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Author
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Topic: I just acquired 3000 feet of 9.5mm new (old) Ferrania B%W reversal stock!
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Iain Petrie
Junior
Posts: 8
From: Hatfield, England
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted November 19, 2019 07:43 AM
Hi all, I just had the kind of good fortune I think you'll agree doesn't happen often in life:
I bought 3 large tins on ebay from a very fair and honest seller who offered them "blind" without any promise that they contained what was written on the tins - Ferrania 9.5mm B&W 1000' - or if they did contain the film there was no guarantee the film was any good, as he'd bought the tins in auction and knew nothing more about them.
I risked the opening £50 bid for all 3 and to my surprise, I won it as mine was the only bid.
The big heavy cans arrived yesterday and, more in hope than expectation, I opened a can in my darkroom (shed) and was very encouraged to feel a full 10" (?) reel in a wrapping which felt like it had never been touched, and an apparently new seal on the film. The film was in perfect untouched condition. I snipped off 2 tiny test pieces, and shot them in a 35mm camera, guessing ASA to be perhaps 6 ASA, considering the film was perhaps from the 1960s. It was an 8 second exposure in artificial light and I didn't even bother to focus the camera, assuming I would get a black or clear result anyway. I developed them and was amazed to see an obvious view of my kitchen, with no immediate signs of degradation to the image apart from, sadly, the fact it was completely blurry of course. The other 2 tins weigh exactly the same and are sealed in the same way so it's pretty certain they are as pristine as this one. A 10" reel should be 1000 feet, I believe, which is what's written on the tins, so it seems I have 3000 feet of usable 9.5mm film.
I have a 1923 Pathe Baby camera, just purchased, and a 1933 Mondial B model, my grandfather's, and in 10 years I only ever shot one film due to the expense, and soon it seemed that I wasn't going to be able to get hold of any 9.5mm at anywhere near reasonable price so I gave up.
But now I'm in the remarkably fortunate position of having many months (years?!) supply. The Baby takes 30 foot of film, and the B takes, I believe, up to 50 feet, so that's around 80 reloads.
I read online that Ferrania made and imported b&W Reversal 9.5mm into UK in the 1960s, so presumably that's what this is. The tins seem "wholesale" size rather than "retail" so I assume these were kept in a professional environment ready to be cut up and spooled for later sale.
I'll be shooting the first one at the weekend using my grandfather's camera and if it's any good I'll put up link to the finished film.
If anyone has any suggestions or information about exactly what kind of film this is, or what the 310 might stand for, that would be very much appreciated. The plan is to shoot the film in the coming months (years?) but if i'm not getting the use out of it, I'll offer it to others who can surely make good use of it!
I seem to have failed in my attempt to upload pictures, so here they are on my blog. Thanks for looking. Iain
https://fouragesofsand.blogspot.com/2019/11/happy-days-with-95mm-film.html
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Iain Petrie
Junior
Posts: 8
From: Hatfield, England
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted November 24, 2019 01:08 AM
Thank you Simon that's very helpful. Yes, it's negative film in all 3 tins. I'd been wondering why there is a grey base to the film when fixed. I'd worried it was fog of some sort but it's too uniform for that, and I'm happy to know it's a feature of the stock not an issue of the film having degraded over time. Any idea how old this film might be, or was it made over many years? I'm new at this, and information is not easy to find. Re selling, I have big plans for the film but tend to get sidetracked into other projects, so if I'm not making good use of it, I'll certainly offer it here (assuming that's allowed).
Here's the first "movie" we made, using around 40cm as a test (precious stuff!). As mentioned in the post, the grain is probably due to bad choice of developing method : Rodinal + high agitation. The stock itself seems blemish free and without issues. The link to my blog: http://fouragesofsand.blogspot.com/2019/11/first-experiment-with-new-95mm-ferrania.html
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