Why did somebody put a roll of film into a 6x9 camera, shoot 5 of the 8 exposures and never finish the film? Why did nobody do anything with the film or camera until somebody donated it to a charity shop, with the film still in it, decades later? I never did get the answer to these questions, but with the help of a local newspaper, I did find out who was in the pictures!
I love shooting with my 6x6 Zeiss Ikon Nettar, but the need for a separate rangefinder makes it rather less pocketable than I would like. So, when I saw a 6x9 Ikonta for sale on the well-known auction site, I bought it. I’ll write a review of the camera when I’ve used it; this article is about the film that was in the camera when I received it.
The photos of the camera in the auction listing included one with the back of the camera open, showing a film which had been wound just past exposure 6 of 8. It was clearly a very old film, making me doubt the seller’s description of the camera as “fully tested and working”. You can’t check for light leaks or see the condition of the rear lens element without removing the film. But the price was reasonable, so I bought it anyway.
When the camera arrived, I wound the film to the end, removed it and then checked the camera. The slow shutter speeds and delayed action timer were a bit sticky but soon improved with use. The viewfinder, lens, bellows and rangefinder looked really good, so I set the camera to one side and thought about that mysterious roll of film. Because it is 120 film which has a light-proof backing paper and it was wound nice and tightly on the spool, it was quite possible the first few shots were still there. But how should I develop this film? I knew it was old, but I didn’t know how old; it was Kodak Verichrome Pan, which was made from 1956 until about 2002. A longer development time would be needed, certainly, but how much longer? I decided to use Rodinal with semi-stand development; almost any B&W film can be developed in a very weak (1:100) solution of Rodinal if this technique is used. The film was left to stand for an hour, with just a little inversion at the start and after 30 minutes.
After developing the film, I was delighted to find five photos were visible. There was some base layer fogging and a grainy, spotty structure but the images were good, considering the age of the latent images.
Scanning the negatives showed the first three pictures featured a Mini car. The number plate puts it in the Wolverhampton area of the UK, registered in 1965. There’s a lovely shot of a mother with magnificent bouffant hair and two young children by the car, and the girl is clearly into “swinging sixties” fashion! There is a rather poor, over-exposed shot of a woman with a camera over her shoulder outside Warwick castle. The final shot shows a delightful family picnic; mother, children, one set of grandparents and a Jaguar car.
Because I bought the camera from a charity shop based in Wolverhampton and the number plate on the Mini puts it in that area, I contacted the local newspaper, the "Express and Star". They were very interested in the story and published it in print and online. Very quickly there were responses and before long, they had made contact with the family. Both parents and the children were alive and the children were delighted to have the pictures of themselves. The daughter thought the camera may have been given to her Father for his 18th Birthday in 1954. She also said the pictures were taken between 1971 and 1974, so the film was about 50 years old when I developed it. Sadly I didn't get to speak to them myself, and the journalist at the local paper didn't find out why the film was never finished and developed. But it's great to have found who they are, and I'm delighted they are happy to finally have the photos taken 50 years ago! You can read about them on the newspaper website, here.
If you would like to see all five images in better quality, they can be seen on Flickr.