I had the opportunity to make some side-by-side
test exposures with the “old” Royal Gold Select Series 400 and the “new”
Royal Gold 400 over the holiday weekend. The results were stark and
graphic. The “new” stuff is, unhypered anyway, useless
now. I put the results on my website, here’s the link:
http://www.geocities.com/freeman_patrick/royal_gold_400_comparison.htm
I also provide some additional details on
how to distinguish between the two films when purchasing.
--- Pat Freeman
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-astro-photo@seds.org
[mailto:owner-astro-photo@seds.org] On Behalf
Of Leo S.
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002
17:07 PM
To: astro-photo@seds.org
Subject: Re: [APML] Kodak ROYAL
400
At 12:42 21/08/02 -0700, you wrote:
The Kodak data sheet lists Royal Gold, Select Series,
and refer to it always
as Royal Gold. The way to tell for sure is after development, look at the
edge of the film. The designation for RG 400 reads: "RC400-3 KODAK"
and
also: "ROYAL 400-3". Since the marking calls itself Royal 400,
you might
have some of the good old stuff. Trust Kodak to make it confusing.
Ok thanks for the info Don,ill shoot a roll,the next chance i get.
I haven't tested the new RG 400 yet, so I don't know
how valuable the old
film is.
I know if it is the old(good stuff) ill be kicking myself if i don't put it
into "suspended animation" now ...i found a couple of rolls of K-25
which had been sitting in the same fairly dark/cool place where the Royal 400
was a few weeks back and froze them... i just hope not too late!!
In fact, hypering
it made it lose sensitivity for long astrophotos.
Exactly why i want it... with all this talk of films which perform well
unhypered being ditched in favour of improved emulsions at the moment!
My recommendation for long term storage of unexposed
film is the
refrigerator rather than the freezer. That is the way most professional
film is stored. I don't think freezing hurts it, since there should be no
water in it to freeze. I do freeze my film after hypering it, but that is
usually for short term use.
I've always thought freezing was the best way... well that's what i have been
led to believe anyway. Moisture shouldn't be an issue as films are packaged in
their canisters in a moisture free environment,and providing they have not been
opened and resealed,no moisture should be present to harm the film.
Storing at lower temperature in a freezer should also slow down any chemical
changes in the emulsion more than if in a fridge at a higher temperature i
would have thought also?
Are there any other issues which i am unaware of perhaps?
Leo