Buying Expired Film, is it safe?

[Terence T]

Been wondering if it's ok to pick up some expired film from the retailers on ebay. Most of them say they've been refrigerated since new and are a couple of months past their expiration dates.

Does anyone have any experience to share. It's definitely a huge cost savings but is it too good to be true?

 

[Rick Waldroup]

I buy erxpired film all the time. It depends on what type of film you have in mind. I used to buy Kodachrome and freeze it and it would last for many years. I now buy regular E6 slide film that is expired and freeze it. I am shooting stuff that is a couple of years old and it looks fine, no color shift, etc. Black and white film is another matter.The longer it ages, the more it has a tendency to fog. I buy expired B&W if it is only a few months past date and freeze it as well. I try to use this film up within a year.

 

[furcafe]

I recently bought a bunch of Kodak Panatomic X that expired in 1991 & it's fine. I wouldn't necessarily have bought Delta 3200 that was that old on account of cosmic background radiation, but I think any of the slow B&W films like Agfa APX 25, if stored properly, will be OK.

 

[nikon_sam]

I buy B&W film that's expired and haven't had any problems as long as it's been treated decently and not left baking in someone's car. I have also been told to stay away from B&W film that's over 10 years old.
I don't take any chances with professional color film although if stored correctly and not too old should turn out okay.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Ever since I found eBay, I get my film from whoever sells it at my price. The riskiest proposition was a batch of 8 rolls of Kodachrome expired in 1994. The seller claimed it had been refrigerated always. I shot one roll and it came out fine.

See, film isn't really as fragile as they make us believe, so go and as long as you keep it cool or refrigerated, it'll last forever.

Have fun shopping!

 

[Terence T]

Thanks for the pointers everyone. Perhaps I should mention I was looking specifically for Fuji Press 800/1600 and also XP2. I'll give it a go and if the experiment works, I'll do it this way from now on.

 

[phototone]

I have never known anyone to be harmed by out-of-date film. It doesn't start giving off radiation or anything.

Phototone

 

[Doug]

Four years ago I took a bunch of 'way out of date Kodacolor 1600 on vacation, big mistake. Amazingly I've occasionally made the same kind of mistake even since. Color shifts, additional grain, some loss of sensitivity, increased base fog... Yuk. I think this stuff was kept for a time NOT refrigerated, and I've had some bad Kodacolor 200, even...

On the other hand, I have bought short-dated Fuji NPZ and NPS on eBay, kept it refrigerated past expiration, and it's been great.

 

[taffer]

I considered it a couple times, but having in mind that

1) Usually only US prices are attractive enough to consider it
2) Probably film will go through some scanners / xrays in the US -> EU trip
3) Been looking mostly for medium-high speed B&W film

I decided that it was simply too risky. Agfa Scala is another thing, but then to have it developed here costs and arm and a leg 🙁

 

[Stu :)]

One of the distributors here gave me three boxs of Kodak Ektachrome 100+ 120 roll-film that expired in May 2000. I ran one roll through the 'blad and got it processed and was horrified at the results. I almost threw them out, but then something told me to cross process, so I did and rated it at ISO 25. All I can say is brilliant! Expired Kodak transparency film is now my choice of film when it comes to cross processing.

Expired Polaroid film is just plain dangerous, I ruined my lovely "hacked" SX-70 with expired film.

On the flipside I bought six rolls of expired (2001) Kodak EIR Color Infrared, not a problem.
And that packet of Kodak X-ray film... phraw! Where do I get MORE!

Stu 🙂
PS. It's funny, you never see expired Fuji or Agfa film for sale in NZ, it's always Kodak, Ilford or Polaroid.

 

[Roger Hicks]

With old colour film you risk crossed curves, i.e. one colour bias in the shadows and another in the highlights. You need Photoshop or something similar to cure this. I have experienced this. But with well-kept (i.e. refrigerated) film this should not matter for a year or two. With B+W you get increased fog and maybe a slight speed loss.

Cheers,

Roger (www.rogerandfrances.com)

 

[nikon_junkie]

I've gone a little overboard on expired film. I bought 160 rolls of Fuji Superia 800 from an ebay seller catbuysell. So far the few rolls I've used have been just fine. He has another 200 listed as I type. Expired in Feb '05. I'd buy more but I've already got 40 rolls Superia 400 on a great deal from Walmart and another 100 rolls of Kodak 100 coming from another ebay seller. Not to mention about 50 rolls of other assorted film types. All purchased for about $.60 cents a roll on average. Quite a bit less if you include the $1.50 in coupons that come with each 4pack of Fuji film, which means I'll need to purchase even more film... 🙁

I freeze them all. Plan to do a bunch of different types of shooting this summer with my F5(hummingbirds) and my Yashica RF (people) and basketball this fall (F5).

 

[Stephanie Brim]

If you ever want to get rid of some of that film, nikon_junkie, let me know. I'm always looking for decent film deals.

I recently got some outdated film from someone here and I'm getting some more from an Ebay seller who offered what she had and wasn't going to sell to me if I payed shipping. When doing cross processing, you don't really have to be as worried about expiration dates. Another thing is that expired slide film can often give you interesting results, especially when rated higher or lower than the actual ASA. I'm rating the roll that I have in the Canonet now at ISO 200 and the next roll I'm putting in is going to be 100 at 50. I don't know what I'll get, but it should be fun to see anyhow.

 

[nikon_sam]

[QUOTE=Stu
Expired Polaroid film is just plain dangerous, I ruined my lovely "hacked" SX-70 with expired film.

Stu 🙂


Stu,

May I ask...what did it do to the SX-70??
I have used new film and expired film and I have three SX-70 cameras and I have had problems with chemicals oozing out of the pictures. This has happened with all three cameras and with new or old film. Is it me, the camera or the film???