Where do i get it developed?

nealjpage · Nov 28, 2005

Going through some old family items, we came across a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye that still has a roll of film in it. Not sure of the brand of film, but through the little window in the back, it says "Verichrome." Or at least that's what I think it said. At any rate, I have no idea how old this film is or what's on it. I don't know what size it is, either. How should we handle this? We'd like to get it developed....

Rob · Nov 28, 2005

If it's a Hawkeye, it'll probably be 620 roll film. It's a standard B&W process film, not a slide, despite the name AFAIK.

So the answer is probably your local specialist lab. The highstreet ones don't tend to be able to dev 120 in the UK (even though they could in theory). Get the lab to take the film out in a dark bag.

Chances are it's probably been fogged by now, the Brownies aren't usually that light-tight. From the dates of that film and the camera I'd predict that the film was taken between 1950 and 1957.

Hertz van Rental · Nov 28, 2005

There's a good chance the film will be OK - it's always worth a crack (you've got nothing to lose).
620 film is slightly smaller than 120 so it might not fit on a 120 spiral.
You could try these people though
http://www.rockymountainfilm.com/verichrome.htm

nealjpage · Nov 28, 2005

Hmm....I guess I'll steal it from my uncle when I'm home for Xmas so I can bring back the whole thing and do it here. It's probably a great idea to remove the film in the darkroom, isn't it? What would you think the processing times would be for it?

Hertz van Rental · Nov 28, 2005

I'll go through my library and see if I can find something.

nealjpage · Nov 29, 2005

Thanks, Hertz.

Hertz van Rental · Nov 29, 2005

Kodak (bless 'em) still have the info up.
You should find all you need here. There is a dev time chart for various developers.
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f7/f7.jhtml

nealjpage · Nov 29, 2005

Wow. So does that mean that the film was only available in 120 and sheet-size, not 620? If so, that'd make things much easier.

Hertz van Rental · Nov 29, 2005

You used to be able to get it in 120 and 620. 620 fell out of favour - like the disk camera and 110 cartridges.
The Hawkeye took 620 film.
Info on it here
http://homepage.mac.com/mattdenton/photo/cameras/kodak_hawkeye.html

nealjpage · Nov 29, 2005

So it looks like 620 is simply 120 on a different spool, right?

Hertz van Rental · Nov 29, 2005

I'm not actually sure. There is a slight difference in size but whether it's due to the backing paper or the neg actually being slightly different... I wouldn't put it past Kodak to make the neg material slightly different to stop people cross-using the films. Only one way to find out. Try it.

nealjpage · Nov 30, 2005

Right. Will-do. How should I adjust times (or should I?) based on the age of the film (50 years or so)? I'm not sure how long that roll of film has been in that camera, but I'm guessing it's pretty close to that.

Hertz van Rental · Nov 30, 2005

It's impossible to say - depends upon how the film has been stored and other factors.
You could process according to the specified times and get almost perfect negs or nothing much or something in between.
I would err on the side of caution, based on an overdeveloped film being better than an underdeveloped one, and give it an extra 10%.
You still might not get anything though.
If you had a couple of rolls I would suggest a clip test. But if you only have the one it's not really viable. All you can do is to try it.
Best of luck.