Testing film?

[ChrisN]

OK - I just received a bulk roll of HP5 film, of dubious age and unknown storage history. I'm planning to load a couple of short rolls and expose them at 200 and 400 iso, and give them normal development, to see what happens.

Any other ideas for testing?

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The main things you'll be looking for are increased base fog, which may be so high it can't be printed through if the film is old or was stored in hot conditions. The other thing is speed loss, which happens with age. It may also look grainier than normal if its too old or badly stored.

[EmilGil]

Isn't the speed loss a result of compensating for the base fog by increased exposure and decreased development rather than a phenomenon of it's own?

[ChrisN]

Interesting point, EmilGil. I did get this advice from Tom A about the film:

Try the HP 617 with a lower contrast developer like Kodak's D96. It would work well in your bright sunshine now when summer comes around.
Check the expiry date on the film, it is not critcial, but if it is more than 10 years out of date, get some Benzotriazole to cut the fog. I usually mix 2 grams of Benzo to 200 ml of hot water and I use 10 ml of that for 1000 ml of developer. With the D96 you can add it to the stock. If you keep adding it to the reuseable developer you end up with too much and it slows the speed of the film.

Unfortunately there is no dating on the film packaging. I'll just experiment and see what I get!

[rogue_designer]

You can do a snip test and try short lengths - or roll a 12 exposure roll and do a bracketed test and process normally to see which frame is closest and adjust from there.