Developing film found in an old camera.

January 14, 2004 6:53 PM

I recently purchased an old Zenit E SLR camera, and when it arrived, there was a roll of film still inside, a finished one. I would like to get it developed, but the places I've went so far know nothing of the film and won't develop it since they don't want to ruin it. The markings on it are Pat 36, ORWO COLOR, and what appears to be UK 18. The most information I've been able to find is on this page. If someone could shed some light on how I might be able to provide the information to help me get this developed, I'd appreciate it.
posted by angry modem to (9 comments total)

The 18 could be a reference to the DIN film speed; in which case it would be 64 ASA, which is slow, but definitely not rare. At that speed it could very well be transparency/slide film; and indeed according to this page, 'UK' means the film is color reversal film adjusted for tungsten lighting.

So, it's my guess that it's old East German/DDR 64 ASA slide film (ties in with the Zenith, too). According to this page and the previous one, it needs special processing chemistry, "AGFA CT18." You could check your phone book for local specialist colour labs, take it in, and see what they say. Anyway hope this helps with further googling.
posted by carter at 8:00 PM on January 14, 2004

this place(scroll down) might be able to do it, but they're in the uk The best results from outdated Slide films invariably come from 1970-80's Agfa material.
We are often able to recover Agfa AP-41 process films (CT18, CT21) to near their original state, depending of course on storage conditions.

How interesting tho! post the pics somewhere if you have it developed.
posted by amberglow at 8:12 PM on January 14, 2004

Could "UK 18" actually be "UT 18"? If so, it's an East German slide film and Rocky Mountain Film Laboratory might handle it.
posted by normy at 8:55 PM on January 14, 2004

The UK is clearly UK on the side. And it's starting to look like too much work for a single roll of film, but regardless, thanks for the information.
posted by angry modem at 5:17 AM on January 15, 2004

angry modem, you wouldn't really need to do the work, the developer would. If you go to a pro developer (not one of the mall kiosks) they will charge you more in the first place but will do the job properly and the difference won't be a horrendous amount. Until I went all digital (love my Fuji S2 Pro) I ended up only dealing with pro labs anyway. For a small premium I got much better service and developing.

The wakeup call was an experiment I did to learn about exposure and flash. I put a couple of styrofoam cubes and spheres in front of a darkish grey backdrop and played around with focal length, exposure and flash intensity over two rolls of film and kept copious notes.

I took them to Ritz for developing and was able to learn nothing when I received the prints. Why? Everything was adjusted to look the same. Some were more grainy than others (low light and shortish exposure) but I couldn't tell anything otherwise.
posted by substrate at 5:34 AM on January 15, 2004

hmm. East German slide film ... a Pro Lab would probably be curious enough about the film to develop it at a reasonable cost for you
image quality if the film is very old will be almost nonexistent, but try anyway

and maybe there's a great pic in there, and you're legally the owner now. maybe it'll get you rich


or maybe not

posted by matteo at 9:26 AM on January 15, 2004

Back in the late 70s/early 80s ORWO brand film was available in the UK, I vaguely recall. It was sold as a budget brand - quite a bit cheaper than the regulars like Kodak, Ilford, Fuji, Agfa, etc. This is quite a while ago, but I seem to remember reading that it was cheaper because it used less silver in the emulsion. This resulted in a yellowy/browny color cast in the results. So, even when new, I don't believe it was all that great a film.

Personally, I'd be very curious to see what might be on it, all the same.
posted by normy at 9:49 AM on January 15, 2004

I bought some ORWO b+w film from Jessops in the mid 1980s, as an economy measure. The contrast was not that good, somewhat murky. I was wondering, if it is indoor slide film, if it might it have been used for commercial shoots/products.
posted by carter at 10:22 AM on January 15, 2004

Yeah, send it off to Rocky Mountain. They'll be able to handle it no problem.
posted by SpecialK at 12:02 PM on January 15, 2004