Lost Frame Numbers

[Hugh 38]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

About two weeks ago I road tested a new purchase , an R4s mod 2 with a vario Elmar 35 to 70 ( ??) and used a roll of Ilford Pan F .

I developed the film in ID11 , stop , fix and wash and it looked fine so I hung it up to dry . Later when I went to cut the film into strips I noticed there were no frame numbers and 'Ilford' was not along the top of the film , as most films have.

 

Any ideas what may have gone wrong ? I have not tried to print from the film yet . The fixer appears to have ' cleared' the film . The negatives are not very contrasty as it was a cloudy day . I have had a look through my dark room books and found nothing . I think the film will print , as it looks fine.

 

I had used the chemistry a few days earleir for a roll of Delta and that worked fine. The only thing I can think of is the film was dated August 1999 , but had been kept in the firdge or freezer all the time.

 

 

Any sugestions ?

Thanks

[adan]

I wouldn't think the age would reduce the latent images of frame numbers to nothing - our lab successfully developed images exposed on a roll of 620 film 50 years ago recently.

 

Possibly the Ilford factory just produced a batch with a light source burnt out in the "frame numbering" part of the production line - way back in 1996 or whenever....

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Hugh 38]

Thanks for that .

It had not ocured to me the film may be defective. The other rolls of PanF are slightly newer , expire Aug 2006 . A friend has just cleared out his freezer and sent me an assortment of films, many without a box so who knows how old the rolls are . Should be interesting.

 

There are a f ew C41 black and white rolls which I have never used .

[250swb]

On 120 film at least Ilford do not print 'Pan F' on the film edge, but do identify other films on the opposite film edge to the numbers. Perhaps it is the same with the 35mm film?

 

If so you might question whether you had enough developer in the tank to cover the film edge properly. Too little would mean the edge markings (numbers at the top in the tank) are not developed and the fix simply clears the base. It is obviously touch and go, and some other indication of uneven development may be seen on the negatives, but not necessarily if you haven't printed or scanned them yet.

 

Steve

Edited May 17, 2013 by 250swb

[joeswe]

There is some talk on the Internet, for example here, that indicates that Pan F+ has only modest latent image keeping abilities compared to other films. As your rolls are old stock, it is possible that the frame numbers have faded. I rarely use Pan F+, but have noticed that frame imprints sometimes appear unusually weak even on a correctly developed film.