Laid my hands recently on ORWO UT-18 roll films. Feeling like a 10-years-old in a LEGO shop, went to basement and opened up an old book of wisdom, the ORiginal WOlfen cook book.
ORWO Chrom UT-18 was first introduced in 1968 and was in production till the late ‘80s / early ’90s. The expiration dates of my rolls was somewhen in 1986. UT stands for Umkehr Tageslicht, which basicaly means go-out-in-a-sunny-day-and-play, but don’t forget to reverse the film later.
I always do a bracketing test for films I haven’t used before. My balcony with the mise-en-scène of Varna bay has been always serving well for tests of unknown films. Recently calibrated Pentacon Six with Biometar 80 / 2.8 lens was used. Fresh from the factory the film is rated 18 DIN (50 ISO), so I guesstimated 25 ISO. Set F/5.6 (scattered clouds, somewhat sunny), started at 1/60 and went slowing shutter down to 1’’. The test strip is here:
(click to enlarge)
My guesstimate turned out to be a way too optimistic – I would rate this roll at somewhere around 8 ISO. Next rolls I was shooting at that speed.
ORWO UT-18 @ 8 ISO
The original process for this film is ORWOCOLOR C-9165. If you are interested in the process, here is the original leaflet from an ORWO-manufactured kit. Do note that this is for 0.5 l kit.
I used b/w developer and color developer prepared from scratch by collecting and mixing the necessary chemicals. (Bleach, stop and fix I had available in their original packages from ORWO.) If you are interested how to cook the set, here is a detailed baths’ recipes. Note: when I was mixing last time C-57 for this set I found that there is a mistake with its recipe in the previously uploaded version here. Now this is corrected, please delete the previous document. I appologize for any inconveniences!
So, junk or gem?
ORWO UT-18 // Pentacon Six // Biometar 80 // C-9165
I would let you decide yourself. Based on my experience with these few rolls, on the specter from junk to gem I would go for “junky chunk of gem”.
ORWOCOLOR C-9165 is a hectic, 90 minutes process, but if you are ready to roll up your pants and wade into it — drop a comment – I still might have quite a few rolls to let go. Chemicals would be available also.
27 Comments
Hi!
I want to roll up my pants and wade into it!
Going through old stuff, I found a few exposed ORWO rolls (ORWOChrom UT18 and NC21) and would like to see what my younger me did so back then.
You mention you have some chemical leftover and I would like to give it a good use.
Looking forward to your reply (I live in The Netherlands)
Thanks a bunch for sharing!
Hi, just sent you an email.
Hello !
This is a really good article with good results of your delevopings 🙂
I’m from France and i have an expired UT-18 (and a NC-19 aswell). The UT has not been shot yet but i did the NC.
I’m looking for someone who have the processes (9165 as you have, and 5168 for the NC-19) and i found your blog.
Are you interested if i send you my 120 roll(s) ?
Thanks, and best regards !
Hi Corinne–
Thank you for your kind words! I will check what chemicals I have remained and will revert to you via e-mail later on today.
Hey, I’d like to know the recipe and the process of developing the UT18 films, as a friend of mine made me a gift of a bunch of them!
I am completely new so I can’t really do anything alone right now.
Would love to get a reply from you :))
Hello Leo–
Here is the recipe: http://analoguephotolab.com/orwocolor-c-9165-recipe/
And here are the steps: http://analoguephotolab.com/orwochrom-c-9165-leaflet/
Best regards,
Vesselin
Hello there,
Fab article :). I have just got 2 rolls of this film ( expired in 1988) . Do you reckon I will still manage to get something out of it? Also if so. Could you please let me know if I could put your chemicals to use for this. Thanks a ton
Hello Tarang–
It’s more important how they’ve been stored, mine expired 1986. Perhaps there will be some images, but no one could guarantee you good results.
Здравейте! Доколкото разбрах сте от Варна? 🙂 Случайно попаднах на Вас. Попадна ми една Agfa Clack и искам да я пробвам, затова търся някакъв евтин филм :d и ми излезе този с много изтекъл срок..Не разбирам много от проявяване, но ако просто си дам филма във фотото, мога ли да очаквам да излезе нещо? Или предполагам, че тези старите филми се проявяват по- специално.. Ще се радвам на някои съвети. Мерси:)
Здравейте Симона–
Ако просто дадете във фотото ORWO UT филм няма да получите никакво изображение — този филм е направен да се проявява на температура около 24 – 25 градуса, а във фотото модерните процеси работят на около 38 градуса. Просто емулсията ще се разпадне. Едва ли ще намерите някой да прояви една лента по оригиналния процес — много е дълго, а и химията не е евтина, особено пък за един филм.
За тест препоръчвам нов черно-бял филм и пресни химикали, за да видите как работи апарата, а не да рискувате с неизвестен филм и трудни процеси за проявяване. И разбира се, да намерите някой, който може да го прояви. Или купете нов цветен филм по процес C-41 и го дайте във фотото.
Ако мога да съм полезен с нещо допълнително — пишете.
Пожелавам успех! 🙂
Мерси! А Вие занимавате ли се с проявяване?
Или познавате ли някой във Варна, който проявява такива филми? Аз преди съм давала старички филми, от фотото го дават на някой и горе-долу се получава, но ако имате някой друг предвид?
Писах подробности на мейла ти.
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When I was an undergraduate student spending a year in Minsk 1992-93 the last of this film was available at the local GUM store. I can’t remember the price but was probably less than $1us (in Belarusian or Soviet Rubles of course) per roll for UT21 or 18; I’d buy blocks of 12 or 24 rolls wrapped in crinkly East German plastic…
It included development, but only for DDR! However I could have it processed at the Photo store a few hundred meters away; it’d come back rolled in the plastic film can, slightly scratched!
I shot a lot of this with my Lomo LC-A (years before the fad was marketed for these cameras) and sometimes my Canon A1 & AE1 SLRs.
I also bought a few dry chemical kits when I saw them (rarely maybe only once) and enjoyed the development process (esp. the ‘take outside and expose to full sun’ step halfway through – so different from my then very familiar E-6 3 step processes I was using) when back home in americaland after that year in Minsk.
UT18 & 21 are different in their pallet (and of course ISO), but similar in their surreal pastel colours with that sort of translucent metallic shine – best description I can think of at the moment but insufficient.
It was a privilege to have been in that place and that time for many reasons, one of which was to have used Orwochrom film!
Hello Robert–
Thank you for the cool comment! 🙂
Hi. I found rolls of passed away family members Orwo UT18 and 21. Would you be able to develop them for me, please?
Hi Margus–
Unfortunately, I have no chemicals to offer you this service. Keep the rolls in a dark and cool place, in case you find an option in the future.
Best regards,
Vesselin
Hello Vesselin,
first of all thank you for having published all this information on these ORWO emulsions and developers, learned a lot from your mistakes before and after making some of them myself as well, crossprocessed uk17 and ut18 in e6 and for some reason I thought max temp was 25 and it washed out some of the film especially the roll that i developed at 26C was almost transparent, would like to pick your brain if you have some time to answer some questions, would greatly appreciate it, looking forward to seeing more recent work of yours.
All the best,
Tiberiu.
Hello Tiberiu–
No problem, I will send you an e-mail so you may reply with some of the examples to discuss further.
+/- 1C should not be that critical, but let us see.
Best regards,
Vesselin
Hi ! Id like to know if you could develop a roll of ORWO Chrom UT18 ?
If so, could i get your E-mail ? Thank you very much
Hello Theo–
Unfortunately, I do not have the chemicals for the baths. However, I know a guy from Germany, who is still doing this kind of development, will ask and revert to you via e-mail.
Best regards,
Vesselin
Du hast viel ausprobiert mit ORWO aus Wolfen und finde deine Ergebnisse richtig gut und habe großen Respekt vor deinem Aufwand für die Entwicklung. Deine Seite ist total schön und sehr, sehr interessant.
Thank you for your kind words!
Best regards,
Vesselin