Is it possible to develop old film negatives?

Question

I found some film negatives when I bought my house, they are from the early 1900's (about 1920's). I want to get them developed but don't know where to start.

Some of them have a white chalky substance on them. I also found film developing products with the negatives.

Yes, there are images on the film. Extremely old images that I want to frame.

Answer 1

Do you mean that the film has been exposed but not been developed?
Or that you have negatives and want photos printed from them?

If the films have not been developed then, forget about doing it now. The film of the last 25 years could be developed about 5 years after making, (and using) any later would result in bad quality.
I doubt that the films then were as good, but you might be lucky.

Making prints of existing negatives should be possible. Talk with a good photographer, who still makes his own black and white prints.
If everything else fails, have the negatives scanned, cleaned-up and printed digital. (Computers can do the change from negative to positive too.)

Chemicals that are old should be treated with suspicion, as parts of the mixtures will have escaped the bottles, and some chemicals will change when stored too long.

Answer 2

Developing Old Negatives

Answer 3

The white substance is the negative starting to deteriorate. The chemicals in older film were very unstable.

I don't understand what you mean by develop? Are there images on the negatives? Then they had already been developed. If so yes, you should be able to get prints made. I wouldn't trust them to the corner store. Find someone that has darkroom equipment and can do them by hand as opposed to the automated machines at the corner store. Good luck.

Answer 4

dispose of the chemicals. even newer chemicals only have a shelf life of about 1-3 years. and that's if they've been stored properly.
i assume you want the negatives printed. if the negatives have a latent image on them already you can usually take them to photo store (one where they specialize in photo printing. not wal-mart, costco, etc.). they will often print unusual negative sizes for you. it may cost a lot. non-standard negs always do.
as far as the white stuff it's probably chemical deterioration. try cleaning it with some q-tips and rubbing alcohol diluted with water (about 1:3, alcohol:water). be gentle and spot test first. you may end up destroying the negative.

Answer 5

If they are "negatives" --you can see images on them--then they have already been developed. Take them to a photo processor and have prints made. Or you can use a scanner to reproduce the images on your computer

Answer 6

Unquestionably yes, they can be printed from. Bear in mind that photographic emulsion is designed to be washed, so I would simply wash off any dust etc with clean running water and then immerse in a proper film washing aid, however;

This is only if I was printing them myself;

Failing that, any reasonable pro printer will be able to do what you ask without you messing with them yourself. Taking them to a high st store than prints will not be able to do them as they will be geared up for 35mm. Chances are they will be able to send them off to be done elsewhere.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

If the negatives are developed, then you just need them printed.

If so, look up your local professional Photo Processing lab and they should be able to help you from there. If you ask on yahoo! for a local lab in your area, I'm sure you will find one.

Answer 9

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