Vlad Soare Posted March 21 Share #1 Posted March 21 (edited) Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi guys, My wife bought an old film canister from a flea market in Berlin last week. As a bonus, it still had a B&W film in it - exposed and developed. Sadly, the seller knew absolutely nothing about it. She couldn't give her any details whatsoever as to the origin of the film, or age, or subject, or anything else. It's an FP4, which dates it between 1968 and 1990. But it would be nice if I could date it a tiny bit more precisely. There are two details which attract my attention. The first is that the name FP4 is punched into the leader, something I haven't seen in a very long time. Does anyone know when Ilford stopped doing this? The second is that the film has a long leader. Of course, it's possible that the photographer cut it himself or herself, but I think this is a bit unlikely, for two reasons. First, the cut seems to be very, very smooth. To get it so smooth you need a genuine ABLON, a good knife, and a lot of care. A cardboard template, or some other kind of workaround, just wouldn't give so great results. And I have reasons (albeit subjective) to doubt that the photographer used an ABLON. Second, and most important, that the name is centered in the long leader. If the film had left the factory with a short leader, then Ilford would have had no reason to punch the name so far from the end of the film. The name would have been centered relative to the short leader. So, I think there's a good chance that the film had a long leader to begin with. Which leads me to the second question: does anyone know when Ilford stopped manufacturing films with long leaders? Do you see anything else that might be relevant? Maybe the font, or the character spacing, or the numbering style, or the colour of the base, or whatever... You can click on the photos to see a high resolution version. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Thank you. Edited March 21 by Vlad Soare Quote Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Thank you. ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/419957-help-me-date-an-fp4-film/?do=findComment&comment=5774965'>More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 21 Posted March 21 Hi Vlad Soare, Take a look here Help me date an FP4 film. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
earleygallery Posted March 21 Share #2 Posted March 21 I think the long leaders were phased out in the late 70's. I can't tell you any more than that though. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB_tx Posted March 21 Share #3 Posted March 21 Afraid I can't help - but I recall the first time I bought a roll with a short leader and thought it was defective. I still used a Stereo Realist some at that time that needed a long leader to index the first frame properly. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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