Developing 16-year old Fuji Neopan 1600

[Maiku]

I got a free box of 20 rolls of Neopan 1600 film. Great! The problem is that is the film expired in 1995. It was stored on the shelf. I want to give it a try. What can it hurt? I got it for free and I can make an attempt to develop it.

Does anyone got any advice on developing it? I was thinking of adding time to development, but how long? Twenty-five, thirty, forty, fifty percent longer?

I have Microfine and Super Prodol Fuji developers.

Any advice would be great.

Maiku

 

[maddoc]

I would rate and develop the film at E.I. 640 and look for fogging. If it turns out well, then E.I. 1000 might be still possible, especially when using Fuji`s SPD.

 

[Phantomas]

I got a free box of 20 rolls of Neopan 1600 film. Great! The problem is that is the film expired in 1995. It was stored on the shelf. I want to give it a try. What can it hurt? I got it for free and I can make an attempt to develop it.

Does anyone got any advice on developing it? I was thinking of adding time to development, but how long? Twenty-five, thirty, forty, fifty percent longer?

I have Microfine and Super Prodol Fuji developers.

Any advice would be great.

Maiku

It's not Neopan, but just to give you a little reassurance, here's some TMax 3200 that I've exposed and developed recently. Expired in 1993 and kept in all kinds of conditions, gone through airport scanners, etc. I rated it at box speed and developed at normally recommended time (in Rodinal). It's not the prettiest results, but for 17 year super fast film it's pretty OK, I think.

 

[ChrisN]

I would shoot a test roll, bracketing 0 stops (normal), +1, +2, +3, +4. Shoot the same scene six times, giving you six sets of bracketed exposures.

Then, in the darkroom, I'd cut the film into three strips (you should be able to get at least a complete bracketed set in each strip). Develop the first at the standard time, the second plus 20+, the third at standard minus 20%.

Somewhere in there I'd expect to find a suitable iso rating and development time.

 

[Maiku]

Chris,

I think your idea is very good. I will try. I have a test roll in a camera now. I will take shot six scenes under varying light conditions and develop the 6 strips as you suggest.

Thanks.

Mike

 

[john_s]

It's not Neopan, but just to give you a little reassurance, here's some TMax 3200 that I've exposed and developed recently. Expired in 1993 and kept in all kinds of conditions, gone through airport scanners, etc. I rated it at box speed and developed at normally recommended time (in Rodinal). It's not the prettiest results, but for 17 year super fast film it's pretty OK, I think.

Thanks for posting these examples. I've had a couple of rolls of TMY 3200 for about 15 years that I carried with me around the world so that at airports I could insist on hand inspection rather than x-ray. I had assumed that it would be pretty bad by now, but I'll try it.

 

[korobo]

Fuji Neopan 1600. Regular fridge shelf, not a freezer.
Expired in Sep of 2006, stock Xtol for 7 min, no thermometer at hand as it was just a quick viability test

 

[korobo]

There is one more. This roll was 11 years past expiry: