Amongst the recent bag of donated expired films were some hand-rolled Kodak motion picture films. Short (24exp) rolls so perfect for experimentation. I picked two at random, a Kodak 50D and a Kodak 200T, the latter presumably tungsten balanced. Exposed in daylight tungsten film will generally produce images with a blueish tint. It is usual to use an 85 filter or similar to counteract this but I thought, in for a penny, and decided to use it without the filter.
Once again I’d be using the pair of KMZ FT-2 cameras.
Remjet is a protective layer on the base (non-emulsion side) of motion picture film that protects from light piping, base scratches, static, and halation of highlights in exposure.
I fully expected a remjet layer with these films and inspecting the leader I was not surprised to see it a dull coal black colour. Remjet for certain I thought. I made up a batch of a proprietary remjet remover in readiness and set about loading both films onto reels and into a single tank.
Remjet removal seems to be something that puts off some home developers, indeed I was wary first time, but it’s actually fairly straightforward. I’ve been using a proprietary remjet remover, made to Kodak’s recommended recipe, although once the stock I have is used up I’m planning on going the fully DIY route and trying bicarbonate of soda (baking powder) as it is considerably cheaper than pre-made remover.
I substitute the usual pre-wash for the remjet removal washes before developing as normal.
Once the film has been allowed to soak for a couple of minutes in the remjet remover I proceed to vigorously agitate the tank for ninety seconds to help the carbon layer detach itself from the base. I then pour out the liquid, which should be black as it’s full of remjet, and wash the film several times until the water runs clear.
As you can see above, what I ended up with was more like lucozade than midnight black! Clearly something not right here. Had the removal failed? Probably. Or had the film not actually had a remjet layer? Unlikely I thought considering the colour of the film leader. User error? I thought not as I’ve done this several times before. I rinsed the film a few more times to be certain but after the second time the water came out clear I gave it up as a bad job. To be fair the bottle had been in my cellar for nine months.
Not to worry, I’d find out once the film was developed so I went ahead and completed the development process. Unsurprisingly when I pulled the films out of the tank the remjet was very much in evidence. On one film it had removed a small proportion of the remjet down the centre of the film but on the other none of it had been removed. Thankfully it’s easy enough to remove in a bath of warm (38°) water by carefully rubbing it off with your thumb (some folk use a sponge) before resoaking the films in stabiliser prior to hanging to dry.
As for the films, the negatives are a little thin but usable I think. Not knowing the age of the film I gave both an extra stop of exposure, making the assumption that both were no more than ten years expired. This was a decision I made whilst out, perhaps I should’ve stuck to my initial thought which was to go with a two stop increase. I think there’s a roll of each left in the bag so that’s for next time.
I don’t want this post to get too long so I will save the images themselves for my next post, which should come out very quickly after this one. In the meantime here’s a 50D negative to be going on with.
Dave's Place 