A 50 years old b&w film exposed with a 70 years old medium format folding camera

After having purchased some long-expired Agfa Isopan b&w films via ebay, I spooled an Agfa Isopan IF (ASA 40, expired July 1976) into my trusty Agfa Isolette III and was curious how the pictures turned out. The stiffness of the old filmbase caused some friction during the film winding, but the frame numbers on the backing paper were clearly visible.

The photographic test subjects with sufficient detail were found at two of my favorite locations. The extra contrast on a sunny day should overcome the potential loss of contrast as a result of fogging. I had already taken many pictures of the same scenes on modern film stock, which was quite helpful for the judgment of the results.

Grimburg Castle

Grimburg Castle (Agfa Isolette III Solinar, Agfa Isopan IF, expired July 1976, exposed at ASA 5, 1/5 sec and f/16, tripod)

Hiking trail

Hiking trail (Agfa Isolette III Solinar, Agfa Isopan IF, expired July 1976, exposed at ASA 5, 1/2 sec and f/16, tripod)

On long-expired film

The rule of thumb for color negative film is to rate it one stop slower for every decade since the film expired. For b&w negative film, sometimes one stop for every two decades is recommended. For compensating the lost sensivity of the Agfa Isopan IF with a box speed of ASA 40, I decided to rate the about 50 years old film @ ASA 5, corresponding three stops below box speed.

The film has been developed manually by Jörg Bergs of the professional MeinFilmLab (https://www.meinfilmlab.de/). Thanks to his expertise, the negatives turned out to be perfect, showing fine grain and high resolution without noteworthy fogging. Tiny spots visible in the sky area of the Grimburg Castle sample pictures show some aging of the film emulsion.

For more Information on long expired film see the excellent article by Daniel J. Schneider from 4 March 2016 in Popular Photography: www.popphoto.com/guide-to-shooting-expired-film

See also the following most interesting links on expired film:
photojottings.com/fifty-year-old-film-and-a-century-old-c…
twphoto66.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/agfa-film-from-1940s/
www.lomography.com/magazine/220413-agfa-isopan-record-not…

See also my flickr photo gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/165607631@N07/