From the old days (mid-90s) I still have a good number of 100ASA (PS-21), 200ASA (PS-24) in both 35mm and 120 formats, with a few 100ASA colour ones. These rolls were frozen back then and I take a roll out every now and then. By the looks of it, the film fog is not (yet) there yet. Shooting it is a bit of a struggle between the real ISO and need to give the film as much light as possible. It’s long expired, end of the 80s/beginning of the 90s, but they were kept frozen; they should keep a lot better than if normal ambient, I guess.
Every now and then, I get sentimental and take out one of the rolls and shoot it with the same delight as I used them when I was a student in high school (yes, they are that old). The results are not really bad; this film was never great to start with, anyways. Nonetheless, I do love the look of this film, after all these years. Why, you ask? Nobody’s business, this is a private matter between me and my old, really old films. A family thing of sorts.
I just returned from a relaxing week spent on the shores of the Black Sea, somewhere in Bulgaria. Great scenery, great food, not so great weather. But the places I’ve seen more than made up for the clouds and rain. Not the best weather for shooting long expired film, but one can always give one’s best. So did I, shooting this roll of Azopan PS-24 (200 ASA) rated at 50, wide-open as much and often as I could. For those of you who do not know, Azopan was a Romanian brand of negative films, both b&w and colour, made in Romania between mid-80s to mid-90s.
Camera employed this time was an Olympus OM1, in pristine condition, recently CLA’d; a really delivering machine. This film (and many expired others) is finicky, mainly because it’s old. The emulsion is affected in ways that makes them (almost) completely and utterly unreliable. Of course, it hugely depends where and how these were kept. I know and expect this. Not to mention that it wasn’t that great when it was fresh, to be fair.
I usually shoot this 200ASA film at 50 or even 25, depending on the available light. Processing it is a different kettle of fish altogether: Rodinal in 1/25 dilution seems to be the best bet, with a couple of slow and gentle inversion every 2 minutes or so, although I would try some dilution of HC110 just to see what comes out. Do enjoy, if you like these; let me now your thoughts on this series.
And the last one, which I do like it a lot. It was taken on the hotel balcony, and it was raining. I do find this photograph a good example of showing the season is over and the autumn is here. And also it speaks volumes on the capability of this (otherwise less-than-appreciated) Romanian film.
