixed in 2016, they do claim it lasts forever. As I went through the simple process of the time/temp agnostic two-bath developer I said to myself, ”this is never going to work” a hundred times. I remember saying the same thing to myself the very first film I developed myself at 14 years old. This is never going to work.
It worked! I felt giddy, similar to the way I felt that very first time. I couldn’t believe it worked. I definitely won’t be paying $35/roll to shoot a lot of film (unless I experience some sort of unexpected windfall) but it’s ridiculous not to use what I already have in the refrigerator. This time I’m going to be a bit more scientific. Next up is testing the ISO of my old film and the strength of that decade-old, unopened bottle of HC110.