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Old 30th October 2020, 09:19 AM
rouleur rouleur is offline
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Default Trade processing 1930-1960

I've been looking at family photos from between 1930 to 1960 and they are in good condition and I was wondering how they were produced. They would have been developed and printed at the local chemist and I assume there wouldn't be much in the way of mechanisation.

Are we missing a trick here as we debate archival processing when some chap in the back room of Boots the Chemist was doing it nearly a century ago?
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Old 30th October 2020, 11:06 AM
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MartyNL MartyNL is offline
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I really don't know about the longevity of materials today as much seems centred around cost, availability, sustainability, health & safety etc.

So perhaps materials in the past had much better archival properties than our environmentally friendly products of today?
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Old 30th October 2020, 01:23 PM
alexmuir alexmuir is online now
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It depends on what type of materials you are referring to. Commercial B&W prints from that period, and earlier seem to last well. Poor storage, mainly in damp conditions, is likely to be the cause of deterioration, rather than some chemical problem.
There probably isn’t a great quantity of colour prints of family pictures from the period you mention, although I’m sure slides were popular. Many colour prints I have seen from the late 60’s through to the late ‘80s have deteriorated. They fade, especially if exposed to sunlight for a prolonged period. Prints from professional studios, however, seem to fare better.
I’ve been doing my own B&W printing since the mid ‘80s, and have had very few problems with deterioration in that time. I tend to think that, if you follow the manufacturers instructions, there’s a good chance your pictures will be around for a very long time. Guaranteeing archival permenance is, perhaps, a greater concern if you intend to market your prints, or they are chosen by a museum or gallery.
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Old 30th October 2020, 02:00 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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As far as Boots The Chemist prints were concerned from the 30-60s I suspect they were FB prints and no doubt properly processed in what may have been a semi-automated or even hand operated procedure so that may explain their longevity but equally today's RC prints if processed according to instructions may last as long.

I don't think automation is detrimental to longevity as long as each part of the process again meets the requirements of the process

What I suspect has changed is that in many high street mini-labs the prints from b&w negs are processed on colour paper and converted very cleverly to b&w

However there is no reason why these b&w prints on RA4 paper should not last as long as colour prints

It isn't clear to me if we can yet definitely say that RA4 paper will have the same longevity as b&w RC paper

All we can conclude is that based on how long they have been around now, a properly processed FB print has a known longevity that definitely exceeds the current known longevity of RC simply because we have not had the current brand of RC long enough to be sure

To return to the point however I cannot see how hand processing per se adds anything to print longevity

Mike
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Old 1st November 2020, 10:37 AM
Martin Rick Martin Rick is offline
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Many people used B/W 120 film and were satisfied with contact prints. For somewhat larger there was the "enprint" (Enlarged print?) at 5"x3.5".
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Old 1st November 2020, 02:16 PM
Lostlabours Lostlabours is offline
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Machine printing goes back many years, there were also quite a number of large trade processors many dating back to the late 1800's.

My own experience was quality dropped off when companies like Ilford made printers using flashing to control the contrast etc, so my mothers pictures are consistently slightly flat and bland while my fathers war time pictures and through to around 1959/60 were much better, he then bought a Kodak ColorSnap 2 and only shot 828 Kodachrome.

Ian
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