This actually took a lot longer than I expected, but here’s what happened.
I actually won an eBay auction in March for a pack of Ansco All-Weather Panchromatic 120 black-and-white film, with an expiration date of 1964. Unfortunately, the rollfilm took forever to arrive – and when it did, I noticed that the seller accidentally sent me a roll of 616 film. Now as much as I appreciate receiving the 616 film, it doesn’t do me any good when I don’t yet have a camera capable of accepting that size of rollfilm!!
Well, apparently the seller noticed it as well, because she contacted me, apologized, and asked if I could send the roll back. I did, and a couple of weeks later I received the proper 120 film.
Here it is. As you can see, the box is marked “Aug 64.” So essentially I either should have taken these pictures before my first birthday, or I’m just out of luck.
Well, one bright and early Saturday morning, I unpacked the Ansco film and loaded it in the Rollei. Since I don’t know much about Ansco All-Weather film, I took a few minutes to scope out any information on this film – exposure times, proper f-stops, whatever. There were really no directions inside the box; so I’m hoping that there’s something online – Camerapedia.org, Mike Butkus’ Orphan Camera site – that will give me the proper information. There’s only twelve shots on this roll. I don’t want to waste any of them.
As I’m threading the film into the camera, I noticed some specific directions on the Ansco backing paper.
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Well, that’s one way to get my answers. And since I have an adjustable camera, I’ll work off of the Ansco recommended settings. Hey, it’s a good thing I didn’t unroll the entire strip of film, looking for any other info. Ha.
Still, I decided that with film as old as me, it would be prudent to bracket my shots – one shot at the suggested speed, and another shot with an additional stop.
With that in mind, I took the Ansco film on a camera trip through the Capital District. The last time I shot anything with old film, I received some suggestions as to shoot modern subjects rather than subjects from 50 years ago. So I decided to shoot items that may have existed 40 years ago, but today are essentially closed and distressed.
You know…
| The Billmore Laundromat in downtown Albany | The One Hour Laundromat on Central Avenue in Colonie |
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| L-Ken’s sign in Colonie | The Quinlan Motel sign in Schenectady |
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Essentially this roll of 46-year-old film held up well, in comparison to the Kodak Super-XX film I shot a couple of weeks ago. For all intents and purposes, there’s really no way to know how well vintage film will hold up – you don’t know how it was stored, you don’t know where it was stored, and you won’t know what you’ve got – until the film is developed. It’s skill and chance all mixed together.
This time, the skill and chance worked out well.
Chuck The Writer 
I just purchased quite a few rolls of old film, including 3 rolls of Ansco All-Weather 127 film. I’m excited by your results; hope I have the same fortune. Any tips regarding developing?
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I use a professional lab to develop the film; let them know that you’re bringing them film that most likely has expired by about a few years… and that if they’re not comfortable with that, then consider using Film Rescue International, they’re quite adept at developing vintage products.
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Would you have ANY idea on where i can get ansco 120 film???? i can’t find anything anywhere!
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The only thing I could suggest is visiting eBay from time to time. If you do buy it from eBay, make sure that the package is sealed (preferably the box is unopened).
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